Clockwise from top: A NEA Big Read event in Santa Ana, California; Dani Tippmann foraging in Indiana; a dancer at a Two Spirit Pow Wow in Rapid City South Dakota; a young person contributes to a mural in Bismark, North Dakota; actors perform Shakespeare in Milwaukee, WI; and a cast poses for a photo in Orinda, California.
Explore Fiscal Year 2023 at Arts Midwest, made possible by the creativity of our community.
Last December, Arts Midwest announced our new strategy frame—reaffirming our commitment to Midwestern creativity, and to supporting, informing, and celebrating the Midwest.
Since then, we’ve worked with our partners and community to put our mission and vision into action. In Fiscal Year 2023, our programs and services reached 354,262 people in 140 Midwestern communities. We also made $2,527,146 in grants to 259 Midwestern organizations. Our grantees have conducted residencies for Native artists and culture bearers; held a performance series featuring formerly-incarcerated artists; presented a musical based on a true story about a gay biker gang; and much, much more.
354,262
People Reached
140
Midwestern Communities Served
$2,527,146
Awarded
Invested
Participants
Grants Awarded
Communities Reached
Explore 2023 Grantees
Explore recent Arts Midwest grantees and award recipients in our filterable database.
We believe that creativity is an essential component of community prosperity. Our programs use the arts and creativity to bring people together and build community.
Okaidja Afroso’s week-long World Fest residency brought music into schools, stores, and a Main Street theater, spreading connection and curiosity in small town Albion.
The Sacred Pipe Resource Center, a Native community center in Mandan, North Dakota, empowers Native artists to become catalysts for change to help heal their communities.
Step aside, Paris: New Bedford, Massachusetts is the new city of love. Residents created a city-wide letter-writing campaign that inspired an internationally successful documentary.
For the Love of the Arts uses creativity to help break the cycle of violence. Through their mental wellness education, social skills practice, and artistic courses, this unique organization provides a safe space for young people to grow and thrive.
This summer, we launched the Creativity News Desk, our initiative to amplify storytelling around arts, culture, and creativity in the region. We’re working with writers, photographers, podcasters, and videographers to share stories of Midwestern creativity in all its forms and to highlight diverse narratives about the Midwest.
There’s a century-old history of Arab life and culture in Indianapolis. The author shares some of the city’s rich Arab history, and its cultural and culinary treasures.
Minnesota artist Dyani White Hawk and Illinois-based statistician Rina Foygel Barber have each been awarded a “no strings attached” fellowship stipend of $800,000.
None of this work would be possible without the incredible support of our partners, funders, donors, grantees, advisors, Board, staff, and constituents. We are so grateful for the creativity of our community. Thank you for joining us this year.
Photo Credit: Tierra Suggs
2023 Hilltop Spring Jamboree attendees contribute to a community mural inspired by the event, made possible through the GIG Fund.
Photo Credit: Bre Yingling
Motivational speaker Amberley Snyder presents at an NEA Big Read Event in Quincy, IL.
Photo Credit: Leslie Damaso / Arts Midwest
Farmer Liana Mericka with her two children, Everett and Henry, and newborn calves at the calf shed on their farm, Uplands Cheese, on Pleasant Ridge in Dodgeville, Wisconsin.
Photo Credit: Val Ihde
Pamyua, an Inuit band from Alaska, performs Feb. 25 at the Herbert L. Williams Theatre on The Bay at University of Wisconsin-Green Bay’s Marinette campus as part of World Fest.
Photo Credit: Daveed Holmes
For the Love of the Arts founders Sade and Luis Carrasquillo with son along with instructors Raquel Wilson and Yemina Conception at For the Love of the Arts’ ribbon cutting, made possible through We the Many.
Jaida Grey Eagle / Arts Midwest
Dancers young and old take part in the first Two-Spirit Powwow in Rapid City, as featured on the Creativity News Desk.
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Creativity has the power to build bridges, inspire curiosity, and create joy. Your support helps us strengthen creative organizations and artists across our region.
