Kansas City, MO, April 18, 2023: Charlotte Street and the Spencer Museum of Art are thrilled to announce the 2023 call for Rocket Grants, opening online May 15, 2023. The deadline to apply is June 26, 2023.
With support from The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Rocket Grants provide direct funding to artists in the Kansas City region who are creating exceptional, under-the-radar, and artist-centered projects in public spaces. Artists, curators, collectives, and collaborative groups residing within an 80-mile radius of the Kansas City metropolitan area are eligible to apply.
Rocket Grants award up to $6,000 to individuals or artist groups for projects that exist outside established venues such as museums, galleries, theaters or arts districts. Artists are encouraged to address the community at large or choose a smaller, targeted audience. The long-term goals of the Rocket Grants program are to encourage emerging and non-traditional artistic practices in the Kansas City region, to contribute to a thriving arts community, and to build bridges between geographic and cultural communities.
Receiving the Rocket Grant has meant to me that everything I dreamed about as a kid is possible. To be able to put it all on the table and take a chance on yourself is something I’ve always tried to improve on. I remember five years ago, when I started “Halfmoonstudioz,” my goal was to help revamp the east side with art one brush stroke at a time; with Rocket Grants I can confidently say I’ve done just that.
Devin Edwards, a 2022 Rocket Grant recipient
2022 Recipients include:
- KC Rainbow Tour | Joel Barrett
- Indigenous Reclaiming Spaces / Natives Now | Mona Cliff
- Neighborhood Heroes | Devin Edwards
- Closure is Not Justice | Andrew Johnson, Aja Edwin Mujinga, Bryan Sheppard
- Spoken Easy / Slam Series | John Lewis
- I’m So Glad | Nancy Meis, Paul Wenske, Isaac Cates, Chris Wenske
- Only the Wounds and Weapons Have Changed | Scott Myers, Jacqueline Gafford, Frances Farah
- core. | Brittany Noriega
- ArtMoves | Dwight Smith and Regina Nouhan
- Snapping Back: A Trans Women of Color Sex Workers + Artist Empowerment Project | Kelly Nou and Fynelle Fristoe
Rocket Grants projects encompass a broad range of visual art, performance, film, video, new media, writing, public programming, social practice and interdisciplinary work. The Rocket Grant Blog includes an online archive and documentation of past projects.
Rocket Grant projects are selected by a jury of four arts professionals, working both locally and nationally. Each proposal will be evaluated on criteria including innovation, thoughtful context, feasibility and meaningful impact.
To apply artists must submit a Letter of Interest (LOI) online by June 26, 2023. The LOI should include a project summary, the artists involved, the intended audience, the specific context of the work, budget needs, and relevance of the project. The jury will assess the Letters of Interest and invite selected projects to complete a full application in July 2023. Rocket Grants recipients will be announced in September 2023.
For any questions regarding the application process, please contact Kimberly Kitada, Gallery and Programs Manager, at [email protected].
Rocket Grant FAQ Sessions
The public is invited to attend in-person information sessions that will answer questions about the application and jury process.
April 21, 2023 | 3:30 PM to 5:00 PM at the Spencer Museum of Art at KU
1301 Mississippi Street, Lawrence, KS 66045
RSVP Encouraged – https://bit.ly/rocketgrants-lawrence2023
June 14, 2023 | 5:00 PM to 6:00 PM at the Charlotte Street Kemper Library
3333 Wyoming Street, Kansas City, MO 64111
RSVP Encouraged – https://bit.ly/rocketgrants-kansascity2023
ABOUT THE SPENCER MUSEUM OF ART
located on the University of Kansas Lawrence campus, explores the intersection of art, ideas, and experiences. With a diverse collection of more than 48,000 works, the Spencer is the only museum in Kansas with contemporary and historic artwork in all mediums from cultures across six continents. The Spencer Museum facilitates arts engagement and research through exhibitions, artist commissions and residencies, conferences, performances, lectures, children’s art activities, and arts and culture festivals. Admission to the Spencer Museum of Art is free.
ABOUT CHARLOTTE STREET
Charlotte Street centers Kansas City’s most forward-thinking visual artists, writers, and performers—acting as the primary incubator, provocateur, and connector for the region’s contemporary arts community, and its leading advocate on the national stage. Since 1997, Charlotte Street has distributed over $2 million in awards and grants to artists and their innovative projects, and connected individual artists to each other and to the greater Kansas City community. For more information about Charlotte Street, its awards, programs, and initiatives, visit www.charlottestreet.org.
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