Deadline: 3 September 2024
The South Arts is seeking applications for the Jazz Road Tours Funds to support three- to six-site tours at an array of venue types, often in rural communities and other areas traditionally underserved by the genre.
This artist-centric grant program—designed to support approximately 50 tours each year—is made possible with funds from the Doris Duke Foundation with additional support from the Mellon Foundation.
Program Priorities
- Providing jazz artists financial assistance for performances/tours that increases their ability to earn income by connecting with a diversity of communities in traditional and non-traditional venues.
- Giving artists business development tools to advance their careers beyond subsidies and grants. The goals are rooted in equitable pay and artist-centric programming as core values. South Arts believes that artists should receive fair pay for their time, work, and expertise, and that allowing artists (as opposed to venues/agents) to control engagements offers a unique level of creative autonomy and ownership;
Funding Information
- Artists may apply for grants ranging from $5,000 to $15,000.
- Note: Grant funds are taxable. Grantees must comply with all applicable city, state, and federal laws when reporting grant income.
Key Components of Jazz Road Tours
- An artist may apply for a three-to-six site tour comprised of connected (contiguous) dates at an array of venue types anywhere in the U.S and its territories.
- Jazz Road believes that through a logical route of tour dates, the artists will experience the continuity and momentum of repeat engagements, solidify developing music, and establish band identity/sound through working with the same personnel over the course of the tour.
- Jazz Road also will prioritize applications that include engagements in rural areas or that reach typically underserved communities, especially those that lack opportunities to present live jazz.
- Applicants that make a compelling case for how the tour will impact their careers in new ways are more competitive.
Eligibility Criteria
- Only individual artists (as an individual, an artist-led nonprofit organization, or an artist-led corporation) may apply to this program. An eligible artist is:
- A professional jazz artist, working solo or working with a composer-led or collective jazz ensemble which consists of 2-10 musicians;
- Age 18 or over and not currently a full-time student;
- Based in the U.S. or its territories, and is a U.S. citizen or permanent resident (non-residents may participate in a tour, but not be paid with Jazz Road Tours funds).
For more information, visit South Arts.
