MKFA: Infinite Expansion Grants (formerly Organizational Support Grants)

MKFA: Infinite Expansion Grants (formerly Organizational Support Grants)

Status: ACTIVE
Funder: Mike Kelley Foundation for the Arts
Amount: US $10,000 - US $50,000
Last Updated: July 12, 2025

Summary

The Mike Kelley Foundation for the Arts offers the Infinite Expansion Grants to support arts organizations that engage in innovative projects reflecting critical thinking and risk-taking in the arts. With grants up to $50,000, the program aims to honor the legacy of Mike Kelley by fostering experimental work that culminates in public presentations by December 2027. Eligible organizations must be based in Los Angeles County and have an operating budget of $5 million or less, among other criteria.

Overview

Mission The Mike Kelley Foundation for the Arts advances the artist’s spirit of critical thinking, risk taking, and provocation in the arts. Established by Kelley in 2007, the Foundation seeks to further Kelley’s philanthropic work through grants to arts organizations and artists for innovative projects that reflect his multifaceted artistic practice. The Foundation also preserves the artist’s legacy more broadly and fosters the understanding of his life and creative achievements through educational initiatives including exhibitions, educational events, publications and the preservation and care of the Foundation’s art collections and archives. Infinite Expansion Grants In keeping with our mission, the Mike Kelley Foundation for the Arts (MKFA) supports arts organizations that foster critical thinking, risk-taking, and provocation in the arts through innovative programming and projects with artists. The grant program furthers Mike Kelley’s philanthropic work and honors his legacy by awarding funds to arts organizations that reflect the spirit of his practice. For the 2026 grant cycle, MKFA will continue to offer the Infinite Expansion Grants (IEG). The grant takes its name from Mike Kelley’s Infinite Expansion (1983), a large drawing depicting a tiny landscape in the center of the work from which radiate larger and larger psychedelic wood grain patterns. With this in mind, the aim of these grants is to emphasize the expansive impact that arts organizations and artists make in the world and the communities they build. The IEG centers on the experimental and thought-provoking work of artists presented by arts nonprofits and fiscally sponsored organizations in LA County. Grants of up to $50,000 will be awarded based on the submission of an upcoming project. Award size will depend on the project budget, operating budget, and how much MKFA can offer in awards. While the grants will primarily support the culmination of an artist project, a portion of the funds may be directed toward general operating support.

Eligibility

You can learn more about this opportunity by visiting the funder's website. To be eligible for MKFA’s 2025 Orga­ni­za­tion­al Support Grants, your organization must meet all of the following requirements:Nonprofit arts institutions and organizations whose programming portfolio aligns with MKFA’s core values of critical thinking, risk taking, and provocation in the arts. Please look at past Artist Project Grants and Orga­ni­za­tion­al Support Grants awardees to see programs that exemplify these values.Nonprofit arts institutions and organizations with an operating budget of $5 million or less, located in Los Angeles County, have obtained an IRS Determination Letter reflecting their Los Angeles address. Organizations must have an updated Guidestar profile that verifies their current nonprofit status.Organizations must have nonprofit status for at least two years by June of the application year.Organizations must have at least two years of documented public programs by June of the application year. Additionally, organizations must be planning programming through 2027 as the application will ask for an upcoming artist(s) project that must culminate by December 2027.Organizations without nonprofit status can propose to use a fiscal sponsor, and these requests will be evaluated for eligibility on a case-by-case basis at the Foundation’s discretion. Both the organization and the fiscal sponsor need to have been in operation for at least two years, be based in Los Angeles County as described above, and the application must come from the fiscal sponsor. Each nonprofit is limited to one submission when applying for their organization. Fiscal Sponsors can apply multiple times as sponsors as long as the organizations they are sponsoring meet the eligibility criteria mentioned above.There is no restriction on past APG or OSG awardees. Organizations that meet the eligibility criteria and have been awarded an Artist Project Grants or Orga­ni­za­tion­al Support Grant in the past are eligible to apply to the 2026 OSG.Generally, MKFA grants are designed to support visual arts organizations that present contemporary art, and art historically important exhibitions. The Foundation recognizes, however, that disciplinary boundaries are often fluid. Other types of presenting organizations with a history of inter­dis­ci­pli­nary work, will be considered on a case-by-case basis, at the Foundation’s discretion. Examples of organizations that might be of interest to the Foundation are organizations that present experimental music, movement-based practices that have a relationship to performance art, or experimental theater. Please email the Foundation with any questions at grants@​mikekelleyfoundation.​org.

Ineligibility

Ineligible to ApplyArts organizations with an operating budget of more than $5 million.Arts organizations whose main focus is arts education or youth programs.Arts organizations that curate through open calls.Arts organizations that primarily fundraise through programming.Arts organizations that focus on an annual film festival program.