Photo illustration by Tamara Suber, featuring previous Sachs Program grantees and supported projects.
The Sachs Program for Arts Innovation is happy to announce the opening of our 2022–2023 Grant Cycle.
We are offering six categories of grant opportunities this year—Artist Residency Grants, Community Partnerships Grants, Curricular Support Grants, Independent Creative Production Grants, Project Support Grants, and Student Grants. All Sachs Program grants support innovative arts activities throughout the University of Pennsylvania community, aligned with our mission to support and inspire creative practice and practitioners across the university and our broader community.
There are a few notable changes this year. We will be pausing our Alumni Awards for a year as we work with alumni to reassess that opportunity for future cycles. We have also shifted our Student Grants to an annual cycle and will be relaunching our Ben Art Bucks (smaller student grants) later this year. The third significant change is that Curricular Grants will be limited to non-standing faculty for research for current and future curricular classes.
Complete details about all Sachs Program grant opportunities are available on our website and are outlined below.
How to Apply
IMPORTANT: The first step in applying for any grant opportunity is to review the grant opportunities described on our website and fill out a short inquiry form for the grant that best fits your request.
Deadlines for Student Grants
- November 18, 2022 — deadline to submit a grants inquiry form
- December 5, 2022 — application submission deadline (midnight)
Deadlines for Annual Grants
- December 2, 2022 — deadline to submit a grants inquiry form
- February 1, 2023 — application submission deadline (midnight)
Complete information on all grant opportunities and guidelines can be found on the Sachs Program website.
If you’re interested in applying, even if you’re not quite sure yet what to apply for, we encourage you to reach out. The best way to do so is to submit an inquiry through the individual grant pages on our website. You can also easily access these by clicking through the links below.
We are happy to meet with anyone interested in applying. Meetings are required to apply for an Artist in Residence Grant or Community Partnerships Grant, but are optional for most other categories. We also provide opportunities to review draft applications and are happy to talk through your ideas with you at any time throughout the application process.
Student Grants
Sachs Program Student Grants are offered annually in the fall.
- Student Grants provide up to $4,000 to individual undergraduate and graduate students, and informal student groups, to support large, ambitious projects.
Annual Grants
The Sachs Program 2023 Annual Grants include a range of opportunities to support University of Pennsylvania faculty and staff, formal student groups, departments, programs and centers, and collaborations with community partners.
- Artist Residency Grants provide up to $25,000 to departments, programs, and centers to support an emerging or mid-career artist as a Fellow, Artist in Residence, or Curator in Residence.
- Community Partnerships Grants provide up $15,000 to support collaborations between Penn programs, departments and centers, and community arts and civic organizations.
- Curricular Support Grants provide up to $8,000 for non-standing faculty for pedagogical research and activities that embrace the arts and humanities.
- Independent Creative Production Grants provide up to $8,000 to faculty and staff for independent artistic projects.
- Project Support Grants provide up to $8,000 to faculty and staff, and to departments, programs, and centers. Project Support Grants support visiting artists, performances, exhibitions, events, or other projects that engage audiences within and beyond the Penn community. Student groups can also apply for a Project grant in partnership with a department, program, or center.
Additional Support
Additional support for arts activities is provided through our Ben Art Bucks program, First-Year Seminar Grants, and Rolling Grants, which fall outside of our annual grant cycle and are offered on different timelines. Please visit specific grant opportunity pages to learn how to apply.
- Ben Art Bucks Grants are currently paused and will be resumed later this year. Ben Art Bucks provide up to $250 for students and student groups to support creating or experiencing the arts.
- First-Year Seminar Grants provide up to $2500 to anyone teaching a first-year seminar, to support arts activities and arts-driven pedagogy within their course. Provided in partnership with the College of Arts & Sciences they are offered directly to faculty teaching first-year seminars.
- Rolling Grants provide up to $2,000 to faculty, staff, departments, programs, and centers, to support arts activities that fall outside of our annual grant cycle. Grants are offered on a rolling basis, as funds allow per request.
We are not offering a Responsive Grant Opportunity at this time. The Sachs Program for Arts Innovation is committed to responding to issues of priority for the community. To most effectively fulfill that commitment, The Sachs Program will convene advisory committees for Responsive Grant Opportunities to identify priorities and determine the best approach for providing support. We will share updates when they become available.
Thank You
Thank you for your interest in The Sachs Program for Arts Innovation and for all the important ways that you contribute to Penn’s and to Philadelphia’s creative communities. Please let us know if you have any questions and please share this announcement with your students, colleagues, and peers.
John McInerney, Executive Director
The Sachs Program for Arts Innovation