Kindling Fund Grant Workshop at the Haystack Mountain School of Crafts

Please join us for a Kindling Fund grant workshop hosted by SPACE’s Executive Director, Kelsey Halliday Johnson. The workshop will run for about an hour with time for questions at the end. Elizabeth will present a brief overview of the program and will coach audiences on how to create a competitive application.

The Kindling Fund supports artist-organized projects that engage audiences and incorporate the visual arts in inventive and meaningful ways. The Kindling Fund distributes about $65,000 in grants ranging from $1,500 – $5,000 to artists across Maine each year. With a focus on risk and experimentation, successful projects value unconventional engagement, critical dialogue, collaboration, and create new models for presenting artists’ work. The Kindling Fund is administered by SPACE Gallery as part of the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Arts’ Regional Regranting Program.

The Fund seeks to support a variety of publicly accessible projects, with a strong interest in alternative spaces/practices and site-specific presentations that don’t fit in established institutions or venues. The Kindling Fund also seeks to define the visual arts in the most expansive ways possible. In the context of this grant, we believe the visual arts include: photography, performance, video, ceramics, earth works, drawing, bookmaking, weaving, crafts, installations, painting, mail art, printmaking, basketry, sculpture, calligraphy, social-engagement, participatory or community driven projects, glass, and design.

Projects supported by The Kindling Fund have included: curatorial projects that focus on unconventional artistic practice; public art projects, interventions and site specific installations; the publication of writing directly related to the visual arts; and the creation of artist residencies and artist-run exhibition spaces.

The grant was established in 2015 in response to the needs of individual artists across the state and to the needs of Maine’s arts community at large. The Regional Regranting Program connects Warhol Foundation support with localized partner organizations who value artist-driven contemporary and independent practices. Thirteen other regranting initiatives around the United States fulfill a similar need.

For more details on how to apply, please visit our FAQ page or email us.

 The Haystack Mountain School of Crafts is an international craft school located on the Atlantic Ocean in Deer Isle, Maine. The school offers a two-week residency, one- and two-week intensive studio-based workshops in a variety of craft media including clay, glass, metals, paper, blacksmithing, weaving, woodworking and more. Programs range from short workshops to two-week sessions and anyone may participate, from beginners to advanced professionals.