Member Spotlight on Sustainable Arts Foundation

Submitted by Steve on April 2, 2014

For the month of April, our photo banner will feature work from the Sustainable Arts Foundation. This foundation takes on the mission of supporting artists and writers with children. Recognizing that immersion into one’s art can be a real luxury in the context of a family, Sustainable Arts Foundation seeks to help parents continue their creative lives.

The Sustainable Arts Foundation has just completed year two of its pilot residency grant program. This program was designed to challenge artist residencies to make their opportunities more available to parent artists and writers. It is particularly impressed by the range of organizations in this second round: It has offered grants to 16 residency programs in 12 different states supporting a wide range of disciplines in both rural and urban environments.

It’s 4 p.m. A slight breeze moves through the cracks in your garage door studio. For three days, you’ve struggled to connect the image in your head to the canvas in front of you. Finally, inspiration strikes. Everything makes sense and the paint moves easily. Suddenly, you hear a short whimper. Then another. And now a full-blown cry emits from the baby monitor. Naptime is over. With a resigned slump of your shoulders you set your brush down to go take care of your baby.

Our primary focus remains our program of awards to individuals. We’ve clearly identified an underserved community in the world of art making, and we are dedicated to helping them continue to pursue creative lives.

Twice a year, we offer 10 unrestricted cash awards to artists and writers with children, and in each of those rounds, we receive between 800 and 1500 applications. The quality of the work we receive is exceptional; the creative parents applying for our awards don’t lack talent, they simply need more time to create.

Image: Joshua Meyer, And the Love that Loves to Love, Oil on canvas