For immediate release:
Tory Parker
Director of Marketing and Communications | Fund for the Arts
Tparker@fundforthearts.org
502-882-8697
Fund for the Arts Announces Recipients of Instrument Grants and Community Event Mini-Grants for Winter/Spring 2026
Louisville, KY (November 20, 2025) – Fund for the Arts is proud to announce the latest recipients of the Community Event Mini-Grant as part of the Fund’s Arts in Neighborhoods initiative and of the Instrument Grants: Empowering Immigrant Musicians in our Community initiative.
The Community Event Mini-Grants support arts organizations, businesses, neighborhood associations, individual artists, groups of artists, non-arts nonprofits, and community-based organizations with project expenses associated with presenting multigenerational, free community gatherings incorporating arts components. A community can be tied to a specific geographic location in Louisville and/or can be linked by a common interest or identity.
“The Community Event Mini-Grant uplifts those doing the good work of bringing art into our neighborhoods and communities,” said Fund for the Arts President and CEO Andre Kimo Stone Guess. “We’re so grateful to our donors for helping turn their visions into a reality.”
A grant review panel of ten external community members provided written qualitative and quantitative feedback on the applications and made recommendations on funding. Eight events in five Louisville Metro Council districts (3, 4, 5, 6, 9) have been awarded support for a total investment of $16,997.
“CeLOUbrate Print’s mission is to provide people who may not think of themselves as creative the opportunity to be just that, removing all the barriers that keep people away from art and showing Louisvillians of all kinds what they’re capable of,” said William Smith of the Portland Museum. “As the Fund for the Arts says, everyone is an artist, and their support makes our championing of that statement possible.”
“We are so excited to partner with Fund for the Arts to bring this incredible event to the community” said Chastity Dotson Executive Director & Founder of 3003FOR300. “This exhibition shares the voices, the stories, the vibrance, and the magic of local girls through art they created themselves. It gives our community the chance to see how they see themselves. That is what healing is all about.”
Interested in participating in a Grant Review Panel with Fund for the Arts? Click here to learn more.
This round of the Mini-Grant application closed October 17, 2025. The Community Event Mini-Grant application is available on a rolling basis, with funds awarded 4 times throughout the calendar year. The next deadline for submission is January 16, 2026.
Details on the grant recipients and their events:
- Pandora Productions will present “Holiday (an immersive crafting experience),” where audiences are welcomed by hosts Dakota and Riley for an evening of holiday crafts and storytelling as they unpack feelings of isolation during the recent pandemic and attempts to reconnect with family and loved ones. The show will travel to 10 partner locations, many of whom participated in the “Holiday in July” workshop, throughout December. Exact dates, times, and locations TBA.
- 300FOR300, in partnership with the African American Heritage Museum, presents “Black Girls, Butterflies, and the Magic of Dreams,” a healing centered arts exhibition that showcases the imagination, resilience, and creativity of Colorful Girls (ages 11-13) in Louisville. The exhibition features portraits of local girls, their writing, and artwork created during their time in 300FOR300, along with a variety of interactive art installations and experiences. It will be on display at the African American Heritage Museum from January 9 – February 13, with an opening reception on January 9 from 5 – 8 pm.
- Megan Bickel, partnered University of Louisville’s Hite Art Institute, will be curating “Maybe Kudzu Covering My Body: Camouflage in the South,” an exhibition originally installed at Tiger Strikes Asteroid (TSA) in Greenville, SC, bringing together 20 artists from or connected to the American South, whose works engage with themes of camouflage. The exhibition runs January 9 – February 28 at the UofL Cressman Center, with an opening reception on January 9 and panel discussion to be announced at a later date.
- FaithWORKS Performing Arts will present “Through Their Eyes: A Journey Through Black History:” A free, multigenerational arts experience that celebrates the creativity, resilience, and enduring influence of the Black experience, at The Russell Theatre on February 21 from 10 am – 1 pm.
- Music for a Purpose, supported by the Louisville Urban League, will present 2 concerts with musician Kevin Harris, who will be providing 2 fascinating evenings of half jazz/half classical music. The concerts are at Highland Presbyterian Church on February 28 at 7:30 pm and Kentucky Opera Center on March 1 at 3 pm.
- Looking for Lilith Theatre Company will present 2 events related to the 334th anniversary of the Salem Witch Trials and “Blood to Drink,” an original new play by Maggie Lou Rader. A full staged reading of the play followed by a talk back will take place at Woodbine Chamber on March 7 at 7 pm. A community workshop featuring excerpts from the play and interactive conversations and art making activities about the relevance of the play today will be at the South Central Regional Library on March 8 at 2 pm.
- Portland Museum and printmaker Erica Lewis present CeLOUbrate Print 2026, including free community woodcut workshops at various local print shops, organizations, museums, and cultural centers around Louisville from mid-January – early April. The workshops will culminate in a community printing event, in which the woodcuts carved throughout the spring will be inked up and printed with a steamroller at the Portland Museum, (tentatively) scheduled for Saturday, April 18 from 10 am – 5 pm.
- Louisville Ballet will host their second annual “EveryBODY Dance Now! Adaptive Dance Showcase” in April 2026, welcoming students and their families from all of their Adaptive Dance partner sites for an afternoon of dance and celebration at their downtown studios. This sensory-friendly event will include a wide range of accessible services, including audio description, sign language interpretation, interactive tactile stations, and social narratives. Partnering organizations include Heuser Hearing and Language Academy, Visual Interventions and Parental Support, Down Syndrome of Louisville, Dreams with Wings, Summit Academy, Kentucky School for the Blind, Home of the Innocents, Kaleidoscope, Inc., and Berrytown Community Center.
For further information on each upcoming event, please visit the websites and/or social media channels for the organizers. The Community Event Mini-Grant is powered by the support of LG&E and KU Company.
Instrument Grants: Empowering Immigrant Musicians in Our Community was a one-time grant opportunity for nonprofit organizations and public schools in Greater Louisville to support music programs serving immigrant communities, with a focus on youth (age 25 and under).
A grant review panel of 7 external community members provided written qualitative and quantitative feedback on the applications and made recommendations on funding. Fund for the Arts received three applications and all are recommended for funding. The total recommended award amount is $32,000, the total available funding amount.
- Actors Theatre of Louisville | $2,477
- Jefferson County Public Education Foundation | $14,998
- Louisville Youth Orchestra | $14,525
This program was made possible by Mayor Greg Fischer, Dr. Omar Ayyash, and the Roads to You initiative, and was facilitated by the Fund for the Arts.
For further information about grants and funding opportunities or partnerships with Fund for the Arts, visit fundforthearts.org/funding/ or sign up for Arts Scoop email newsletter at fundforthearts.org/arts-scoop/.
ABOUT FUND FOR THE ARTS
Fund for the Arts is a regional nonprofit with the mission to contribute to the overall health and well-being of our community by generating resources for, investing in, and supporting our local arts, artists, and arts organizations. The Fund envisions a healthy and vibrant community where everyone embraces the art that exists in our lives every day, everyone contributes to the well-being of our arts community, and it is understood that everyone belongs to the arts community. The organization facilitates the largest arts grant program in Greater Louisville and it conducts one of the two oldest united arts campaigns in the country. For more information, visit www.fundforthearts.org
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