JACKSONVILLE – Applications are now open for individual artists in Northeast Florida to apply for an Art Ventures grant of $3,500.
Interested artists who reside in Clay, Baker, Duval, Nassau, Putnam and St. Johns County are encouraged to apply for the funding, which is designed to help Northeast Florida artists emerge to the next level of their artistic careers. Applications are due by 5 p.m. on Feb. 15.
Applications will be judged on the applicants’ artistic accomplishments, their proposal to use the funds to advance their work, and the extent to which their artistic practice is rooted in Northeast Florida. More than 200 individual artists have received Art Ventures’ grants since 1990.
As part of the Art Ventures initiative, this year area Black artists will have additional opportunities for grants, thanks to the newly created Delores Barr Weaver Black Artists Endowment. While the Art Ventures Fund has always supported Black artists and has made grants from the Independent Life Minority Arts Fund, the Delores Barr Weaver Black Artists Endowment will specifically fund three Black artists each year. These will be additive to the Art Ventures cohort of grantees.
“There’s no doubt that our Northeast Florida artists are among the finest in the nation,” noted Delores Barr Weaver on the creation of this new endowment. “I continue to be inspired with the work of local Black artists particularly, and I wish to acknowledge and help sustain their important contributions to the vitality of the region.”  
More information, including the application, visit https://www.jaxcf.org/receive/individual-artists.
Art Ventures began in 1990 as a commitment to invest in local individual artists as well as small arts organizations, and has granted more than $1.4 million to more than 200 artists and 125 small arts organizations. Funding for 2021 Art Ventures Individual Artist grants comes from the Art Ventures Endowment, the Baker Family Fund, the J. Shepard, Jr. & Mary Ann Bryan Arts Endowment, the Independent Life Minority Arts Fund, the Anne and Sallyn Pajcic Art Ventures Endowment, the Alynne Sharp Art Fund the Delores Barr Weaver Black Artists Endowment.
The Community Foundation for Northeast Florida, Florida’s oldest and largest community foundation, works to stimulate philanthropy to build a better community. The Foundation helps donors invest their philanthropic gifts wisely, helps nonprofits serve the region effectively, and helps people come together to make the community a better place. Created in 1964, the Foundation has assets of $483 million and has made approximately $550 million in grants since inception.