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(Boston, MA) The US Regional Arts Organizations (USRAOs) today announced a new program, Walking Together: Investing in Folklife in Communities of Color. The program will award significant nonmatching grants to traditional artists, practitioners, and keepers of traditional knowledge that show a deep commitment to sustaining folklife rooted in communities of color, as well as community organizations and collectives supporting folklife in communities of color, including nonprofits, local and Tribal governments, businesses, and more. Program goals include facilitating a robust regional and national support network for traditional arts, supporting collaborative documentation and marketing services, and addressing historic precarity and disinvestment in folk arts and culture that communities of color face.
Folk and traditional arts encompass aesthetics of everyday life. They include forms of expression and knowledge deeply rooted in local histories that are often undervalued or ignored by larger institutions. These art forms and modes of knowledge are directly connected to bolstering the overall health and wellness of communities. For marginalized communities of color in particular, folk and traditional arts can be an essential source of community, expression, and joy.
“We are proud to partner with our Regional Arts Organization colleagues to invest in folk and traditional arts to communities in New England,” said NEFA executive director Harold Steward. “Walking Together is not only valuable for preserving the past but also for enriching the present and shaping the future.
Walking Together is guided by Working Circles of traditional arts leaders of color representing each state and jurisdiction of the Regional Arts Organizations (RAOs). RAO staff work closely with the Working Circles to inform grant guidelines, outreach, and nomination processes. Grants include $50,000 organizational awards and $15,000 individual artist awards to bolster new generations of folk artists, support existing grassroots arts and cultural organizations accountable to communities of color, and facilitate networking between traditional culture bearers and RAOs to work toward systemic change in the arts funding landscape.
The Walking Together grantee interest form will open on Wednesday, January 15, 2025, and close on Tuesday, March 19, 2025. NEFA staff are available for one-on-one sessions on Tuesday afternoons during the open nomination period.
To learn more about the program and the application process, visit the Walking Together program page.
About NEFA
The New England Foundation for the Arts invests in artists and communities and fosters equitable access to the arts, enriching the cultural landscape in New England and the nation. NEFA accomplishes this by granting funds to artists and cultural organizations; connecting them to each other and their audiences; and analyzing their economic contributions. NEFA serves as a regional partner for the National Endowment for the Arts, New England’s state arts agencies, and private foundations. Learn more at www.nefa.org.
About the U.S. Regional Arts Organizations
The United States Regional Arts Organizations (USRAOs) are a collective of six nonprofit arts service organizations committed to strengthening America’s infrastructure by increasing access to creativity for all Americans. We serve the nation’s artists, arts and culture organizations, and creative communities with programs that reflect and celebrate the diversity of the field in which we work. We partner with the National Endowment for the Arts, state arts agencies, individuals, and other public and private funders to develop and deliver programs, services, and products that advance arts and creativity. Together, the USRAOs work to activate and operate national arts initiatives, encourage, and support collaboration across regions, states, and communities, and maximize the coordination of public and private resources invested in arts programs. In Fiscal Year 2023, they invested over $18.4 million across the United States and Jurisdictions, through nearly 2,400 grants that reached more than 1,000 communities. Learn more at usregionalarts.org.