CANVAS Grant Announcement

We are thrilled to announce we received a major grant from CANVAS! The grant application was by invitation only, and we are tremendously excited and grateful to be the recipient.

CANVAS is a funding and field-building collaborative that seeks to encourage, support and promote a 21st-century Jewish cultural renaissance.

This grant was earmarked for the following during 2022:

Continuation of the art programs / open studios on Zoom. Going forward these will feature artists and curators by invitation only, or will be connected to Jewish Art Salon special events, such as exhibitions.

Moderated artists critiques on Zoom to assist artists in their creative process.

Young artists and art professionals meet-ups and other events.

Updating the website: change the theme, lay-out, and add more sections.

Curate an inclusive New York City art exhibition (in addition to the two that are already scheduled).

Re-open juried membership applications and create a separate art professionals section.

Connect to Jewish institutions and art groups.

Some of these initiatives have already been set into motion; others we will roll out in phases throughout 2022.

We thank CANVAS for their generous contribution; through their support we can continue to serve our members.

Many thanks also to Richard Borah of Evergreen Grantwriting; we benefitted very much from his pro bono advice.

Read more on Canvas’ Why arts & culture and why now? here

Excerpt:

…” Today, the Jewish arts & culture ecosystem is as fertile and productive as it has ever been in the years since the Haskalah prompted that new wave of cultural introspection and reinvention. The ecosystem is also badly in need of support and recognition for what it is and can be: the glue that holds a community, a people, together.

With CANVAS, we choose to focus on the backbone of the ecosystem — networks, distribution channels, and media — because these organizations, whether on their own, or in partnership with one another, represent a kind of one-stop shopping: a way for the funding community to worry less about their own artistic judgment and focus more on the infrastructure that will ensure this Jewish creativity thrives.

Because if we elevate the ecosystem, we elevate the community.

We are calling this effort CANVAS, but we are not starting with a blank canvas. We have the warp and the weft that binds us to a long tradition of expression, elation, of wrestling and celebrating, of debating and transcending – of using creativity and artistry to tell the world: This is who we are. This is where we come from. This is where we might go. Together. Upon that canvas, we can make great art.”…