Greater New Haven has long boasted an abundance of gifted artists who deserve the financial support to help them soar. The Bitsie Clark Fund for Artists (The Bitsie Fund) seeks to help artists pursue new work or achieve specific creative and career goals. In 2025, The Bitsie Fund will award two $5,000 grants. One is designated for a Black artist. The second is open to all. This Bitsie Clark Fund for Artists grant focuses on individual artists at a significant point in their personal development. Although the impact on the community is a wonderful feature of any project, this grant is not about community development but about individual development. It will support individual artists seeking: o to tackle a major goal in their artistic development, o to take a risk on a new direction in their work, or o to move their career as an artist forward. The Bitsie Clark Fund for Artists will consider applications from individual artists practicing in all creative disciplines, including (but not limited to) dance, music, theater, visual arts, design, craft, literary, voice, poetry, playwriting, composition, and film. Artists who have created a substantial body of recent work and artists emerging in their field are encouraged to apply. The Bitsie Fund is a donor-advised fund housed at the Community Foundation for Greater New Haven. The artist must live in one of the towns served by the Foundation. Towns are listed here: https://www.cfgnh.org/about/overview-facts An artist is considered a resident for this opportunity if the artist has been a resident in one or more of the towns served by the Foundation for the past 12 months or more. An artist who receives a grant from The Bitsie Fund must commit to residing within the service area of the Foundation for the duration of the grant period (one year). The applying artist must be the primary creator of original works of art. The Bitsie Fund will feature the winning project(s) on its website and will make all reasonable efforts to promote, among its donors, events related to this project, and if possible, related to future work by awardees. Artists who receive an award will be expected to mention The Bitsie Clark Fund for Artists grant in their own publicity. Grant funds should be expended during the one-year grant period. A final report will be required at the end of the funding period. This will include an accounting of how the award funds were spent, including an explanation of any changes from the budget submitted in the successful application. Please think through your budget, as any variance or set of variances representing a change of $500 or more from the original budget will need to be approved in advance. Approved uses of funds include, but are not limited to: o Purchase of materials, equipment, or supplies, o Compensation for time spent developing a project or creating art o Hiring others, o Performance or touring costs, o Travel to a destination relevant to the proposal, o Rental of work/studio space or performance space, o Production expenses, such as costumes, props, lighting or sound, o Other items necessary for your development as an artist. The final report will also describe what the artist has accomplished with the grant and how these accomplishments relate to what was outlined in the original project description. If you need help uploading materials, please contact the Fund at info@thebitsieclarkfund.org no later than Tuesday, June 17th for assistance.