How to Apply
The Sachs Program’s grantmaking supports innovative arts activities throughout the Penn community, providing funding to Penn faculty, staff, students, departments, programs, and centers.
Grants range from less than $100 to $40,000, 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.
2019/2020 Grant Opportunities
The Sachs Program for Arts Innovation’s 2020 Grant Cycle is now closed, and we have suspended our Ben Art Bucks program for the remainder of the academic year, due to COVID-19. We will announce the 2020 grant recipients in April. The 2021 grant cycle will open in September. Please sign up for our newsletter to stay informed of important deadlines.
Grants to Students
To support students in their creative endeavors and provide increased access to the arts.
- Ben Art Bucks are quick accessible grants for students and student groups to support creating or experiencing the arts.
- Student Arts Innovation Grants support large, ambitious student-driven projects.
Teaching Art Grants
To support innovative approaches to teaching that embrace the arts and humanities.
- Arts Course Development Grants are awarded to strengthen departments, programs and centers that promote artistic and creative innovation and experimentation at Penn.
- Arts Integration Grants are awarded to support the integration of the arts and humanities across the university, and to provide faculty members with opportunities to stretch and grow their curricula in creative ways.
- First-Year Seminar Grants support arts activities and arts-driven pedagogy within and related to freshman seminars.
Making Art Grants
To support creative practice within the Penn community.
- Visiting Artists Grants are awarded to bring new minds, new perspectives, and new and important artistic work to campus for limited intensive engagements.
- Independent Creative Production Grants are awarded to support artists within our existing community: to provide resources to faculty and staff for independent artistic projects.
- The Extended Artist Engagement Grant is our largest grant and provides up to $40,000 to one department, program, or center to support an emerging or mid-career artist as a Fellow, Artist in Residence, Curator in Residence or Professor of Practice.
Presenting Art Grants
To support projects that engage communities with the arts and humanities.
- Provosts Interdisciplinary Grants and Collaborative Provosts Interdisciplinary Grants support events, projects, or programs that engage audiences within and beyond the Penn community. Additionally, Collaborative Provosts Interdisciplinary Grants are intended to foster interdisciplinary collaboration.
- Student Engagement Grants fund departments, programs, and centers that seek to work with and develop programming for students.
If you have questions about which grant opportunity most closely aligns with your idea(s), please feel free to email or call Chloe Reison at reison@upenn.edu or 215-573-2159.