• Open Grant RFAs
• A Toast To The Boogie Call for Art
• Call for Panelists
• Commission Meetings
• DC Area Music Census
• DC Poetry Out Loud Winner
• HumanitiesDC Storybooth
• Wikipedia Edit-a-thon
• Grantee Happening
• Community Opportunity
• Resources
• Visit Our eMuseum
• Update Your Profile

Programs with open Requests For Applications (RFAs) are:

• General Operating Support (GOS)
• East Arts (EA); and
• Projects, Events, or Festivals (PEF).

All three have a deadline of 10 pm ET on Thursday, April 11.

Additional grant RFAs for other annual programs will be released over the next month or so.

The DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities (CAH) in partnership with the family of George Clinton is excited to announce a special call for original artworks responding to the past, present, and future of funk music, psychedelic rock, and the cultural movements they inspire.  

This upcoming exhibition, A Toast to the Boogie: Art in the Name of Funk(adelic) will present never seen archival works and memorabilia from the family’s private collection alongside original artworks by DC metropolitan artists. All applications must be submitted online by 9:00 PM ET on Friday, April 26, 2024.

CAH is actively recruiting for panelists to review our grants programs beginning in May and throughout the summer. Panelists are integral to the grantmaking process, providing a critical review, comments, and scores of all applications to a particular grant program. Panelists are provided with applications 3 to 4 weeks in advance of the panel review, and then convene for a one-day virtual review panel. Panelists are compensated for their time with a $250 gift card.

Our next Full Commission regular meeting will begin at 5:30 ET on Monday, April 29. Members of the public are invited to observe the meeting live online on CAH’s YouTube channel.

Members of the public may request three minutes to speak during the public comment period held at this meeting. Requests must be submitted by no later than Noon ET on Thursday, April 25. Written comments may also be submitted by no later than Noon ET on Thursday, April 25, as an alternative or in addition to spoken comments. Public comments, both spoken and written, will be included in the public record of the meeting.

This meeting is governed by the Open Meetings Act. Please address any questions or complaints arising under this meeting to the Office of Open Government at opengovoffice@dc.gov.

The DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities along with its Lead Government and Community Partners will launch the DC Area Music Census on April 10 2024. The Census is a community-led initiative to gain a better understanding of the current needs of the Greater Washington DC-area music community.  

The Census will capture key information about the DC area music economy to assist the District and area community make more informed, data-driven decisions to support the music ecosystem.

The Census is open to all music industry ecosytem members who live and work in the following counties and cities: Washington D.C, Montgomery, Prince Georges, Anne Arundel, Howard, Frederick, Charles, Arlington, Fairfax, Loudon, Prince William, Arlington City, Alexandria, Falls Church, Fairfax City, Manassa and Manassas Park.

Visit the DC Music Census website if you're interested in becoming a community partner or you just want to be notified when the census goes live. And if you have any questions please email CAHEvents@dc,gov.

CAH was proud to once again host its annual Words on Fire and Poetry Out Loud competition on Saturday, March 16th, at the University of the District of Columbia Theater of the Arts. 

At the conclusion of the event, sophomore Nyla Dinkins of Benjamin Banneker High School was named the 1st-place recipient of the DC Poetry Out Loud competition and will proudly represent Washington, DC, at the National Poetry Out Loud Competition on May 2nd.

CAH extends its best wishes to her and all the participants in both the Poetry Out Loud competition and the Words on Fire Poetry Slam for their hard work and dedication in preparation for this event.

For those interested in reading the companion Words on Fire digital student e-anthology, please be sure to visit the link below.

As part of our closing reception for the Legacy: Civil Rights at 60 exhibition, we partnered with HumanitiesDC on a pop-up Storybooth. We are thrilled to share recordings captured that evening on our YouTube channel. We believe oral histories are crucial for collective liberation, dismantling oppression, and challenging dominant narratives. By spotlighting diverse and marginalized voices, they preserve cultural heritage, expose systemic injustices, and foster empathy and solidarity. Ultimately, oral histories amplify silenced perspectives, contributing to a more inclusive and equitable society by challenging power structures.

So we invite you to listen and leave a comment letting us know what you think. And for those who are d/Deaf or hard of hearing, we've uploaded these recordings to YouTube so you can enable Closed Captions.

The work continues!! Although it is no longer Women's History Month, our event page remains live. We're grateful for those who were able to attend and begin chipping away at the Wikipedia English-language biography gender gap. And we were particularly stoked to be able to focus on artists with some kind of connection to DC.

We are particularly excited that the event itself led to the creation of one new article, for Lady Dane Figueroa Edidi. And we invite you to continue to contribute this month and every month of the year. Just check out all of these other artists and creatives flagged for notability, but still don't have an article:

• Amy Austin
• Ayanna Gregory
• Carla Perlo
• Cora Masters Barry
• Dani Stoller
• Deborah Riley
• Felicia Curry
• Hana S. Sharif
• Joy Zinoman
• Lola Beaver
• Myrtis Bedolla
• Quest Skinner
• Regina Aquino
• Sandra Butler Truesdale
• Shanara Gabrielle
• Sylvia Soumah
• Therrell C. Smith
• Tsedaye Makonnen

And this work is a marathon, not a sprint. So if and when you're able to help, check out the links below. The first is a training video from another edit-a-thon, great as an orientation for beginners or a refresher for experienced editors. And the second is our event page, with all the steps you'll need to know to help out.

It's time for the 7th Annual Words Beats & Life Festival, with events, parties, and concerts happening in venues throughout Maryland and Washington D.C. For those of you that have been following them you know their festival is normally in November as part of Hip-Hop Heritage Month, but this year and next year they decided to do something a little different and host it during the month of April: Jazz and Poetry Month.  

And check out two of their free events below!

FY24 Public Art Building Communities (PABC) Grantee, Ira Tattelman’s project FOUND is a cultural exchange between artists, Eckington residents, Washington, DC residents, and visitors who will be encouraged to come to Alethia Tanner Park (227 Harry Thomas Way, NE). During a series of workshops, they will create temporary, community-made, found-object sculptures in the park, to be displayed in Exhibits taking place two days in April.

The project explores and celebrates creativity and environmental concerns. Artist Ira Tattelman asks: “How do we strive for sustainability and ensure a greener future?" FOUND proposes to learn, recycle, connect, and reuse. Tattelman believes there are fun ways to innovate and adapt to the circular economy. This community engagement project has substantial benefits with waste reduction in celebration of Earth Day.

The Nationa Museum of African American History & Culture's Office of Strategic Partnerships is pleased to announce a call for applications for its signature Ethical Interpretation Workshop. This annual workshop provides technical training for museum professionals on interpretive theory and ethical practice. The program addresses histories of oppressed people whose experiences have been historically ignored and misrepresented and does so by recognizing their individuality, achievements, and challenges.

Ethical Interpretation centers the critical importance of collaboration with the communities whose histories are being interpreted, and connects past, present, and future conditions for learners. Participants are equipped with tools and techniques to develop culturally responsive interpretation, and how to prepare themselves to engage in challenging discussions in a safe and sustainable way. Appropriate use of language and cultural frameworks, awareness of identity and self, and addressing audience responses are just some of the topics covered.

Candid’s live and on-demand trainings, webinars, and other resources are designed to improve your fundraising, overall sustainability, grantmaking, and transparency.

Check out just some of these free trainings they're providing the month of April, which are all from 2 to 3:30 pm:

• Introduction to individual giving on Tuesday, April 2
• Introduction to fundraising planning on Thursday, April 4
• Putting disability to work on Wednesday, April 10
• Is starting a nonprofit right for you? on Thursday, April 11
• Introduction to proposal writing on Thursday, April 25
• Introduction to measuring your impact on Tuesday, April 30

The DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities online database showcases our Art Bank Collection, a collection of moveable artworks loaned to other District government agencies for display in public offices, as well as our Public Art Collection of installations of large-scale artworks in public sites/places throughout the District of Columbia.

We understand that the frequency with which we send emails can be a lot at times for some of our subscribers, and so we invite you to instead opt into a monthly e-newsletter. You may also select email lists specifically for Grants and Public Art opportunities.

You can update your profile at the bottom of this and every email we send by clicking on “Update Profile”.

Please note: If you leave GENERAL LIST selected, this will override any other selections and you will still receive every email. Please be sure to deselect this if you choose one or more of the other options.