Find answers to frequently asked questions here.
An initiative of Seattle’s Northwest Film Forum (NWFF), Collective Power Fund is a part of the Regional Regranting Program by the Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, which consists of 30 satellite venues and partners across the country presenting hyper-local artist funding.
Collective Power Fund focuses primarily on supporting work that incites public dialogue, pushes boundaries, explores genre fluidity, speaks its truth through an authentic perspective, and is often non-traditional, anti-institutional, socially responsible, or disruptive of existing structures and conventions. It encourages a community-forward environment of resource-sharing, mutual support, and fellowship in the Pacific Northwest arts ecosystem.
Our first round in late 2020 provided $70,000 in COVID-19 relief funding to 140 artists. This Artist Development Grant is our second round, which will help inform the design of a larger grant in late 2021, and will disburse $60,000 to artists in incorporated and unincorporated King County.
The Collective Power Fund is excited to offer our Artist Development Grant to six (6) individual, visual-based artists** who self-identify as 🐣 early to emerging 🐣 and who live in incorporated or unincorporated King County. Recipients will also receive the following artist development benefits:
Artists who identify as BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, Person of Color), disabled, femme, gender non-conforming, LGBTQ+, undocumented, and/or live in unincorporated King County are strongly encouraged to apply.
Applicants will be required to provide an Artist Biography, Artist Values Statement, and Work Samples – with optional Work Sample Descriptions – to be reviewed by the selection panel.
Applicants have the option to submit their Artist Biography and Artist Values Statement in their preferred format of either video, audio, or text – but only in one format. More details about these components can be found under the “Required Application Materials” sections on pages 2 and 3.
Important: This application does have a “save” function, but does require setting up an email login to use. We highly recommend creating all written content in a separate word processing document so you have a backup. When you are ready, copy and paste your text into the application.
NWFF’s Application Guide
We created an Application Guide to help you better understand the application components, plus offer some guiding questions and examples to help you develop ideas, language, and strategies to use for this grant.
This Artist Development Grant is a “values-based” grant, as an alternative to project, merit, or relief-based. It is intentionally designed for *early to emerging **visual-based artists who are the original creators of their work and who have an existing body of work, series, or performance to show at King Street Station.
(*By early to emerging artists, we are loosely referring to individuals whose artistic accomplishments, professional opportunities, recognition, and/or public identity are surfacing for the first time as a working artist. Does this 🐣 describe you?)
Artists who are clearly beyond an early-to-emerging status are respectfully encouraged to not apply.
**Eligible, visual-based disciplines include: 3D, animation, architecture, ceramics, comics, craft, dance, design, digital art, drawing, folk art, film, illustration, installation, murals, naive art, new media, outsider art, painting, performance, photography, printmaking, public art, sculpture, sound art, social practice, street art, traditional art, video, and VR/AR/XR. (Dance, performance, sound art, and social practice must be presented in a visual art context.)
This list is comprehensive, but we recognize that other visual-based disciplines might be eligible as well. Please contact us if you have any questions.
In addition to the above eligibility, artists must be able to say “Yes” to the statements listed below.
Note: Recipients of our December 2020 emergency relief grants are eligible to apply for this round of funding and the next grant round in late 2021.
Ineligible applicants are artists who are:
If you have any questions about your discipline, eligibility, or anything else, please email Grants Manager Zach Frimmel at grants@nwfilmforum.org.
To respect applicants who did submit before the deadline, we will not be accepting applications submitted after May 3, 2021.
NWFF will be able to help grant recipients with back-end coordination with King Street Station (KSS). KSS’s facilities staff will work with grant recipients to handle installing, hanging, and logistics during the weeks leading up to the show.
Current CDC guidelines regarding COVID-19 will be required by all parties involved during the time of install, run-of-show, and deinstall.
Important links from King Street Station:
Facility Description / Accessibility
Equipment Inventory
Technical & Physical Rider (details they’ll need from grant recipients)
Note: NWFF and KSS will not be able to provide services or costs outside of the benefits listed under the Grant Overview section. Also, KSS and staff are able to provide a high level of flexibility and creative problem solving to make sure grant recipients can accurately present their work, however, KSS does have some facility restrictions around certain technical capabilities and organic material usage. If this is the case, they will do their best to accommodate and preserve the integrity of the grant recipients’ work and presentation of it, but will need ample time for any large changes given their limited capacity at the moment.
Applications will be evaluated based on the individual artist’s:
Applications will be reviewed by a visual-based selection panel of working artists using the above selection criteria.
Equity Statement
In recognition of the role of the arts as a vehicle for social change, Northwest Film Forum is committed to undoing systems of oppression and dismantling racist, sexist, and inequitable systems in our lives and organization. These values will be carried forth in the grantmaking process.
You can receive pre-panel feedback on your application if you email your application materials to our Grants Manager by Monday, April 26. Complete or partial application materials will both be accepted, but please note that sharing some kind of work sample(s) will maximize the quality of feedback we’re able to offer.
Pre-panel feedback from our Grants Manager will include:
Important: Artists who receive pre-panel feedback will still need to submit their applications through this application form by the Monday, May 3 deadline to be considered for review by the selection panel.
Accessibility
We take accessibility needs seriously when it comes to the Collective Power Fund and our grant support services. We have some limited capacity due to our facilities being closed still, but if you would like to request accessibility services in applying to this grant either because you anticipate that you may – or know that you will – experience a barrier in applying, please email us. To help us best accommodate you, if possible, please submit your request by Monday, May 26.
Privacy
As an applicant, your data and content will be viewed by Northwest Film Forum staff and the selection panel. Unlike our December 2020 emergency relief grant, we will publicly be announcing the grant recipients.
Contact Information
Contact Grants Manager, Zach Frimmel at grants@nwfilmforum.org for pre-panel feedback requests, eligibility, or any questions you have about applying.
This grant cycle is now closed.
The next one is forthcoming in late 2021. Please sign up for our newsletter to stay updated!