upcoming grant deadline: 05/15/2024

upcoming grant deadline: 05/15/2024

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Eleven Harmony Grants Awarded: In a Fearful Time, Local Women Artists Raise Voices For Tolerance

PHILA, PA—Philadelphia-area women artists offer visionary alternatives to the doubt, anger and fear growing out of September 11th and the "War on Terror." Special Harmony Grants from The Leeway Foundation recently recognized and helped support eleven projects of outstanding merit and inspiration that respond to 9/11 and its aftermath by promoting racial, ethnic, national and religious tolerance, emphasizing the voices of Arabs, Muslims, ethnic minorities and women of color.

Recipients are Avis Asiye Allman, Nathalie Applewhite, Dorothea Braemer, Tara N. Collins, LeAnn Erickson, Ernestine Farmer, Stephanie Renee McNeal, Jodi Netzer, Catalina Rios, Anula Shetty and Donna Wolf-Palacio.

"It's absolutely necessary that we listen to these often unheard voices," said Linda Lee Alter, Leeway's Founder and President. "Using video and film, spoken word and music, painting, poetry and multi-media, these projects will help transform the ways we as a community and country are thinking and feeling about recent events."

Projects include:

  • a painting exhibition concerning the Muslim women of Turkey who are fighting for the freedom to wear hijab, the traditional Muslim headcovering;
  • video projects documenting—in their own words—the experiences of local Arab-Americans and Southeast Asians living with the threat of aggression and violence;
  • a poetry workshop, publication and reading with the youth of a Northeast Philadelphia community who are now struggling, sometimes violently, to make sense of their diversity;
  • a city-wide multi-media project allowing diverse youth to think about and beyond, the propaganda and censorship of which they are targets. Please see attached list for all projects, artists, and performance dates.

"The vast violence and pain of these times can only be healed by truly creative action," said Sara Becker, Leeway's Vice President. "Art is a first step in this process: by transforming the human heart, it takes us beyond set ways of thinking and feeling."

Created in response to the events of September 11th, The Leeway Foundation Harmony Grants program provided grants of up to $2,000 each to eleven Philadelphia-area women artists. A total of $17,250 was awarded. The grantmaking panel consisted of the members of The Leeway Foundation Program Committee and two guest jurors: Thea Abu El-Haj, Senior Research Associate at Research for Action and Gail Marie Lloyd, independent filmmaker and founding member of Image Weavers, a black women's media arts collective.

The Leeway Foundation supports individual women artists, arts programs and arts organizations, focusing on the Greater Philadelphia region, in order to help them achieve personal and community transformation. For more information about awardees, grants and other opportunities, visit the Web site at www.leeway.org or call 215.545.4078.

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Window of Opportunity Grant

The Window of Opportunity (WOO) grant provides financial assistance of up to $1,500 to Leeway grant and award recipients to help them take advantage of imminent, time-sensitive opportunities to support their art for social change practice. The Community Care Fund (CCF) provides financial assistance of up to $1,250 to Leeway grant and award recipients to support with immediate and essential emergency needs. [read more]

deadline
Upcoming events
04/025:30 pm - 7:00 pm

4/2 Transformation Award (LTA) Awardee Panel + Info Session (In Person)

Have questions about the application process for the Leeway Transformation Award (LTA)?

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04/185:30 pm - 6:30 pm

4/18 Transformation Award (LTA) Info Session (Virtual)

Have questions about the application process for the Leeway Transformation Award?

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