Grants + Awards

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. Learn more about our opportunities and how to apply below. OPPORTUNITY EQUITY Charlotte Street values an equitable, diverse, and inclusive art community, which we interpret as all artists having fair access to the tools and resources they need to realize their artistic endeavors. We acknowledge structural inequities that have excluded individuals and communities from opportunity based on race, gender, disability, sexual orientation, class, age, and geography, and strive to counter those inequities in our work. We encourage panelists and selection committees to actively consider and seek to recommend a diverse pool of applicants as finalists and recipients of these awards and all Charlotte Street programs. Grants Cultural Producers Grants The Cultural Producers Grants Program awards $50,000 in total funds for low-budget grassroots arts organizations and artist-run projects in Kansas City. Kansas City has long enjoyed a thriving and diverse ecology of small artist-run spaces, collectives, groups, and organizations, which have sometimes suffered from lack of support needed to establish sustainability. These new Cultural Producer Grants aim to both draw attention to these critical elements of our arts ecosystem as well as direct some much-needed support their way. Learn More Rocket Grants 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. Up to $6,000 are awarded to individuals or artist groups for projects that exist outside established venues such as museums, galleries, theaters or arts districts. Call for proposals open every May. Learn More Awards Visual Artist Awards Charlotte Street Visual Artist Awards recognize and significantly support Kansas City-based visual artists of all media who are creating exceptional, contemporary work. Providing artists with financial support, critical recognition, and public exposure, these Awards aim to reward artistic accomplishment to date and to support the continued development of artists’ work and careers. Learn More Generative Performing Artist Awards The Charlotte Street Generative Performing Artist Awards aim to recognize and significantly support Kansas City-based artists producing exceptional performance-based work that is original, innovative, and progressive. Providing artists with financial support, critical recognition, and public exposure, these Awards aim to reward artistic accomplishment to date and to support the continued development of artists’ work and careers. Learn More Byron and Eileen Cohen Passport to Exploration and Inspiration: A passport to explore and encounter new ideas, expand awareness, and return inspired This annual award provides one Kansas City-based visual artist with funding to attend a leading national/international art fair for their particular interest. The award is administered through Charlotte Street and is funded by contributions towards the memory of well-known Kansas City gallerists Byron and Eileen Cohen. The award honors the Cohen’s passion for art, artists’ needs for travel and their desire to connect Kansas City artists to the national and international arts world. Learn More Art Omi International Residency Every year, Charlotte Street offers an opportunity for one artist to attend the Art Omi Residency in Ghent, New York. All past local Visual Artist award fellows currently living in Kansas City are eligible to apply, as well as nominees from former Art Omi Residents. Art Omi guarantees one spot to a Charlotte Street artist and selections are facilitated by the Art Omi selection panel. The chosen artist receives a three week, fully-funded residency. Art Omi invites 30 artists from around the world, representing a wide diversity of artistic styles and practices, to gather in rural New York for four weeks each summer to experiment, collaborate and share ideas. Learn More Cultivating an environment where contemporary art and artists thrive Join Our Email List Subscribe to Latest News About Plan Your Visit Support Work With Us News Contact 816.221.5115 [email protected] 3333 Wyoming Street Kansas City, MO 64111 Facebook Instagram YouTube Copyright All Rights Reserved © 2022 Creative Confluence Fund: Artists LOI Due September 30; Organizations Deadline November 24! Apply here. Cultural Producer Grants Recipients 2024 KC Mutual Aid Skool Manor Records Poetic Underground Roaming Center for Magnetic Alternatives Union Library Viva La Tinta KC We Open Shop Whim Productions 2023 African American Artists Collective KC Defender KC Public Theatre My Region Wins! Northeast Arts KC One Mic Stand KC Plug. Print League KC Sass-A-Brass We Open Shop 2022 Boon Area 1 Strange Fruit Femmes Tribe Studio Incubator Reel Images Curiouser & Curiouser Harriet’s Herbal Club 2021 Stray Cat Film Center No Divide KC Poetry Club Collective Manheim Gardens KC Zine Con La Resistencia Press The Cecilia Series X Startup Resident Recipients 2018-2019 Startup Residents Stray Cat Film Center 1662 Broadway Blvd, KCMO www.straycatfilmcenter.com Stray Cat Film Center is an artist-run non-profit media arts organization and neighborhood microcinema space. Stray Cat is dedicated to offering our community film programming that reflects the diversity of voices and visions in cinematic expression and using cinema as a conduit to inspire, educate and explore. 2019-2020 Startup Residents Blackbox on Troost 4001 Troost Avenue, KCMO Follow them on Facebook Driven by artists and community leaders from the Troost Corridor and the east side of Kansas City, Blackbox on Troost hosts community theater performances, learning workshops, cross-disciplinary media collaboration