The four-year old Velocity Fund, a regional regranting partner of the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, has moved to its new home at the arts non-profit, Philadelphia Contemporary. In its new home, the Velocity Fund will continue its mission of distributing funds directly to Philadelphia artists and acting as a local leader to foster exciting and community-spirited projects with its grants of up to $5,000.
More from The Velocity Fund press announcement
“It is such a privilege for us to continue The Velocity Fund for Philadelphia’s artists because of this overwhelming support from the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts. Now more than ever we need to support all of our city’s artists and we are so thankful that Philadelphia Contemporary has been entrusted to make this support possible.”
-co-signed by The Velocity Fund Team
Rob Blackson, Co-Director of Philadelphia Contemporary Curatorial Program and Curator of Citywide Initiatives
Nicole Pollard, Associate Curator, Philadelphia Contemporary
Cindy Stockton Moore, Senior Project Officer, The Velocity Fund and Added Velocity
Over the past three granting cycles [2018, 2019, and 2020] The Velocity Fund has supported thirty-two dynamic projects around the city – with a diverse range of outcomes and impact; everywhere from alternative phonebooks to traveling cabarets, community ceramics to speculative time portals, documentary film projects to environmental sculpture.
“We are honored to support Rob, Cindy, and Nicole in managing the Velocity Fund and to further support Philadelphia artists” – Harry Philbrick, Founding Director, Philadelphia Contemporary
Two grantees comment on the importance of The Velocity Fund award to their work
“I just was very happy that the whole application process was straight-forward and that the money really enabled me to create new work instead of spending a lot of energy to find the resources that I needed.”
– Pedro Ospina, The Open Kitchen Sculpture Garden, current 2020 Velocity Fund grantee
“The Velocity Fund award came along at a moment in the growth of Black Spatial Relics that was pivotal. And that grant for the first convening was catalytic, so much so that it affirmed our need to commit to convening Black radical performance makers regularly. Without this local pool, I’m not sure how we would have been able to build that inaugural space.”
– Arielle Julia Brown, Creative Producer, Black Spatial Relics, 2019 Velocity Fund Grantee, 2020 Added Velocity grantee
On-line application available March 25 and information sessions
In 2021, The Velocity Fund is again inviting artists –and artist groups– based in Philadelphia to take advantage of this opportunity. The on-line application will be available beginning Thursday, March 25, 2021. Artists will have until Monday, June 14th to complete their proposal. Projects should be experimental in nature and explore collaborative processes between artistic genres, leading to expanded audiences, fresh outcomes and an enriched multi-disciplinary discourse. There is no fee to apply.
This year, The Velocity Fund will continue to adapt its Information Sessions to convene safely. They will host a range of on-line and hybrid sessions working with the Philadelphia Collaborative Arts Consortium and community partners like Fleisher Art Memorial, The Leeway Foundation, CFEVA, Schuylkill Environmental Center, Philadelphia Folklore Project and uCity Science Center’s Venture Cafe. During these sessions, they will answer questions about the application process and introduce past and current projects. In addition,The Velocity Fund will offer on-one-on applicant support via video conference, phone and masked outdoor meets. The latest listings can be found on their News/Events page.
More on The Velocity Fund and Philadelphia Contemporary
The Velocity Fund was established in 2018 with support from the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, whose regional regranting supports vibrant under-the-radar artistic activity by partnering with local cultural institutions. This year, in 2021, The Velocity Fund has moved to Philadelphia Contemporary, a non-profit whose support of cross-disciplinary art through a dynamic model of collaboration and partnership is aligned with The Velocity Fund’s goal to connect with artists across the city. As a part of the Philadelphia Collaborative Arts Consortium, Philadelphia Contemporary enables The Velocity Fund to work with a wide range of partner institutions, amplifying outreach.
Applications Open: March 25, 2021 – via Submittable
Applications Due: June 14, 2021
Info Sessions are scheduled March 30 through June 4 – register on the News/Events page.
One-on-one applicant support is available by appointment and during scheduled drop-in hours during the week of June 7-11. velocity@philadelphiacontemporary.org
