Grant applications now available
By Savannah Whaley
During its 22-year history, Funding Arts Broward (FAB) has told countless nonprofit cultural organizations to take the money and run.
Run 10 theater programs. Four dance programs. Eighteen music programs. Five film and visual arts programs. Nineteen arts education programs. And that’s just the programming taking place in 2026 that will be supported by $405,000 in grants awarded by the privately funded non-profit organization through the support of its members, corporate partners, and allied foundations.
“We at FAB vet these organizations so thoroughly that we have not lost $1.00 of donor support, not one, ever,” said FAB Director of Operations Katiuska “Kat” Sierra. “You can trust us to know where to put that money and how to pump it back into the community so that it makes sense and really affects community impact.”
Everybody into the funding pool
FAB will begin accepting grant applications this month for visual arts, performing arts, and arts education initiatives presented in 2027. The organization has streamlined its grant process and will host an informational grantee training workshop on October 22, 2025 from 1 – 3PM at ArtServe.
“We’re going to welcome everyone in the community to join us,” Sierra previewed. “Cathy Brown from the Community Foundation of Broward is going to teach us and take us through some really important steps on how to write grants in today’s times. Some of our leadership will address program changes and our sensitivities to limited state funding as well as changes to our grantee contracts and how to read a contract.”
Back to the future
Since its founding more than two decades ago by local artist and philanthropist Francie Bishop Good, FAB has evolved from a core group of women philanthropists into a diversified membership from all walks of life. While the organization’s purpose remains the same, it recently took measures to ensure its mission remains relevant.
From May 2023 to April 2024, FAB undertook a study, Enriching the Arts Opportunities in Broward County’s Arts Community, to identify challenges facing the local arts community and the possibilities of expanding the types of initiatives it funds. The study identified five main areas: funding and grantmaking, marketing and communication, arts education, public art, and advocacy.
Too cool in schools
One of the study’s key findings was the need for additional support for arts education. With the aid of a matching grant from the Community Foundation of Broward, FAB made its first multi-year grants late last year to support music and creative writing programs in Broward County Public Schools.
Arts Access grants totaling $300,000 were awarded to South Florida Symphony Orchestra and Art Prevails Project with each organization receiving $50,000 annually over three years.
“South Florida Symphony Orchestra is doing music education, classical music education and sound theory,” Sierra explained. “Darius Daughtry [Art Prevails Project Founder and Executive Artistic Director] does a really great job relating literature and education of literature in a way that’s understandable to kids today. He really knows how to get to that inner circle of youth that may not have access to these kinds of things.”
A side show
If you were on Federal Highway across from The Parker any time between January and April of this year, you were treated to 3-D projection mapping on its west side wall featuring works by Rosanna Kalis and Miguel Gonzalez.
It marked the launch of FAB Goes Public, a pilot resulting from the study’s findings on public art and made possible in partnership with Mad Arts and through collaboration with The Parker, the Broward Center for the Performing Arts, and the Broward Performing Arts Foundation.
“This progressive way of doing and receiving art also integrates a younger demographic,” Sierra noted. “What we’ve learned through data study is that those 40 and younger subscribe to technology, AI and digital reference in art as opposed to Generation Xers like myself and others who came from a more traditional standpoint.”
The pilot included a workshop with Mad Arts that gave the 30 emerging artists who participated hands-on experience with international artists who are projection mapping experts.
Kalis kicked off the pilot with “Fast Forward,” in which a digital portrait of a Korean American woman undergoes a multitude of changes over approximately six minutes while never altering her direct gaze nor her challenge to viewers not to look away.
“I love public art because it is extremely accessible to people, sparking conversation and creating connections,” Kalis shared. “I’m a Korean-American person and the fact that I can show something that has a reference to Korean-American culture is very meaningful. I think it also brings some inspiration to a lot of other folks that aren’t necessarily represented in these kind of opportunities to say, ‘I have a different viewpoint and I can still be accepted in this community.’”
Kalis appreciates the new support of artists.
“Not only was the opportunity huge and meaningful for me personally, but the portfolio expansion that I’m able to get because of that opportunity is pretty amazing,” Kalis said. “I think it’s fantastic what FAB is doing by increasing outreach to local individual artists, as well as just supporting arts institutions overall because it’s pretty scary to see what’s going on in terms of funding.”
Taking its best shot
That individual support continues as FAB presents its inaugural photography exhibition and juried competition, “The Living Lens,” at MAD Arts November 14 – 16, 2025.
Photographers of all levels, backgrounds, and artistic influences will compete for juried art prizes totaling $6,000 and retain 90% of the proceeds from sales of their work. Unsold works will remain available for purchase online and artists will have the chance to be featured in a coffee table book.
“I started my career on the other side of the fence as a photographer,” Sierra recalled. “I went to school for many, many years, was trained professionally and worked professionally in commercial fine art and fashion photography. ‘The Living Lens’ is a great avenue to support and help other artists learn how to really sustain themselves through professional development and good business practices.”
Collaborating on a new course
In another response to the study, FAB created the Broward Arts Advocacy Council at the end of last year with representatives from other foundations, Fort Lauderdale Cultural Affairs and the Broward Cultural Division.
“We as funders and providers are missing a step.” Sierra recognized. “It’s more transactional and we’re not really looking at their needs. The talent is there and we need to nurture that talent. We need to offer more professional development and more opportunities for self-sustainability for artists, rather than the grant funding model that used to exist. We have an opportunity to really take our artists to the next level as a community.”
