The Open Fund is now open for 2024. The annual visual arts grant program began accepting new applications on Feb. 25 for “visual artist initiatives that are experimental, collaborative and public-oriented,” according to a press release. Applications close on March 25.
In total, the program will award up to $120,000 to artists and groups based in Milwaukee County, given in $5,000 and $10,000 increments.
The Open Fund is run by two Wisconsin art spaces, The Open in Riverwest and The Poor Farm in Little Wolf, Wisconsin. This is the fund’s third grant cycle since it began in 2020, and this year’s funding comes from The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts Regional Re-granting Program to double its award money from last year. The Ruth Foundation for the Arts Wisconsin Artist Grant will help distribute the awards.
It’s time to pick your Milwaukee favorites for the year!
“The goal is to fill a void, that a lot of artist-run projects don’t actually get support,” says John Riepenhoff, artist and director of The Open. “This is a call-out to artists who are thinking about their own relationship to community in their practice … to think more expansively about where value and authorship can originate from.”
To be considered, projects are required to be visual arts-related and free to the public in Milwaukee County. A wide range of mediums and approaches are eligible, including temporary installations or exhibitions, performances or events, publications, digital and educational initiatives, public art and more.
Projects are encouraged to be collaborative and promote the “cross-pollination” of ideas, Riepenhoff says – individual projects presenting only one person’s work won’t be accepted, nor applications associated with nonprofits or commercial galleries and organizations. Full-time students are also ineligible, as well as lead organizers not based in Milwaukee County. LGBTQ+ artists, artists of color and artists with disabilities are encouraged to apply.
“We want to reach a lot of parts of the Milwaukee community that may or may not feel welcome to be participating in the contemporary art conversation,” Riepenhoff says.
Three out-of-state jurors will select the winning projects: Minneapolis conceptual artist Candice Davis, Tokyo artist and cook Tatsuhiko Togashi, and Arkansas artist and curator Haynes Riley. Grantees will be notified in April, and money will be distributed in May.
The Open Fund will hold a virtual Q&A session answering questions about the grant program on March 15 at noon. For more information about guidelines and eligibility, visit The Open Fund.
