Priorities

The Sachs Program for Arts Innovation grantmaking priorities serve as guiding principles for our program. They have been developed in dialogue with our Advisory Board and with input from other community members. They are intended to align our grantmaking with our mission to ensure that the arts at the University of Pennsylvania are valued and embraced as a creative catalyst, driving innovation, inspiration, and action.

Grant applicants will need to make a compelling case for how their proposal supports the following Sachs Program grantmaking priorities. It is understood that not all priorities are relevant to every project or grant category.

All Sachs Program grant applications will be evaluated based on the following priorities.

To support a range of creative practices and practitioners at the University of Pennsylvania and Penn’s extended community.
To provide equal opportunity—welcoming applications from individuals from a variety of backgrounds, including marginalized peoples and those whose voices have historically been silenced.
To engage current issues and ideas relevant to our time.
To contextualize scholarly and historical research in topical ideas and innovative approaches to practice and pedagogy.
To be catalytic—seeding new initiatives and supporting arts activities that might not happen otherwise.
To promote experimentation and innovation within and through the arts.
To encourage interdisciplinarity and collaboration.
To strengthen art departments and centers and to promote rigorous engagement with the arts across the university.
To cultivate meaningful partnerships between the university and its surrounding communities and to encourage non-hierarchical artistic and intellectual exchange.