“What is the recipe for culture in this time?” This question was posed by Je Naè Taylor, a cultural organizer at Highlander Research and Education Center, as part of an organizing training I participated in recently, hosted by Grantmakers in the Arts. I smiled at the idea of recipe because my grandmother taught me to cook but her recipes were not scripted, the measures and steps so embodied, I had to learn by watching and listening to what she shared in the making process. So in thinking about recipes for culture in this time, I began sifting through the images of what I’m seeing and hearing from artists and culture bearers.

The words that surface make for a long list of ingredients: love, care, joy, healing, collective well-being, ancestors, generations, interconnection, belonging, building together, collective strength, adaptation, flexibility, re-imagining, accountability, calls to action, liberation, solidarity, resistance, transformation, truthtelling, mythbusting, mapping, weaving and seeding new futures, storm shaping, survival, dissolving boundaries, regeneration, finding a new north star, thriving.

Thank you artists, culture bearers, and arts leaders for sharing this recipe—and reminding us of good works, of calls to action, of balms. Thank you for a vision that carries us beyond the turbulence and violence in our communities.

It is this recipe that gives me the deepest sense of hope. “Hope,” as Vaclav Havel shared, “… above all, which gives us the strength to live and continually to try new things, even in conditions that seem as hopeless as ours do, here and now.”

Mural project led by BMike with the Eternal Seeds Imagination League at the site of the levee break in the lower 9th ward.

As I write these words from Mni Sóta Makoce, home to the headwaters of the Mississippi River, I send remembrance to our friends and family in the river delta of New Orleans, and surrounding areas, as you mark 20 years since the flooding post-Katrina. May we all stand with you and sing our blessings loud and proud that you are still here.

—Eleanor Savage

Culture Push Fellowship Open Calls

Culture Push has announced its 2026 open calls for New York City-based projects, which include:

• Fellowship for Utopian Practice is a process-based testing ground for new ideas that connect artistic practice, civic engagement, and social justice.

  
  

• Black Utopian Fellowship centers the pedagogy of legacy, inviting creative people of all kinds to propose projects that explore how legacy is taught, inherited, and reimagined.

Forecast Public Artist Grants

Forecast grants support Minnesota-based individual early- and mid-career artists looking to advance their work in public art. These are the longest-standing public art grants in the country that fund self-initiated artist projects, rather than asking artists to answer a call.

Application deadline October 15, 2025.

Foundation for Contemporary Arts Emergency Grants: Cancellation Funds

Cancellation funds are available to experimental artists with previously confirmed public presentations including exhibitions, readings, and performances. Recognizing that artists and venues need to rethink budgets, redirect resources, and limit or eliminate programming, cancellation funds aim to mitigate the loss of financial commitments and outlays made prior to the cancellation.

Grants are accepted on a rolling basis and distributed monthly in amounts up to $3,000.

Haiti Cultural Exchange Lakou NOU Artist-in Residence Program

Haitian Kreyòl for “Our Yard”—Lakou NOU adapts Haiti’s Lakou communal living tradition, where land, family, and spirituality intertwine to create collective resilience. Haiti Cultural Exchange created the Lakou NOU artist residency in 2016 with the conviction that the role of artists is central to social transformations. Artists receive a stipend, mentorship and professional development, and collaboration opportunities.

Application deadline September 19, 2025.

QM-Jerome Foundation Fellowship for Emerging Artists

The Queens Museum (QM) is launching the seventh round of this program for artists in New York City. Two visual artists will receive $20,000 each, professional development, and mentorship from QM staff members working toward an artist’s project.

Application deadline September 22, 2025.

The Studio Museum in Harlem Artist-in-Residence Program

The residency program resumes with dedicated studios in The Studio Museum of Harlem’s new building. It offers artists the opportunity to develop their practice from within the Museum’s walls. Individuals selected for the residency receive institutional guidance, professional development, research support, studio space, and a stipend paid out over the course of the residency.

Applications deadline October 7, 2025.

Artist Opportunity Database (from Fractured Atlas)

Whether you are seeking opportunities or seeking artists to apply for your program, the Artist Oppportunity Database is a new, customizable resource for artist grants, awards, fellowships, open calls, and residencies from around the world.

Photo Credit: Disabled and Here

Thirty-Five Ways Philanthropy Can Celebrate Disability Pride Month

To commemorate the 35th anniversary of the 1990 Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), Disability & Philanthropy Forum has 35 suggestions for your organization to honor, educate, and be in solidarity with disabled movement leaders and advocates leading the way forward on disability justice, rights, and inclusion.

Jerome was proud to sign on to Philanthropic Organizations Committed to Disability Solidarity Respond to the Passage of H.R. 1 to be alongside the Disability & Philanthropy Forum in remaining firm and unwavering in resourcing and being in solidarity with disabled people and organizations by taking even bolder actions to dismantle ableism.

Joy of Being podcast series from In Progress

Artist TJ Lor is leading a team of artists to honor the lives of LGBTQ+ individuals through digital art making. Over the next several months, artists will collaborate to create photographs, videos, podcasts and more, with a formal exhibit scheduled for November 2025.

National Trends 2025

See SMU DataArts’ analysis of key trends shaping the arts sector from 2019 to 2024, drawing on data provided by over 6,500 organizations, covering topics like funding sources, attendance, staffing patterns, and working capital, offering insights into the financial and operational realities facing the field today.

Tish Jones’ (2023 Jerome Hill Artist Fellow, Theater/Performance) was the featured halftime act at the Minnesota Lynx’s Black Excellence Night, performing her spoken word before a crowd of 8,802 on June 17. Watch the full performance!

Tish also joined MPR News with Angela Davis on the August 19 episode, “Talking Gen Z: How young people today use slang.”

Carolyn Holbrook (Executive Director, More Than A Single Story) was selected as McKnight Foundation’s 2025 Distinguished Artist, an award given annually since 1998 to a Minnesota artist or culture bearer who has made significant contributions to the state’s cultural life.

Playwrights’ Center opens its new world-class arts center!

September 20, 2025, from 11 am–5 pm Central

At this open-house community celebration, you’ll meet staff & playwrights, check out our theater & rehearsal studio, learn about membership and fellowships, and get the first peek into all the nooks and crannies of PWC’s beautiful new home.

The Studio Musuem in Harlem opens its new seven-floor, 82,000-square-foot building!

November 15, 2025, from 11 am–9 pm Eastern

Community Day features performances, games, giveaways, and DJ sets throughout the day at Adam Clayton Powell Jr. State Office Building plaza. Then head into the Museum to explore the inaugural exhibitions and drop in to art-making workshops.

We look forward to seeing our philanthropic colleagues at Grantmakers in the Arts’ 2025 annual conference in Minnesota, October 19–22. We especially want to recognize Jerome Foundation Director Sarah Bellamy for her work on the Planning Committee.

Jerome Foundation President Eleanor Savage will participate in three GIA sessions:

• Lisa Willis (Cave Canem), Hallie Hobson (HSH Consulting), Chris Guzaitis (Poetry Foundation), and Eleanor Savage will present an interactive deep dive into Magnitude and Bond: A Field Study on Black Literary Arts Organizations as they explore the implications of the study on the field at large.

• From Grantmaking to Collective Action—Case Studies and Framework and Building Vision and Strategy is a two-part session focused on collective action as a means of mobilizing arts philanthropy and arts organizations as forces for systemic change. Facilitated by Sage Crump and Amber Hamilton and featuring panelists Nick Tilsen, NDN Collective; Signe Harriday, Pillsbury House + Theatre; Carton Turner, Sipp Culture; and Mark Valdez, Mixed Blood Theatre.

• Eleanor will also join Anna Raginskaya (Blue Rider Group), Bari Wiley (HarbourView Equity), and David Sand (Community Capital Management, LLC) for a session on values-aligned investment work.

Jerome Foundation Director Rick Scott will join Anna, Bari, and David to present at the Intentional Endowments Network 2025 Annual Forum in Baltimore (October 27–28).

We invite you to learn more about our new investment strategy that aligns our financial strategy with our core practices and values, and the journey that has brought us here.

Get to know the 2025–28 Jerome Hill Artist Fellows: 45 early career artists from Minnesota and New York City.

Learn more about Jerome-funded programs supporting early-career artists run by arts organizations in Minnesota and New York City.