Grants & Awards

Current Grants

We grant to a wide range of organizations in accordance with our strategic goals and objectives. In 2005 we made 157 grants worth more than $1.6 million dollars.
View the Arts and Culture Programs 2006 Grants (PDF)

For a complete overview of all Arts and Culture Program Grants and Awards please click here.

Shenson Performing Arts Fellowships for 2008

A pre-selected group of arts organizations that provide excellent professional-track performing arts training and performance opportunities were invited to nominate an exemplary pre-professional performing artist (above 18 yrs of age) for a $5,000 award to assist with their professional advancement. Fellowships were based on the nominee’s artistic merit and their potential for future excellence and impact in his or her performing arts discipline.

The Drs. Ben and A. Jess Shenson Foundation at The San Francisco Foundation was established in 1995 by brothers Ben and A. Jess Shenson who were passionate about encouraging pre-professional students in the performing arts. These fellowships will be awarded in their memory.

Congratulations to all of our past awardees!

2008 Awardees:

• Dancer David Harvey with Alonzo King's LINES Ballet
• Actor Nicholas Pelczar with American Conservatory Theater
• Vocalist Daveda Karanas with  Merola Opera House
• Vocalist Eleazar Rodriguez with San Francisco Conservatory of Music
• Performer Jose Vadi with Youth Speaks

2007 Awardees

• Soprano Heidi Melton with the Adler Fellows Program at San Francisco Opera
• Kathak dancer Charlotte Moraga with the Chitresh Das Dance Company
• Dancer Sean Orza with San Francisco Ballet
• Actress Amanda Sykes with ACT's Master of Fine Arts program
• Sitarist Arjun Verma with the Ali Akbar Khan College of Music

NEXT APPLICATION DEADLINE:  The Shenson Fellowships are awarded through nominations by select arts teaching organizations, and no general public applications are available. Please check our website after January 1, 2009 for information on the March 2009 deadline.

Koshland Program Arts and Culture Mini-Grants 2007-2008

The Arts and Culture program collaborates with The San Francisco Foundation’s Koshland Civic Unity Program to award arts mini-grants of up to $3,000 for grassroots arts projects based in key Bay Area neighborhoods.  The Koshland Program recognizes Bay Area grassroots risk-takers — those social innovators of bold spirit who accept the most stubborn neighborhood problems as a personal challenge and who work collaboratively to overcome them.  In recognizing these individuals, the Koshland Committee of The San Francisco Foundation seeks to promote civic unity by building mutual respect among diverse people in the community and encouraging small, voluntary efforts to address neighborhood problems.

In 2007-2008, we will award Koshland Program Arts and Culture Mini-Grants of up to $3,000 to individuals, groups, and organizations working in the neighborhoods of West Berkeley, the Monument Corridor neighborhood of Concord, the Iron Triangle neighborhood of Richmond, and the Bayview Hunter’s Point neighborhood of San Francisco. 

The application deadline for the Koshland Program Arts and Culture Mini-grants was 5:00 pm on August 13, 2007.  For more information on the Koshland Arts Mini-Grant, please contact Jason Torres Hancock at jth@sff.org.

NEXT APPLICATION DEADLINE:  September, 2008.  Please check our website in Fall, 2008 for applications.

FAITHS Arts Mini-Grants for 2007-2008

Faith-based organizations and congregations often serve as a community hub for immigrant, refugee, and grassroots communities, while acting as a focus for cultural and artistic activity. To enhance this exchange of art and ideas, The San Francisco Foundation’s FAITHS Program and Arts and Culture Program have given the FAITHS Arts and Culture Mini-Grants for the past three years. These mini-grants will support faith-based organizations and groups in providing free, community-based artistic and cultural activities, with a priority focus on immigrant, refugee, and grassroots communities.

To apply for a grant please download the FAITHS Arts Mini-Grant Application. All applications must be hand-delivered or mailed to arrive at The San Francisco Foundation office by 5pm on Monday, November 26, 2007. For more information, please contact Michelle Myles Chambers at mmc@sff.org.

The partnership between Arts and Culture and FAITHS Programs continued for its second year in 2006-2007. 35 applications were received totaling $144,500. A staff committee awarded $35,300 to 20 faith-based organizations. Grantees were chosen from all five counties, serving diverse communities and offering diverse artistic activities. Select highlights include Mayan dance, African American drumming, Tongan Hip Hop, Native American Powwow, Southeast Asian quilting, Hebrew calligraphy, Islamic art, Ethiopian music, and Korean oral histories, among other activities.

NEXT APPLICATION DEADLINE: November, 2008.  Please check our website in Fall, 2008 for applications.

Murphy and Cadogan Fine Arts Fellowships

In support of emerging student artists, the Murphy and Cadogan Fellowships offer multiple awards of $3,500 to Bay Area Fine Arts Graduate Students for their continuing academic study.  In addition to the monetary award, the San Francisco Arts Commission Gallery sponsors an annual exhibit featuring the work of the Murphy & Cadogan Fellowship winners.  In 2007, 135 applications were received and 24 awardees were chosen.  The jurors were Meg Shiffler of the San Francisco Arts Commission Gallery, J.D. Beltran of the San Francisco Art Institute, and Jenny Baie of the Rena Bransten Gallery. 

NEXT APPLICATION DEADLINE:  May 2, 2008.  For complete information, please visit our Art Awards page.

Fund for Artists Matching Commissions for 2008

Seeking to support the development of new work by Bay Area artist and at the same time help small to mid-sized arts groups diversify funding by attracting individual donors, The San Francisco Foundation sent out an RFP to 200+ arts organizations with budgets under $2 million in San Francisco and San Mateo Counties (augmenting similar programs sponsored by Marin Community Foundation and East Bay Community Foundation in their respective counties).

Grants of up to $5,000 were offered to support the commissioning of new works by Bay Area artists, but had to be matched on a one-to-one basis with contributions from individuals. Seventy-three applications were received. With panel input, ten organizations received commissioning challenge grants. To read more about these recipients, please visit our Fund for Artists page.

NEXT APPLICATION DEADLINE: Applications will be online in Late Summer, 2008.

Fund For Artists Arts Teacher Fellowships

This program is part of the Fund for Artists partnership with East Bay Community Foundation, Marin Community Foundation, Peninsula (now Silicon Valley) Community Foundation, and The San Francisco Foundation. For the second year of these fellowships, six fellowships were awarded; two supported by The San Francisco Foundation. To read more about these recipients, please visit our Fund for Artists page.
  

Arts Awards Program

The San Francisco Foundation sponsors a variety of artistic awards that help foster individual growth within our community through its Arts Awards Program. The Program offers a total of ten awards in visual, media, and literary arts, as well as the annual Community Leadership Award, given in the spirit of Helen Crocker Russell, to an under-recognized, mature artist who has made a significant and ongoing contribution in the Bay Area. Annually, the Arts Awards Program awards an average of $100,000 to approximately 40 individual artists in different stages in their career and development. Learn more about how we honor the creative class of the Bay Area through our Art Awards.

Overview