For Kids
After dealing with the setbacks of Covid-19, the Chinese Association Board has made a decision to “go big” for the Lunar New Year in 2023.
Cultural
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.
2023 was SAGA’s seventh year serving the Spokane region. At the end of its seventh year, SAGA had funded 171 proposals providing a total of more than $800,000 dollars to local artists, organizations, and businesses. 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.
LGBTQ+
Grantee
Bright Comet Theatre
Bright Comet Theatre will stage their first production, Lord of the Flies. Featuring an entirely femme presenting cast, and involving a multitude of diverse and queer artists.
Words
Grantee
Browne’s Addition Neighborhood Council
SAGA funding will provide pay for the four poets’ performances and expose a new
audience to our local poets’ work.
Stage
Grantee
Spokane Playwrights Laboratory
SAGA is providing project funding for intensive, month long professional script development workshops for Spokane playwrights.
Words
Grantee
Spark Central
In a new project titled “Little Libraries, Big Stories,” Spark Central will collaborate with local artists to create and auction three unique little free libraries, stocked with books from local authors and youth, in part generated from a Spark Central workshop designed to ignite young West Central residents’ imaginations and strengthen their writing skills.
Stage
Grantee
Spokane Shakespeare Society
The second half of the company’s
season two will include the show Romeo & Juliet in July, with eight performances,
followed by Goodnight Desdemona, (Good Morning Juliet) in September with eight
performances.
For Kids
Grantee
Sindhu Surapaneni
Surapaneni will install a canvas print of her painting in a handful of
public schools across Liberty Lake and Spokane, working closely with each school to
determine size and placement.
Visual
Grantee
Mallory Battista and Lisa Soranaka
Battista and Soranaka will execute a large mosaic sculpture for
the public, to be installed at the base of the Monroe hill. The sculpture will incorporate
tiles made by community members at free workshops, which the two will host
throughout their studio residency at The Hive.
Music
Grantee
The Smokes
Alexander and Slater will hold youth songwriting workshops, kicked
off by a performance by The Smokes. After a performance, the band provides an
explanation of their songwriting process and a workshop focused on improvisation and
incorporating personal experiences into art.
For Kids
Grantee
Kelley Hudson
With SAGA support, Hudson will publish her coloring book, including 30 pages of hand drawn images of locations in Spokane.
Dance
Grantee
Mary Zhang
SAGA will support Zhang as she establishes a permanent space to choreograph Chinese dances and train dancers to continue offering performances.