2015 MAP Fund grantee “BLACK GIRL: Linguistic Play” by Camille A. Brown. (Photo by Christopher Duggan)
NEW YORK CITY: MAP Fund, one of the longest-running private funding sources for the performing arts in the U.S., is retiring its national regranting program. The precipitating reason: The Doris Duke Foundation and Mellon Foundation are concluding their support for regranting through MAP. So, after 35 years, MAP is retiring its national grants program and shifting focus to providing critical coaching to artists through the Scaffolding for Practicing Artists (SPA) program. MAP’s final grantee cohort was announced in August 2024.
“We are so proud of MAP’s impact over the last four decades, and in awe of the endless talent and commitment from grantees, applicants, reviewers, partners, and staff,” said MAP fund executive director David Blasher in a statement. “Investment in artists’ work enriches us all. Our recent grant cycle received a record 2,378 requests for support, emphasizing artists’ need for flexible funding to create new work. We grieve the loss of MAP’s national grantmaking, and the critical support our open call grants provided to artists at every stage of their careers.”
The MAP Fund is supported by foundations, government agencies, and individuals. Following its founding by the Rockefeller Foundation in the 1980s, the MAP Fund’s deepest partnerships have been with the Doris Duke Foundation and Mellon Foundation. Since 2008, Duke has been the primary funder in MAP, investing $21.8 million; since 2010, Mellon has invested $6.8 million in MAP. Thanks to these pillars of support, MAP has maintained a national grantmaking program for artists creating radical, bold, and experimental performance work.
In a release, MAP said, “As funding shifts, the performing arts ecosystem is facing cuts across the board, and MAP is one of several regranting organizations navigating this change. There will be no changes to the services provided to the current cohort of grantees and SPA participants. MAP will continue to support artists via the SPA program, providing them with one-on-one coaching sessions and peer artist gatherings to help them thoughtfully address their artistic identities, goals, and challenges.”
Alberta Arthurs and Suzanne Sato originally established MAP (“Multi-Arts Production Fund”) at the Rockefeller Foundation in the late 1980s to support innovation and cross-cultural exploration in new works of live performance. The program exemplified its founders’ efforts to address issues of cultural difference in the United States. Led by Moira Brennan for almost two decades, MAP evolved its mandate in parallel with changing notions of multiculturalism and diversity.
Since 1989, MAP Fund has awarded nearly $40 million to artist grantees, supporting more than 2,500 individual artists and ensembles through 1,614 funded projects. Projects have been undertaken in every region of the United States, as well as internationally. By a conservative estimate, MAP projects have reached more than two million audience members.
