Spencer Museum, Charlotte Street Foundation relaunch Rocket Grants

LAWRENCE — The Spencer Museum of Art at the University of Kansas and Charlotte Street Foundation have announced the return of Rocket Grants with the call for artists opening May 13.

With support from the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Rocket Grants provide direct funding to artists in the Kansas City region who are creating exceptional, under-the-radar and artist-centered projects in public spaces. Artists, curators, collectives and collaborative groups residing within an 80-mile radius of the Kansas City metropolitan area are eligible to apply.

Rocket Grants award up to $6,000 to individuals or artist groups for projects that exist outside established venues such as museums, galleries, theaters or arts districts. Artists are encouraged to address the community at large, or choose a smaller targeted audience. The long-term goals of the Rocket Grants program are to encourage emerging and nontraditional artistic practices in the Kansas City region; to contribute to a thriving arts community; and to build bridges between geographic and cultural communities.

Rocket Grants projects are selected by a jury of four arts professionals working both locally and nationally. Proposals are evaluated on criteria including innovation, thoughtful context, feasibility and meaningful impact.

To apply artists must submit a Letter of Interest (LOI) online by June 27. The LOI should include a project summary, the artists involved, the intended audience, the specific context of the work, budget needs and relevance of the project. The jury will assess the Letters of Interest and invite selected projects to complete a full application in July 2022. Rocket Grants recipients will be announced in September 2022.

Through continued support from the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, the Rocket Grants program has previously awarded funding to artists for 10 cycles from 2010 to 2019. During 2020 and 2021 the funding was distributed through Rocket Relief emergency grants of $1,000 each to support a total of 405 visual and multidisciplinary artists during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“The Spencer Museum is excited to continue our support of local artists through Rocket Grants, expecting that we relaunch the program into a new world where artists are responding and creating in different ways post-COVID,” said Saralyn Reece Hardy, Spencer Museum director.

Rocket Grants projects encompass a broad range of visual art, performance, film, video, new media, writing, public programming, social practice and interdisciplinary work. The Rocket Grant Blog includes an online archive and documentation of past projects.

For any questions regarding the application process, please contact Kimberly Kitada, Jedel Family Foundation Curatorial Fellow, at kimberly@charlottestreet.org.

Related Programming

The public is invited to attend in-person information sessions that will answer questions about the application and jury process.

May 26, 6-7 p.m.

Spencer Museum of Art, 1301 Mississippi St., Lawrence, KS

May 31, 6-7 p.m.

Charlotte Street Foundation Library, 3333 Wyoming St., Kansas City, Missouri.

Photo: 50/50 Gallery, 2014 Rocket Grant project.