How to Apply
Sachs Program grantmaking supports innovative arts activities throughout the University of Pennsylvania community, providing funding to Penn faculty, staff, students, departments, programs, and centers.
Grants range in amount, with the largest being $25,000, and fund a wide variety of activities aligned with the funder’s vision to support teaching art, making art, and presenting art, as well as their aim to provide Penn students with increased access to the arts.
The Sachs Program 2023–2024 grants cycle is now closed. Award decisions for Annual Grants applications submitted in the 2023–2024 grants cycle will be made in April 2024. Student Grant award decisions will be made in February 2024.
2023–2024 Grant Opportunities
Student Grants
The Sachs Program offers grant opportunities specifically for University of Pennsylvania students, which follow different timelines than our annual grants cycle. Sachs Program Student Grants are offered annually in the fall, and Ben Art Bucks are awarded on a rolling basis.
- Student Grants provide up to $4,000 to undergraduate and graduate students and student groups to support creative practice, from independent projects to thesis and dissertation-related work to programs and initiatives intended to engage the student body or broader public.
- Ben Art Bucks Grants are currently paused, with plans to reopen them in the Spring of 2024, if not sooner. Subscribe to our newsletter for the latest updates.
Annual Grants
The Sachs Program 2023-2024 Annual Grants include a range of opportunities to support University of Pennsylvania faculty and staff, departments, programs and centers, and collaborations with community partners and student groups.
- Artist Residency Grants provide up to $25,000 to departments, programs, and centers to bring artists, curators, and collectives (formal or informal) to Penn as Artists in Residence or Curators in Residence.
- Community Partnerships Grants provide up to $15,000 to support collaborations between Penn faculty (standing and non-standing), staff, departments, programs, and centers in collaboration with community arts and civic non-profits and organizers.
- Curricular Support Grants provide up to $4,000 to non-standing faculty for the implementation of arts-based activities in a course that is currently running or expected to run.
- Independent Creative Production Grants provide up to $8,000 to faculty and staff to support (partially or fully) the production of their own artistic work.
- Project Support Grants provide up to $8,000 to faculty and staff, departments, programs, and centers to support engagement with the arts and humanities through projects directed towards the Penn community or broader public.
- Alumni Art Awards provide funds to Penn alumni with an established artistic practice to further develop their work. Alumni Art Awards are paused for the 2023–2024 grant cycle as we work with alumni to reassess the opportunity.
Additional Grants
These grant opportunities fall outside the Sachs Program annual grant cycle and are offered on different timelines. Please visit specific grant opportunity pages to learn how to apply.
- First-Year Seminar Grants provide up to $2,500 to anyone teaching a first-year seminar to support arts activities and arts-driven pedagogy within their course and are administered in partnership with the College of Arts & Sciences.
- 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.
- Responsive Grant Opportunities provide funding for specific priorities identified by Sachs Program staff, board, and other advisors. We are not accepting applications at this time. Details will be shared when a new opportunity is announced.
For More Information
If you have questions about which Sachs Program grant opportunity most closely aligns with your idea, please email Sachs Program Associate Director Chloe Reison at reison@upenn.edu.
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