Culture & Community | Arts & Culture
Photo courtesy of the Bitsie Clark Fund for Artists.
The Bitsie Clark Fund for Artists, dedicated to enriching Greater New Haven by investing in its artists, is excited to announce plans for its 2023 award process. The Bitsie Fund will award two $5,000 grants this year. One will again be awarded to a Black artist; the other is open to any artist.
“We remain committed to being more intentional about ensuring that our grants are accessible to Black artists,” read a statement from the fund’s advisory board. “We have also modified our application process to ensure that it is equitable for artists of all genders, races, ethnicities and abilities.”
Both grants are open to artists from all disciplines, including visual, performing, and literary arts, as well as film and video. Both are designed for artists who seek to either tackle a major goal in their artistic development, take a risk on a new direction in their work, or advance their career as an artist.
Previous winners include puppeteer and multimedia artist Isaac Bloodworth, photographer Alexandra Diaz, playwright Steve Driffin, musician Jake Gagne, composer and musician Adam Matlock, hip-hop poet and playwright Aaron Jafferis, and photographer Harold Shapiro.
The Bitsie Fund was founded in 2018 in honor of Frances “Bitsie” Clark, the executive director of the Arts Council of Greater New Haven for 20 years. Clark helped launch the Audubon Arts District and helped establish the arts as a driving economic force in Greater New Haven.
The mission of the Fund is to continue Clark’s commitment to artists in the region. The Fund offers grants for individual artists, allowing them to pursue a significant goal at a turning point in their development.
Guidelines for 2023 grant applications, which are due on June 1, are posted on the website here.