photo by John Rogers, courtesy of Duke Performances
| BUMP: The Triangle, Durham, NC
Support for Bull City Youth Orchestra, a symphony orchestra for middle and high school students, in partnership with NCCU’s Department of Music |
$10,000 |
| Full Frame Documentary Film Festival, Durham, NC
Support for Full Frame 2019 Summer School of Doc and 2019 Youth Screening. This grant reflects the long history shared by Full Frame and the Biddle Foundation. |
$10,000 |
| Musical Empowerment, Carrboro, NC
Support to expand its music education program, in which college students are teachers and mentors to K-12 students, through a collaborative partnership with North Carolina Central University and BUMP: The Triangle |
$75,000 |
| North Carolina Arts in Action, Durham, NC
Support to bring in a master trainer for our teaching artists to enhance the quality of our programming across Chatham, Orange, Durham and Wake Counties |
$10,000 |
| The Scrap Exchange, Durham, NC
Support for the Arts and ESL Project, which will train and support ESL teachers and subsequently students who are English Language Learners in the Durham Public Schools |
$10,000 |
| TheGifted Arts, Garner, NC
Support for the GiftedSummer 2019, a multi-week arts summer camp in Garner |
$10,000 |
| Arts Access, Raleigh, NC
Durham Arts Inclusion Project is a professional development effort that will provide inclusion training and support to arts education providers |
$10,000 |
| The Center for Documentary Studies/Full Frame Documentary Film Festival, Durham, NC
For the Full Frame Documentary Film Festival’s 2018-19 Teach the Teachers and 2018 Youth Screening programs This grant is made through an estate gift to MDBF from the Jenny Lillian Semans Koortbojian Trust. Jenny was a granddaughter of Mary Duke Biddle. |
$10,000 |
| The Center for Documentary Studies/Full Frame Documentary Film Festival, Durham, NC
Pilot and establish a new School of Doc afterschool program. This grant will be paid over three years and was made by invitation. |
$75,000 |
| Community Health Coalition, Durham, NC
Koalition Kids for Health "My View of A Healthy World" Photovoice Project uses digital photography to improve students' literacy levels and critical thinking through the examination of health issues in their communities |
$10,000 |
| Kidznotes, Durham, NC
The Vivaldi Symphonic Orchestra, Kidznote's middle school orchestral curriculum, engages 5th through 8th graders in 21st century skills in the arts |
$10,000 |
| Music is Life, Raleigh, NC
Music is Life offers a music enrichment pop-up program, carefully aligned and structured with NCDPI Music Standards that encourages music literacy programming incorporated with STEM |
$5,000 |
| Puppet Show, Chapel Hill, NC
Puppet Show promotes and preserves puppetry arts through a series of community outreach programs fostering social emotional learning in young children |
$5,000 |
| United Arts Council of Raleigh and Wake County, Raleigh, NC
The Council will expand its in-service arts integration professional development program to 32 middle school teachers in two eastern Wake County schools to promote arts education standards and integrate them across the curriculum |
$10,000 |
| Voices Together, Durham, NC
Voices Together Little Voices Program uses music-based therapy as an innovative and early intervention program for pre-school students with developmental differences, and offers techniques for their parents to use at home |
$5,000 |
| Durham Nativity School, Durham, NC
Support for the Exploratory Learning Program, which will implement digital literacy education across all subjects in order to increase students’ reading and math scores |
$10,000 |
| Student U, Durham, NC
Support for the “Voices of Student U,” a project-based education program in which students develop communication and technology skills, learn to work collaboratively, and write stories that represent themselves, their families, and their communities |
$10,000 |
| Village of Wisdom, Durham, NC
Support for “Bringing Black Genius to School,” which will create a replicable school model for improving teachers’ capacity to support the socio-emotional health and academic achievement of Black youth, in partnership with Central Park School for Children |
$10,000 |
| WAKE UP and Read, Cary, NC
Support for “Playing with Reading,” which infuses evidence-based literacy strategies into summer recreational camps that serve Wake County elementary school children and provides books and activities to promote grade-level reading and stem summer learning loss |
$10,000 |
| Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Triangle, Morrisville, NC
The STEMentor Initiative "SMART Saturday Academy" provides engaging, structured STEM classes, camps, and activities throughout the year to school-aged children in Wake, Durham, and Orange Counties |
$10,000 |
| The Center for Inquiry Based Learning, Durham, NC
Engaging Elementary Classrooms with Hands-on STEM: All kindergarten and 5th grade teachers in Durham Public Schools will receive professional development in STEM subjects and kits containing materials for nine weeks of integrated STEM instruction This grant is made through an estate gift to MDBF from the Jenny Lillian Semans Koortbojian Trust. Jenny was a granddaughter of Mary Duke Biddle. |
$10,000 |
| Communities in Schools of Durham, Durham, NC
Sustainable Living & Me integrates science, history, math, and English in an agricultural and biology-focused summer enrichment program that includes a teaching garden |
$10,000 |
| Communities in Schools of Wake County, Raleigh, NC
Project CHAMPS is a pilot CIS Wake program that will provide specialized, experiential learning, preparing K-8 students for postsecondary opportunities and the 21st century workforce |
$10,000 |
| Durham’s Partnership for Children, Durham, NC
To support Durham’s Campaign for Grade-Level Reading |
$5,000 |
| East Durham Children’s Initiative, Durham, NC
Support to expand the STEAM Summer Camp and prevent summer learning loss. This grant will be paid over three years and was made by invitation. |
$75,000 |
| Hispanic Liaison of Chatham County, Siler City, NC
Orgullo Latinx Pride Youth Group is a year-round program designed to improve academic success for Latinx high school students in Chatham County |
$10,000 |
| Teachers2Teachers – International, Chapel Hill, NC
Dancing Numbers! Bringing STEM Lessons Alive Through Global Math Stories is a professional development program for teachers from three Chatham County schools to help them teach culturally relevant, globally connected STEM lessons |
$10,000 |
| The Triangle Nonprofit & Volunteer Leadership Center, Durham, NC
The Institute for Civic Engagement gives students the opportunity to develop skills and knowledge for effective civic participation and to research and create a capstone project addressing a community issue. |
$10,000 |
| Wake Education Partnership, Raleigh, NC
SummerSTEM is a professional development experience for WCPSS educators, giving teachers project-based learning tools and STEM immersion experiences that bring real-world lessons to their classrooms. |
$10,000 |
| Artspace, Raleigh NC
Increasing Artspace’s impact through an organizational assessment that will allow us to meet our community’s needs more meaningfully with mission-aligned programs and measurable results |
$10,000 |
| The Chamber Orchestra of the Triangle, Chapel Hill, NC
Building organizational capacity to support artistic expansion and underpin strong existing programs. This grant will be paid over three years and was made by invitation. |
$75,000 |
| The Chamber Orchestra of the Triangle, Chapel Hill NC
Support for the 2018-19 concert season. The Biddle Foundation does not typically make grants for season support. This grant reflects the long history shared by The Chamber Orchestra of the Triangle and the Biddle Foundation. |
$10,000 |
| Chatham County Arts Council, Pittsboro, NC
The Sustainable Small Staff model will support growing impact by hiring focused staff experts, creating scalable positions, and respecting human resources |
$10,000 |
| Choral Society of Durham, Durham, NC
Choral Society of Durham and Raleigh Boychoir will collaborate to present John Rutter's "Mass of the Children" |
$10,000 |
| Durham Art Guild, Durham, NC
The Marketing and Catalyzing Project for the Guild's Art@Work Program elevates awareness and utilization of program services and benefits by local artists and local businesses This grant is made through an estate gift to MDBF from the Jenny Lillian Semans Koortbojian Trust. Jenny was a granddaughter of Mary Duke Biddle. |
$10,000 |
| Pleiades Arts, Durham, NC
Organizational Strengthening and Strategic Focus Development |
$5,100 |
| The Justice Theater Project, Raleigh, NC
Renewing the Vision: Building Capacity to Sustain The Justice Theater Project's Social Justice Mission This grant is made through an estate gift to MDBF from the Jenny Lillian Semans Koortbojian Trust. Jenny was a granddaughter of Mary Duke Biddle. |
$10,000 |
| Triangle ArtWorks, Raleigh, NC
ArtSwell - A cooperative regional professional development program for Triangle artists and arts organizations |
$10,000 |
| VAE, Raleigh, NC
QUEER HOME(land): a community-built project to highlight the creative contributions and diversity of the queer community while exploring domesticity from the queer perspective |
$10,000 |
| American Dance Festival, Durham NC
To commission and premiere a new, all-women trio by the acclaimed Pilobolus during the 2018 season |
$10,000 |
| American Dance Festival, Durham, NC
To commission and premiere work from a North Carolina artist during the 2019 season |
$10,000 |
| Black On Black Project, Raleigh, NC
The Jo Ann Williams Artist Fellowship offers studio space and resources to artists of color in North Carolina |
$5,000 |
| Durham Arts Council, Durham, NC
Support for the Ella Fountain Pratt Emerging Artists awards, professional development project grants to individual artists residing in Durham, Orange, Chatham, Person and Granville Counties through a competitive application process |
$10,000 |
| North Carolina Theatre, Raleigh, NC
Support for “Peace of Clay,” a new play co-written by Triangle-area playwrights Mike Wiley and Howard L. Craft. This work is part of the Reflections: Sharing our Stories collaboration between NC Theatre and Theatre Raleigh. |
$10,000 |
| ShaLeigh Dance Works, Durham, NC
Bamboo Wind will commission 20 artists in the fields of music, film, poetry, photography, sculpture, theatre, costume design, and dance for a multi-media performance installation |
$10,000 |
| Southern Documentary Fund, Durham, NC
Support for the final year of a five-year grant to fund documentaries made about North Carolina or by North Carolinians |
$20,000 |
| University of North Carolina School of the Arts, Winston-Salem, NC
Support for the UNCSA Dean’s Discretionary Fund and Creative Excellence Fund. This grant reflects the long history shared by UNCSA and the Biddle Foundation. |
$60,000 |
| University of North Carolina School of the Arts, Winston-Salem, NC
Support for the UNCSA Artpreneur of the Year award, Creative Projects. This grant will be paid over three years and was made by invitation.
|
$75,000 |
The arts are essential to strong, vibrant communities. A dynamic cultural sector is a catalyst for growth, attracting and retaining businesses and visitors. They strengthen neighborhoods and communities by preserving the culture and memories of specific places and have a positive impact on health and well-being. The arts provide spaces to allow people from different backgrounds to engage with one another and opportunities to build community. Perhaps most importantly, they offer personal enjoyment to individuals, groups, and families, and give voice to the human condition.
The Mary Duke Biddle Foundation focuses its arts grantmaking on efforts that strengthen arts organizations, encourage collaboration, and nurture artistic talent. This program focuses on adult artists. Please see the K-12 Education grant program for guidelines for projects that engage school-aged participants.
Durham Independent Dance Artists, photo by Zoe Litaker
The Mary Duke Biddle Foundation has a longstanding commitment to youth education. We focus this grantmaking on two areas: Student Success and Learning and Arts education. In both areas, the foundation makes grants to help children, especially those in underserved communities, acquire the knowledge, skills, and behaviors they need to succeed in school, career pathways, and life.
We make grants to organizations located in and serving students in Chatham, Durham, Orange, and Wake Counties in North Carolina.
North Carolina Arts in Action, photo by MaryBeth Carpenter
K-12 Education Program
The Mary Duke Biddle Foundation has a longstanding commitment to youth education. We focus grantmaking in two areas: Student Success and Learning and Arts Education.
MDBF advocates for a high quality, forward-looking educational experience for all children, with a particular interest in organizations working with underserved K-12 students to provide innovative, creative, and effective approaches to teaching and learning.
Participating in the arts confers numerous benefits, from providing captivation and pleasure, to providing a vehicle for self-expression, to promoting cognitive growth and the capacity for empathy. Arts education nurtures creative thinking, collaboration, and other competencies.
We support organizations that help children in underserved communities acquire the knowledge, skills, and support they need to succeed in school, careers, and life. For the purpose of our grants, underserved students are those who lack access to programs, opportunities, or support because of economic conditions, race or ethnic background, geography, or differing abilities. We make grants to organizations located in and serving students in Chatham, Durham, Orange, and Wake Counties in North Carolina.
Student Success and Learning: Provide and promote learning environments that equip underserved students to succeed in college or career. Support for organizations that strengthen and support academic achievement, work to close the academic opportunity gap, prepare students for careers and college, and/or build a foundation of confidence and creativity to foster growth and success. Organizations that provide professional development for teachers are eligible.
Arts Education: Provide opportunities for underserved students to engage directly in high-quality arts programs. Support for organizations that seek to strengthen in-school and out-of-school arts instruction, particularly that in which students actively participate in making art. We encourage opportunities that include culturally-affirming arts. Organizations that provide professional development for teachers and teaching artists are eligible.
We view our education grantmaking through an equity lens. We are particularly interested in supporting organizations led by people of color and whose boards and staff reflect the population(s) served by the organization.
Beginning in 2021, MDBF is shifting most of its grantmaking from project-based support to operating support for organizations that align with our K-12 Education funding goals, below. MDBF offers two grant types, awarded through an open and competitive grant process.
Operating Support Grants: We offer a two-year grant of $10,000 each year for a total of $20,000. These grants are primarily focused on organizations with which MDBF has an existing funding relationship. However, it is possible for an organization that hasn't received funding to receive this grant.
Opportunity Grant: We offer a one-year $5,000 Opportunity Grant targeted primarily to organizations that have never received a grant from MDBF or haven't received a grant in the past 10 years. Preference is given to smaller organizations with operating budgets under $300,000.
This grant provides an opportunity for MDBF to get to know new organizations.
The application process is the same for both opportunities.
We anticipate making 10 two-year grants and 5 one-year grants.
Preview the K-12 Education Program application form here.
In reviewing grant proposals, MDBF will use the following evaluation criteria: