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.
The Spokane Symphony’s concertmaster, violinist Mateusz Wolski, uses humor and his fascination with fast cars to introduce musical discussions, guests, and performances at alternative local venues. The M Show is a quirky and fun interactive experience for all.
Spark Central has started a new program called West Central Publishing Union, which includes two parallel literary tracks— a program for elementary-aged children (which SAGA funding will support) and a program for adults.
Dr. Shawn Brigman is an enrolled member of the Spokane Tribe of Indians and descendant of regional Salish bands (San Poil, Arrow Lakes, and Shuswap). Shawn has crafted a full-scale sturgeon nose canoe unique to the interior Plateau Salish peoples in Eastern Washington State.
Bethany Taylor, Derek Landers, and Thom Caraway of Millwood Print Works have provided Spokane with a community print shop specializing in letterpress and screenprinting. The facility will include presses/equipment, knowledgeable teachers, opportunities to print and attend classes and studio space to work.
Located in Spokane WA, Terrain is a pioneering non-profit building community and economic opportunity for the artists, makers and culture creators of the Inland Northwest. We work to ensure these local populations thrive, by creating award-winning programming consistently described as the region’s best.
Spokane Poetry Slam is competitive performance poetry at its Northwest finest! Every first Sunday and third Monday, spoken word warriors battle for Inland Empire supremacy, and a $50 Grand Prize. Spokane Poetry Slam hosts two events a month, BootSlam and Spokane Poetry Slam.
Kathryn Smith’s work has received the Allied Arts Foundation award, a Spokane Arts Grant Award, and a Pushcart Special Mention. She lives in Spokane, Washington, where she writes, makes collage and mixed media art, and spends a lot of time looking at insects.
Local artists are invited to be interviewed by Brittany Decker and Remelisa Cullitan and speak frankly about their work and present themselves to a global audience in a casual intimate setting. The interviews are recorded and published for the world to see on a variety of social media outlets.
Scott Ryan has been writing songs for more than fifteen years, and has been a professional musician either part or full time since graduating with a music degree in 2007. He plays shows all over the country, has recorded multiple records and his music has been used to score films and television shows.
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