Big Ears Festival
Funding Overview
From IRS Form 990 filings · 2019–2025
Total received
$3.2M
Foundation funders
24
Grants recorded
70
Years covered
2019–2025
Who funds Big Ears Festival?
Big Ears Festival is funded by 24 grantmakers, led by The Aslan Foundation ($1.1M), Haslam Family Foundation Inc ($525K), The Boyd Foundation ($450K). In total, IRS Form 990 filings record $3.2M in grants to Big Ears Festival between 2019–2025.
Funding over time
Grant dollars and counts received per year
From 2019 to 2025, annual grant giving ranged from $10K (2019) to $1.2M (2024). In 2025 it made 8 grants totaling $102K.
What grants has Big Ears Festival received?
Individual grants from IRS Form 990 filings, newest first
| Year | Funder | Purpose | Amount |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | Arts and Culture Alliance of Greater Knoxville | SUPPORT ART IN THE C | $29,000 |
| 2025 | Hobson-Wood Foundation Inc | Support Educational artist residencies and youth engagement activities in 2026 and 2027 | $25,000 |
| 2025 | The Aaron Copland Fund for Music Inc | ENCOURAGE KNOWLEDGE AND APPRECIATION OF CONTEMPORARY AMERICAN MUSIC | $15,000 |
| 2025 | National Philanthropic Trust | CULTURE & ARTS | $14,227 |
| 2025 | Knoxville Cbid Management Corporation DBA Downtown Knoxville Alliance | ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT TO BENEFIT DOWNTOWN KNOXVILLE | $10,000 |
| 2025 | South Arts Inc | FY25 SA/NEA Regional Engagement / Arts in Community | $7,500 |
| 2025 | Gary and Evelyn Trachten Family | GENERAL SUPPORT | $1,000 |
| 2025 | The Fan Fox and Leslie R Samuels | GENERAL OPERATING SUPPORT | $129 |
| 2024 | The Boyd Foundation | TO COLLABORATE WITH ARTISTS, AUDIENCES, AND COMMUNITIES TO CREATE JOYFUL, MEANINGFUL, AND TRANSCENDENT CULTURAL EXPERIENCES THAT DEFY BOUNDARIES, FUEL CURIOSITY, IGNITE THE SPIRIT, AND NOURISH THE SOUL | $300,000 |
| 2024 | Haslam Family Foundation Inc | GENERAL OPERATING SUPPORT | $300,000 |
| 2024 | The Aslan Foundation | 2024 GRANT | $229,167 |
| 2024 | Johnson WD and SC Family Foundation | GENERAL OPERATING EXPENSES | $100,000 |
| 2024 | AHB Foundation Inc | THE MISSION OF BIG EARS IS TO COLLABORATE WITH ARTISTS, AUDIENCES, AND COMMUNITIES TO CREATE JOYFUL, MEANINGFUL, AND TRANSCENDENT CULTURAL EXPERIENCES THAT DEFY BOUNDARIES, FUEL CURIOSITY, IGNITE THE SPIRIT, AND NOURISH THE SOUL. | $75,000 |
| 2024 | Arts and Culture Alliance of Greater Knoxville | SUPPORT ART IN THE C | $29,000 |
| 2024 | Hobson-Wood Foundation Inc | Big Ears 2025 Outreach Program | $25,000 |
| 2024 | The New York Community Trust | FOR GENERAL SUPPORT. | $25,000 |
| 2024 | The Aslan Foundation | 2025 GRANT | $20,832 |
| 2024 | The Shifting Foundation | TO SUPPORT THE OVERALL MISSION OF THE ORGANIZATION | $15,000 |
| 2024 | The Aaron Copland Fund for Music Inc | ENCOURAGE KNOWLEDGE AND APPRECIATION OF CONTEMPORARY AMERICAN MUSIC | $15,000 |
| 2024 | East Tennessee Foundation | ARTS & CULTURE | $11,500 |
| 2024 | John D and Catherine T Macarthur Foundation | TO SUPPORT A CONVERSATION BETWEEN MACARTHUR FELLOWS, JAZZ CELLIST AND COMPOSER TOMEKA REID (2022) AND ELECTRONIC MUSIC COMPOSER AND PERFORMER IKUE MORI (2022) AS PART OF THE 2024 BIG EARS FESTIVAL | $10,640 |
| 2024 | Knoxville Cbid Management Corporation DBA Downtown Knoxville Alliance | ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT TO BENEFIT DOWNTOWN KNOXVILLE | $10,000 |
| 2024 | National Philanthropic Trust | HUMAN SERVICES | $6,700 |
| 2024 | Vanguard Charitable Endowment Program | FOR RECIPIENT'S EXEMPT PURPOSE | $6,000 |
| 2024 | Bonnaroo Works Fund | FOR LOCAL REINVESTMENT AND ASSET BUILDING FOR THE COMMUNITIES WE LIVE IN | $5,000 |
| 2024 | The Amphion Foundation Inc | ENCOURAGE THE PERFORMANCE OF CONTEMPORARY CONCERT MUSIC | $4,500 |
| 2024 | Texas Instruments Foundation | DONATIONS TO COLLEGES, UNIVERSITIES AND OTHER ORGANIZATIONS UNDER "MATCHING GIFTS PROGRAM." | $1,033 |
| 2024 | Gary and Evelyn Trachten Family | GENERAL SUPPORT | $1,000 |
| 2023 | The Aslan Foundation | 2023 GRANT | $250,000 |
| 2023 | The Roy Cockrum Foundation | Our Common Nature: An Appalachian Celebration | $250,000 |
Showing 30 most recent of 70 recorded grants.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who funds Big Ears Festival?
Big Ears Festival is funded by 24 grantmakers, led by The Aslan Foundation ($1.1M), Haslam Family Foundation Inc ($525K), The Boyd Foundation ($450K). In total, IRS Form 990 filings record $3.2M in grants to Big Ears Festival between 2019–2025.
Who is Big Ears Festival's largest funder?
The Aslan Foundation is the largest recorded funder of Big Ears Festival, with $1.1M across 7 grants (2020–2024).
How much grant funding has Big Ears Festival received?
IRS 990 filings record $3.2M in grants to Big Ears Festival across 70 grants from 24 funders between 2019–2025. Filings are published on a delay, so recent grants may not appear yet.
Looking for funders like Big Ears Festival's?
Grantable's AI matches your organization against 200,000+ grantmakers — including every funder on this page — using their real giving history.
You, clicking into all 24 funders
~2.8 hrs
at ~7 min per funder profile
Your agents, the same 24
~1 min
every profile evaluated and scored, with reasoning
Grant data is drawn from IRS Form 990 filings via Grantable's GrantGraph™. Filings are published on a delay; recent grants may not appear yet.
Looking for funders like Big Ears Festival's?