Generator Fund
Granting $60,000 in support to visual artists in Buffalo & Niagara Falls!
About the Generator Fund
Our region is the birthplace of electric power as we know it: Nikola Tesla used the power of the Niagara River to create the first alternating current and transmit electricity over a great distance – to Buffalo.
Inspired by that historic development, the Generator Fund aims to support visual arts projects that propose new directions for the creation and presentation of contemporary art in our region.
What we Fund
As a part of the Andy Warhol Foundation for Visual Art’s Regional Regranting Program, this fund targets informal, non-incorporated artist collectives and independent organizers whose work often falls outside the scope of typical funding sources. The fund is meant to support artistic activity outside of the studio, to encourage collaboration, and to foster new connections and institutions among artists in Buffalo, Niagara Falls, and the suburban and rural areas that surround us. The fund is administered by the Buffalo Institute for Contemporary Art.
Grant Types
In its first year, the Generator Fund will consist of two grant types:
KINETIC GRANTS are awards up to $2,000 to fund an artist’s production for a new project with a publicly accessible component. Examples may include but are in no way limited to exhibitions, performances, videos or film screenings, books/zines/brochures.
POTENTIAL GRANTS are awards up to $10,000 and are intended to act as seed funds to sustain novel, long-term platforms for artistic expression and experimentation that foster collaboration, dialogue, and discourse in our region. Examples may include exhibition spaces (from formal to informal; your bedroom to a rented space); podcasts or radio stations; zines or forums for arts writing; collective spaces; community gardens; public lecture series. This grant is meant to fund artists in collaboration to create new platforms for presentation.
The jurors will look for proposals that exemplify collectivity, equity, or unexpected collaboration; which nurture and sustain our creative ecosystem; and/or represent a distinctive or new approach to the visual arts or culture in the region. Over time, the fund aims to increase artistic dynamism and empower artists in our community to think beyond the entrenched systems in our art world.