Apply for funding and mentorship to realize your creative civic engagement projects

Applications are now closed

Attendees (or viewers) of the Art for the Polls workshops who want to realize creative campaigns that support voters in New York or North Carolina can apply for project funding and mentorship via the application below. 

We’re looking for creative projects of any medium that are innovative, strategic, and push the boundaries of what we think civic engagement activism can be. Read on to learn more.

What are the benefits of applying?

Successful applicants will receive at least $1,000 in direct project funding, plus mentorship in artistic activism from the Center for Artistic Activism and guidance in voter engagement from People for the American Way Foundation, the Chinese-American Planning Council, NY League of Conservation Voters Education Fund, and/or Common Cause NC.

To increase the reach of your work — and make the most possible impact this election season — your projects will have the opportunity to be featured in multiple high-visibility initiatives led by People for the American Way Foundation, including:

  • Local, state, and potentially national media coverage: the People for the American Way Foundation is very interested in having artists and their works be featured in the press

Plus: applicants who are not selected for project funding will still receive mentorship and support from the Center for Artistic Activism.

How will proposals be evaluated?

We’ll evaluate projects based on the strength of their planning and their expected impact:

Planning
  • Does the project take risks or incorporate the powers of art in surprising, strategic, and novel ways?
  • Is there at least one strong SMARTIE objective guiding all aspects of the work that focuses on increasing civic engagement around the 2024 election — especially in service of partner organizations’ goals?
  • Is there a clearly-identified audience and consideration of that audience’s specific challenges and needs?
Impact
  • Will the project go beyond raising awareness?
  • Are the plans for measuring impact clear and comprehensive?
  • Will the project create compelling images or visuals? Might it do one or more of the following:
    • Capture attention
    • Cultivate cultures of joy, interest, and inspiration around voting
    • Counter mis- and dis-information and/or provide accurate voting information
    • Attract press and/or social media coverage

In addition, all projects must:

  • Be 501c3-friendly. That means they cannot advocate for or against a candidate running for office. If you have any questions about these specifics, feel free to reach out! If you’re not sure what you’re describing in your application is 501c3-friendly, you can indicate that and we can work together to figure it out.
  • Collect clear metrics on the number of people reached and/or other impact measures fitting the specifics of the project.
  • Exist under a Creative Commons license that allows People for the American Way Foundation, C4AA, the Chinese-American Planning Council, NY League of Conservation Voters Education Fund, and Common Cause NC to use its content and documentation. This can be done with attribution so you get full credit for your amazing work! There are multiple Creative Commons licenses that fit this: see https://creativecommons.org/share-your-work/cclicenses/ and reach out if you want to discuss.

NOTE: Projects don’t have to be 100% fully formed — if you have the start of ideas or clear places where you want guidance, feel free to share that in the application.

We expect project leads will have attended or watched the recordings of the July 9th training and either the NY July 16th training or the NC July 17th training. Recordings are available here: July 9, July 16, July 17.

Submit your Proposal!

Applications for Art for the Polls have now closed. Thank you to all who applied!

About Art for the Polls

Art for the Polls is a nonpartisan program of People for the American Way Foundation, Center for Artistic Activism, Chinese-American Planning Council, NY League of Conservation Voters Education Fund, Common Cause North Carolina, and Cleveland VOTES.

About Defend the Black Vote

One of the projects supported through Art for the Polls is People for the American Way Foundation’s Defend the Black Vote:

“The Black vote is critically important – and under attack. The MAGA Right is targeting Black voters on two fronts: with misinformation and disinformation, and with harsh voter suppression laws. They’re undermining voter confidence with false narratives that elections are rigged. And all this comes on top of decades of systemic inequities that make it harder for Black voters to cast a ballot.

People For the American Way Foundation’s nonpartisan Defend the Black Vote program is fighting back, combating massive voter suppression with massive voter mobilization. Our outreach and education targets millions of Black male voters, especially those who’ve been labeled “low-propensity” voters. We believe these voters are ready and willing to cast their ballots when they are informed and engaged – not overlooked.

For our democracy to be real and function well for all of us, we need every eligible voter to cast their ballot. Only then will communities have elected representation that truly reflects their interests and meets their needs.

How we’ll win

Our success relies on a mix of field-tested methods, including peer-to-peer texting, earned media, and organizing.

We use peer-to-peer texting to deliver GOTV messages, including the latest information about polling places and times. Most importantly, we’ve done rigorous testing to find out what motivational messages are most effective in getting voters to the polls. We know what really works – and what doesn’t. We’re so excited about our groundbreaking research, we wrote about it in the Stanford Social Innovation Review.

But we don’t stop there. We reach millions more potential voters through our connections with major media outlets. Coverage of our Defend the Black Vote campaign appears in outlets including MSNBC, The Hill, theGrio, Blavity, and more.

Our paid ads reach a wide audience on digital/social channels, radio, and billboards. And our organizing capacity is powerful, with our networks of thousands of Black faith leaders working to mobilize their congregations and get out the vote.”

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