The Sachs Program for Arts Innovation
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2020 Grant Awards

In 2020, The Sachs Program for Arts Innovation awarded its highest number of grants in its three years running. Through the annual adjudicated grants process, we supported 34 diverse and ambitious projects and awarded upwards of $270,000 in funding.

Additionally, through a partnership with the College of Arts and Sciences, we supported 9 First-Year Seminars, which took place during the fall 2019 and spring 2020 semesters. Through our Ben Art Bucks program, we awarded quick-turnaround grants to over 40 students and student groups, supporting a range of activities related to creating and/or experiencing the arts. And, through our 2020 Black Artists Support Grant, we funded 8 new projects by alumni, faculty, staff, and students.

We are grateful to be able to support all of this wonderful arts activity on campus, and to be a resource to our community in this way. With this said, it brings great joy to share with you our 2020 Grant Awards.


  • 30 Americans
    • Aaron Levy
    • College of Arts & Sciences
      • Teaching Art Grant
      • First-Year Seminar
  • Echando Ganas
    • Aaron Levy
    • School of Arts & Sciences
      • Presenting Art Grant
      • Project Support
      • Provosts Interdisciplinary
  • Using Novel Materials for Adaptable Acoustics
    • Abhinav Ramkumar and William Deo
    • College of Arts & Sciences, School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (Penn Engineering), Vagelos Integrated Program in Energy Research (VIPER)
      • Student Grant
      • Student Arts Innovation
  • The Afterverse
    • Alex Smith
    • The Rotunda
      • Making Art Grant
      • 2020 Black Artists Support
      • Responsive Opportunity
  • Performing Environmental Feminisms
    • Alice Paul Center for Research on Gender, Sexuality, and Women; Gender, Sexuality and Women's Studies Program; Native American and Indigenous Studies; Department of Music
    • Native American and Indigenous Studies (NAIS) Initiative, School of Arts & Sciences, The Center for Research in Feminist, Queer, and Transgender Studies
      • Presenting Art Grant
      • Collaborative Provosts Interdisciplinary
      • Project Support
  • The Asian American Experience and the Craft of Writing with Jenny Zhang
    • Asian American Studies
    • School of Arts & Sciences
      • Making Art Grant
      • Visiting Artists
  • First-Gen Stories: A Web Series
    • Bethany Monea
    • Graduate School of Education
      • Student Grant
      • Student Arts Innovation
  • The Gathering Workshop Series
    • Black Cultural Studies Collective
    • School of Arts & Sciences
      • Making Art Grant
      • 2020 Black Artists Support
      • Responsive Opportunity
  • Arts and Well-being
    • Carol Muller
    • College of Arts & Sciences
      • Teaching Art Grant
      • First-Year Seminar
  • langa dan ruop
    • David Chavannes
    • School of Arts & Sciences
      • Student Grant
      • Student Arts Innovation
  • Politics of Reproduction
    • Dawn Teele
    • College of Arts & Sciences
      • Teaching Art Grant
      • First-Year Seminar
  • Philadelphia Student Composers Project
    • Department of Music
    • School of Arts & Sciences
      • Presenting Art Grant
      • Project Support
      • Student Engagement
  • Audible Metropolis
    • Elizabeth Bynum
    • School of Arts & Sciences
      • Student Grant
      • Student Arts Innovation
  • Stages of Learning
    • Emilio Martínez Poppe and Emmanuela Soria Ruiz
    • Weitzman School of Design
      • Student Grant
      • Student Arts Innovation
  • Gendered Exile: A Narrative of Chinese (Trans)national Adoption
    • Erin O’Malley
    • College of Arts & Sciences
      • Student Grant
      • Student Arts Innovation
  • Witness
    • Farrah Rahaman and Tshay Williams
    • Annenberg School for Communication, School of Arts & Sciences
      • Making Art Grant
      • 2020 Black Artists Support
      • Responsive Opportunity
  • Transmission as Resistance: Redox Drip
    • Fields Harrington
    • Weitzman School of Design
      • Making Art Grant
      • 2020 Black Artists Support
      • Responsive Opportunity
  • Groundwater
    • Flannery Cunningham
      • Student Grant
      • Student Arts Innovation
  • Robotics Art Residency
    • General Robotics, Automation, Sensing & Perception (GRASP) Laboratory and Fine Arts and Design
    • GRASP at PERCH, School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (Penn Engineering), Weitzman School of Design
      • Presenting Art Grant
      • Collaborative Provosts Interdisciplinary
      • Project Support
  • Recipes for the Revolution: Meals Our Ancestors Made Possible 
    • Gillian Maris Jones
    • School of Arts & Sciences
      • Making Art Grant
      • 2020 Black Artists Support
      • Responsive Opportunity
  • Annual MFA Satellite Show
    • Graduate Fine Arts
    • Weitzman School of Design
      • Presenting Art Grant
      • Project Support
      • Provosts Interdisciplinary
  • Cool Kid Rules (working title)
    • Harold Milton-Gorvie, Shalom Obiago, and Evan Thomas
    • College of Arts & Sciences, Wharton School
      • Student Grant
      • Student Arts Innovation
  • Incubation Series 2020-2021
    • Incubation Series
    • Incubation Series, School of Arts & Sciences, Weitzman School of Design
      • Student Grant
      • Student Arts Innovation
  • Back and Forth: The Distance In Between (working title)
    • Ivanco Talevski
    • Weitzman School of Design
      • Making Art Grant
      • Independent Creative Production
  • ComicsLab
    • Jean-Christophe Cloutier
    • School of Arts & Sciences
      • Presenting Art Grant
      • Project Support
      • Provosts Interdisciplinary
  • Why College?
    • Jonathan Zimmerman
    • College of Arts & Sciences
      • Teaching Art Grant
      • First-Year Seminar
  • The “Rights of Nature” in Times of Conflict and Transition
    • Kristina Lyons
    • College of Arts & Sciences
      • Teaching Art Grant
      • First-Year Seminar
  • dreaming of a beyond: Philadelphia
    • Levester Williams
    • Penn Arts & Sciences Online Learning, School of Arts & Sciences
      • Making Art Grant
      • Independent Creative Production
  • Living Room
    • Living Room
    • School of Social Policy and Practice, Weitzman School of Design
      • Student Grant
      • Student Arts Innovation
  • #VoteThatJawn
    • Lorene Cary
    • Center for Programs in Contemporary Writing, School of Arts & Sciences
      • Presenting Art Grant
      • Project Support
      • Student Engagement
  • Race, Class & Punishment
    • Marie Gottschalk
    • College of Arts & Sciences
      • Teaching Art Grant
      • First-Year Seminar
  • Sickle
    • Maya Arthur
    • Kelly Writers House, School of Arts & Sciences
      • Making Art Grant
      • 2020 Black Artists Support
      • Responsive Opportunity
  • Futures II
    • Mike Crane
    • Weitzman School of Design
      • Making Art Grant
      • Independent Creative Production
  • Taste of the Sanctioned
    • Ministry of Culture in Exile
    • School of Arts & Sciences, Weitzman School of Design
      • Student Grant
      • Student Arts Innovation
  • Building Ghosts
    • Molly Lester
    • PennPraxis, Weitzman School of Design
      • Making Art Grant
      • Independent Creative Production
  • On remembering, ceasing to be
    • Nathan Courtright
    • School of Arts & Sciences
      • Student Grant
      • Student Arts Innovation
  • Currents (working title)
    • Office of the Curator
    • Arthur Ross Gallery, Office of the Curator
      • Making Art Grant
      • Visiting Artists
  • Of Horses, Bows, & Fermented Milk: The Turkish Empires In 15 Objects
    • Oscar Aguirre Mandujano
    • College of Arts & Sciences
      • Teaching Art Grant
      • First-Year Seminar
  • Penn Live Arts Hosts The Negro Ensemble Company in Residence
    • Penn Live Arts
    • Penn Live Arts, School of Arts & Sciences
      • Making Art Grant
      • Artist Residency
      • Extended Artist Engagement
  • A Contemporary Queen in the Penn Museum
    • Penn Museum
    • Penn Museum
      • Making Art Grant
      • Visiting Artists
  • 2020 Ben Art Bucks Grants
    • Penn Undergraduate and Graduate Students
      • Student Grant
      • Ben Art Bucks
  • Q-INE
    • Q-INE
    • College of Arts & Sciences
      • Student Grant
      • Student Arts Innovation
  • The Sis Uprising
    • Ricardo A. Bracho
    • School of Arts & Sciences, The Center for Research in Feminist, Queer, and Transgender Studies
      • Making Art Grant
      • 2020 Black Artists Support
      • Responsive Opportunity
  • Machine Readable
    • Roopa Vasudevan
    • Annenberg School for Communication
      • Student Grant
      • Student Arts Innovation
  • All at Once
    • Rosa Leff
    • Graduate School of Education
      • Making Art Grant
      • 2020 Black Artists Support
      • Responsive Opportunity
  • Iliad and Its Afterlife
    • Sheila Murnaghan
    • College of Arts & Sciences
      • Teaching Art Grant
      • First-Year Seminar
  • GENET (working title)
    • Sosena Solomon
    • Weitzman School of Design
      • Making Art Grant
      • Independent Creative Production
  • A Space to Appear, A Space to Tarry
    • Tamir Williams
    • School of Arts & Sciences
      • Student Grant
      • Student Arts Innovation
  • European Pantomime and the Films of Charlie Chaplin
    • Toni Bowers
    • School of Arts & Sciences
      • Teaching Art Grant
      • Arts Course Development
      • Curricular Support
  • Bet / Salt Room
    • Viola Bordon
    • Weitzman School of Design
      • Student Grant
      • Student Arts Innovation
  • Wolf Humanities Center Year of Choice Presents PHILADANCO Participatory Workshop
    • Wolf Humanities Center
    • Wolf Humanities Center
      • Making Art Grant
      • Visiting Artists

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The Sachs Program for Arts Innovation

John McInerney (he/him)
Executive Director
215-573-0874
mcinernj@upenn.edu

Chloe Reison (she/her)
Associate Director
215-573-2159
reison@upenn.edu

Elizabeth Shaw (she/her)
Administrative Assistant
215-898-5930
elizshaw@upenn.edu

The Sachs Program for Arts Innovation offices are located at the Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts at the University of Pennsylvania.

3680 Walnut Street
Philadelphia PA

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