For Kids
In a significant collaboration between writer, Edward Bryan, and composer, William Berry, the classic tale of a man chasing a whale has been refashioned as a musical.
Stage
Grantee
Grantees
Spokane Arts Grant Awards (SAGA) funds multiple programs and projects three times every year through a competitive application process. Grant winners carry out arts related activities in the Spokane area during the twelve months following their award date. Awards can be for any amount up to $10,000.
SAGA defines the term “arts” by observing our community’s creative activity. We live in a region populated by many cultures, talented in varied crafts and trades, and curious about learning and engaging in technique, expression, and artistic community. SAGA has funded blacksmithing and glassblowing, cultural art forms such as canoe making, performance, exhibition, education, therapy, and individual artistic development. We have also funded arts-based businesses and new collaborations.
SAGA stands on the principle that creatives should be paid for the work they do and we educate both the broader community and the artistic sector that creative work has value.
Due to Covid, the City of Spokane faced a 60% drop in its admissions tax income in 2020. The City’s 2020 tax revenue was the basis for SAGA grants in 2022, leaving us with less than half of the funds we required to sustain meaningful grantmaking to arts and culture that year. We were prepared for relatively normal tax base downturns, so we were able to offset some of the Covid shortfall, but even exhausting our emergency fund, the tax base losses outstripped our resources by well over $50,000.
To maintain our grantmaking in 2022, SAGA was grateful to receive $50,000 in support from the NEA Grants for Arts Projects (GAP) program. This support meant we were able to fund an additional seven projects in 2022 during a time when organizations were feeling a second pinch: that audiences and customers were not yet returning to pre-Covid levels. We are grateful to the NEA for supporting Spokane’s arts and culture at that critical time.
At the end of 2023, SAGA had funded 171 proposals providing a total of more than $800,000 dollars to local artists, organizations, and businesses.
2024 is SAGA’s eighth year serving the Spokane region. Below we provide a complete list of each of our awardees since our first year of funding in 2017. View just the most recent year’s winners here.
Cultural
Grantee
One Heart Native Art & Film Festival
The mission of One Heart Native Arts & Film Festival is to share and showcase innovative, compelling, and empowering stories from Native perspectives through film, art, and music, celebrating the diversity and vitality of contemporary Native culture in our community today.
Visual
Grantee
Jundt Art Museum
The Jundt Art Museum has a 23-year history of providing quality art exhibitions to the Gonzaga, Spokane, and Inland Northwest communities. The Museum is always free of charge.
Film
Grantee
Dr. Robert Bartlett
Dr. Bartlett has nearly 30 years of university teaching and presentation experience in Eastern Washington. “Jumping Into Fire” is his feature length documentary that uncovers the hidden story of the first and only all African-American paratrooper unit in military history, the 555th Parachute Infantry Battalion.
Visual
Grantee
Grace June
Artist, Grace June, draws inspiration for her work, “Survive,” from personal experience. June’s “Survive” photographic series and book are being created to acknowledge the experience of people in our community and surrounding areas most impacted by suicide.
Dance
Grantee
Vytal Movement Dance Company
Vytal Movement Dance Company (VMDC) is Spokane’s only professional dance company, founded in the summer of 2016. The troupe is composed of several highly trained dancers, most of whom connected via community adult dance classes taught by Vincas Greene, VMDC’s director.
New Media
Grantee
Spokane Interactive Arts / Laboratory
Spokane Interactive Arts is a local nonprofit which runs “Laboratory,” an artist residency program in downtown Spokane. Laboratory brings in interactive artists from all over the world for one to three months, so they can make and show work and connect with local Spokane creatives and businesses.
Stage
Grantee
Spokane Civic Theatre
Spokane Civic Theatre is a nationally recognized non-profit theatre located in Spokane, Washington. Incorporated in 1947, our theatre is one of the oldest community theatres in the country.
Music
Grantee
Gonzaga University Choirs
Gonzaga University Choirs seek artistic expression through choral excellence to deliver passionate, imaginative performances that move audiences, spark the imagination, and create a sense of awe and wonder.
Visual
Grantee
RGZ Prints / Reinaldo Gil Zambrano
Reinaldo Gil Zambrano is a Spokane-based printmaking artist from Caracas, Venezuela. Gil’s current practice includes the creation of large pieces using relief printing applications, and collaboratively incorporating the audience in his printing process.