Louisiana's World Makers Awards

Program Type: Unrestricted arts and culture grants for Louisiana artists and cultural workers

Total Awards: 32 Louisiana artists, cultural workers, and tradition bearers received $320,000 in total funding

Geographic Scope: Louisiana state-wide

Focus Areas:

• Climate impacts
• Mass incarceration
• Cultural memory and legacy
• Displacement and erasure of Black and Indigenous communities

Eligibility Criteria:

• Louisiana artists, cultural workers, and tradition bearers
• Primary focus: BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, people of color) artists
• Priority given to those born, raised, and/or with generational ties to Louisiana
• Specific funds allocated for:
  • Elder artists and culture bearers
  • BIPOC transgender and gender-nonconforming artists

Program Purpose:
FFL believes that artists, cultural workers, and tradition bearers offer communities new and expanded ways of seeing, being, and creating. The awards support visionary creative work that points communities toward justice and liberation, recognizing that being a culturally-rooted Louisiana artist is a radical act essential to the wellbeing of Louisiana.

Program Goals:

• Sustain and illuminate visionary work of artists and culture bearers that makes other worlds possible
• Increase financial resources flow to Louisiana's Black, Indigenous, artists of color, and TGNC artists
• Provide flexible, unrestricted projects at any stage of development
• Support personal and living expenses
• Support artistic/cultural work addressing climate, incarceration, cultural memory, and/or displacement issues
• Uplift and honor Louisiana's cultural traditions
• Expand FFL's understanding of artistic and cultural practice across the state

Selection Panel:
Includes intergenerational Louisiana BIPOC artists and culture workers diverse in:

• Race and ethnicity
• Age
• Geographic location
• Gender identity
• Artistic/cultural practice

How to Apply

Application Method: Online via Submittable

Timeline (2021 Round):

• December 16, 2020: Call for proposals announced
• January 14, 2021, 6pm: Informational webinar (Registration available; also viewable on FFL Facebook)
• February 1, 2021, 11:59pm Central Time: Application deadline
• Early March 2021: Panel meetings
• March 31, 2021: Award notifications
• Early April 2021: Grants distributed

Grant Assessment/Selection Criteria:

1. Depth and specificity of connection to Louisiana artistic and cultural traditions
2. Clarity of vision; compelling vision
3. Alignment of creative/artistic practice and use of funds with FFL values and justice themes
4. Community connectedness and accountability

Required Materials:

• Online application via Submittable
• Project description
• Budget information
• Statement of alignment with FFL values

Contact for Questions:
arts@foundationforlouisiana.org