As of December 2024, MAP’s national Grant Program is no longer active.
For current activities, learn more about our SPA Program and MAP’s partnerships.
From 1988-2024, MAP distributed 1,600+ grants to 2,500+ performing artists across the United States and its territories. MAP’s grants supported the work and well-being of performing artists via a national, open-call application process. Projects were undertaken in every region of the U.S. as well as internationally. By a conservative estimate, MAP projects reached more than two million audience members.
MAP grantees were at the forefront of re-imagining inherited models of artistic production, cultural paradigms, and related economic practices. Our seed investment was transformational in helping artists test their bold ideas and attract resources to further actualize their long-term ambitions.
Disruption: Challenging existing practices in pursuit of justice
Collaboration: Working together to foster a healthier environment
One of the hallmarks of MAP’s Grant Program was a commitment to iteration and responsiveness. We continually updated the program in response to artist feedback and shifting needs in the field, as outlined below. MAP’s former Director of Grants and Research, Lauren Slone (2013-2023) led many of these changes:
Until 2018, MAP’s review process took place in two stages.
In 2019, MAP moved to a highly decentralized grant selection process carried out by a cohort of 59 reviewers who scored proposals and recommended final grantees. Rather than limiting the final funding recommendation to a small panel, MAP distributed decisionmaking power more widely across a larger group of artists and arts workers from across the U.S.
In 2020, MAP’s grant selection process took place amidst the catastrophic COVID-19 global health crisis. In response, we restructured our 2020 grant cycle and increased the grantee pool to 171 artists, as opposed to ~40 grantees as originally planned. 90 finalists received unrestricted grants of $12,500 and 81 semifinalists received unrestricted grants of $2,500.
In 2021, MAP selected 55 grantees from previously aligned applicants (artists whose projects were funded or advanced to the final two rounds of review in MAP's 2017-2020 grant cycles). Eligible artists were invited to submit a short application form and grantees were chosen using a randomized selection process. These changes were made to reduce application burden as the COVID-19 pandemic’s negative effects on artists continued.
In 2022, MAP’s open call incorporated the decentralized review cohort and randomized selection changes made in our 2019 and 2021 grant cycles. In Step 1, a cohort of 60+ artists and arts workers completed independent assessments of each proposal. In Step 2, an Excel function randomly drew 85 grantee projects from the top-scoring projects. During this cycle, MAP pooled the grant funds allocated for 2022 and 2023 to instead offer a single two-year grant cycle, reducing the artist applicant labor year-to-year and resulting in $2.6 million distributed to artists.
2024 followed the same process as our 2022 grant cycle. MAP announced the retirement of the Grant Program and distributed our final grants. In our final grant cycle we received a record 2,378 requests for support, emphasizing artists’ continued need for flexible funding to create new work.
MAP launched the Microgrant Program in 2022. Each MAP grantee was awarded an additional $1,000 to direct to a peer artist of their choice, further expanding the reach of MAP’s funding and circle of support. Microgrants were unrestricted funding and required no application or reporting; recipients were free to use funds as they chose. We retired the Microgrant Program in conjunction with the Grant Program in 2024.
MAP hired artists and arts professionals who demonstrated their own excellence of craft, leadership, and spirit of generosity to their peers as application reviewers. Individuals were recruited by MAP staff through their knowledge of the field and through an open, field-wide nomination process.
The reviewers’ guiding role in MAP award selections allowed the program to be responsive to movement in the field, as well as the socio-political moment, rather than to be prescriptive. MAP invested full authority in reviewers to interpret the program goals according to their knowledge and expertise. Reviewers reflected the range of diversities MAP supports in its grantees (aesthetic, racial, ethnic, gender, geographic, career stage, independent artists and those connected to institutions, among others). All reviewers were paid an honorarium based on the number of hours of service required to participate.
MAP’s Grant Program committed to administering an anti-oppressive and collective decision-making approach to grant-making. MAP required reviewers to agree to the Code of Ethics, recuse themselves from conflicts of interest, check in with staff regularly during the process, and follow scoring instructions that supported their interpretation of MAP’s funding parameters.
Interested in partnering with MAP? We work with fellow arts organizations to create customized arts programs that serve artists of all disciplines and backgrounds.
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