Musicians can apply for grants to help reinvigorate Fort Worth’s arts economy
Musicians impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic and the protests brought on by the death of George Floyd can apply for funds to help jump-start the arts economy.
The project also intends to bring about healing and positive change in Fort Worth through the Sounds of Resilience program.
The Fine Line group, the family office of Sasha and Edward P. Bass, with support from the Alice L. Walton Foundation, and the Tartaglino Richards Family Foundation, launched the second in a series of grant initiatives this month to help get artists back to work. The program is also in partnership with the nonprofit, Gallery of Dreams.
The application deadline is Aug. 2.
The idea came about when Sasha Bass and Lauren Saba Childs, of Fort Works Art and the founder of the Gallery of dreams, met with Fort Worth songwriter and musician Abraham Alexander to discuss forming the Sounds of Resilience project.
Saba Childs said Sasha Bass had the idea to offer grants to musicians, and it blossomed from there.
“We started this (Sounds of Resilience) before the protests and the death of George Floyd,” she said.
“We put the program on hold, and we didn’t feel it was appropriate to be announcing it. Then, we said, there is another huge shift. We are living through a pandemic and a civil rights movement,” Saba Childs said.
Alexander said being asked to work on the Sounds of Resilience Project came at just the right time as he was hoping to take part in the South by Southwest Festival, one of the largest in the world for musicians. The festival was canceled because of the coronavirus pandemic.
“That was supposed to be a launching pad for many musicians,” Alexander said. “I felt like the rug was pulled out from under me. I was depressed, I was sad. I really had no words.”
Then, when he was approached about the project to help musicians, Alexander said he began thinking of others.
“It was literally giving me joy to help other people. I heard stories of musicians having to sell equipment to pay their bills; that broke my heart,” he said.
Musicians who apply for the grants must submit a video of a live performance of two original songs focusing on resilience and healing and a personal statement on their experience in the pandemic and how their music will help bring people together.
Leaders in Fort Worth’s music industry will choose the grant recipients. Grants of $2,000 will go to 35 musicians, and the six strongest applicants will receive $5,000 grants and will collaborate with leaders in Fort Worth’s music industry on recording a song at Bass Hall.
The panelists are Abraham Alexander, musician; T Bone Burnett, musician, songwriter and producer; Troy Campbell, founder and creative director, The House of Songs; Rosana Eckert, vocalist and principal lecturer, Jazz Studies at the University of North Texas; Miguel Harth-Bedoya, chief conductor and music director, Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra; and Amy Miller, program director and host of The Local Show, KXT.
Earlier this spring, the Fine Line group began its grant program to help boost Fort Worth’s creative economy by reaching out to artists for the project “The New Normal: An Artist’s Response to COVID-19 project.”
Saba Childs said 200 artists applied, and 40 proposals were selected.
“The submissions ranged from public arts to paintings and sculptures,” she said.
The works will be shown later this year when more venues in the city can open to the public, she said.
Alexander said the pandemic and the unrest following the death of George Floyd provide opportunities to bring people together.
“As things are being torn down, I want to build things up and create positive good will through hope and through change,” Alexander said.