If You Call It "Art," You May Get $3,500

A couple of local art non-profits have teamed up with the Warhol Foundation Initiative in San Francisco to give Houston artists a little bit of help in the wallet department. The Idea Fund (also supported by the Aurora Picture Show, DiverseWorks and Project Row Houses) is offering money to artists, curators, collectives, galleries or organizations that don't fit into the normal guidelines for most grants.

"One example [given] was a man in San Francisco who would curate garage sales," Tracey Morton, Administrative Manager for DiverseWorks, tells Hair Balls. "We're using terms like 'guerilla' and 'conceptual.'"

Morton says a committee will choose 10 winners who will each receive a $3,500 cash grant. 

"And once you complete your project, if you turn in a final report, you can get an extra $500 seed money," she says. The guidelines are pretty loose - the strictest stipulations are details such as the artist must be from Houston or Harris County and must use the money towards a project that can be viewed by the public.

The deadline to apply is December 1 and Morton says she expects that's when most of the requests will come pouring in. So far, Morton says she's received proposals from an artist whose will produce on all-online exhibition and another from a woman who wants to host a panel on the environmental dangers of the declining bee population which would inspire an art exhibition relating to the discussion. If you think you could do better, you better get as busy as a bee.

You can find all the forms and information you need at www.theideafund.org. And Morton is available to answer all questions at 713-223-8346 or tracey@diverseworks.org.

-- Dusti Rhodes