photo by John Rogers, courtesy of Duke Performances
El Sistema USA, Durham, NC | $5,000 |
Full Frame Documentary Film Festival, Durham, NC | $10,000 |
Empower Dance Foundation, Durham, NC | $11,500 |
Kidznotes, Durham, NC | $11,500 |
Paperhand Puppet Intervention, Haw River, NC | $11,500 |
Spanish Dance Arts Company, Bahama, NC | $6,500 |
Boys & Girls Clubs of Central Carolina, Siler City, NC | $11,500 |
Chatham Education Foundation, Pittsboro, NC | $11,500 |
Durham Colored Library/Techies4 Tomorrow, Durham, NC | $11,500 |
Helps Education Fund, Raleigh, NC | $11,500 |
Kidznotes, Durham, NC | $11,500 |
Walking Classroom Institute, Chapel Hill, NC | $11,500 |
BUMP: The Triangle, Durham, NC | $10,000 |
Full Frame Documentary Film Festival, Durham, NC | $10,000 |
Musical Empowerment, Carrboro, NC | $75,000 |
North Carolina Arts in Action, Durham, NC | $10,000 |
The Scrap Exchange, Durham, NC | $10,000 |
TheGifted Arts, Garner, NC | $10,000 |
Durham Nativity School, Durham, NC | $10,000 |
Student U, Durham, NC | $10,000 |
Village of Wisdom, Durham, NC | $10,000 |
WAKE UP and Read, Cary, NC | $10,000 |
Arts Access, Raleigh, NC | $10,000 |
Full Frame Documentary Film Festival, Durham, NC | $10,000 |
Full Frame Documentary Film Festival, Durham, NC: Support to pilot and establish a new School of Doc afterschool program. This grant will be paid over 3 years and was made by invitation. | $75,000 |
Community Health Coalition, Durham, NC | $10,000 |
Kidznotes, Durham, NC | $10,000 |
Music is Life, Raleigh, NC | $5,000 |
Puppet Show, Chapel Hill, NC | $5,000 |
United Arts Council of Raleigh and Wake County, Raleigh, NC | 10,000 |
Voices Together, Durham, NC | $5,000 |
Student Success and Learning
The Center for Inquiry-Based Learning, Durham, NC | $10,000 |
Communities in Schools of Durham, Durham, NC | $10,000 |
Communities in Schools of Wake County, Raleigh, NC | $10,000 |
Durham's Partnership for Children, Durham, NC | $5,000 |
East Durham Children's Initiative, Durham, NC: Support to expand the STEAM Summer Camp. This grant will be paid over 3 years and was made by invitation. | $75,000 |
Hispanic Liaison of Chatham County, Siler City, NC | $10,000 |
Teachers2Teachers – International, Chapel Hill, NC | $10,000 |
The Triangle Nonprofit & Volunteer Leadership Center, Durham, NC | $10,000 |
Wake Education Partnership, Raleigh, NC | $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 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 (MDBF) has a long-standing commitment to a diverse and thriving cultural sector in Chatham, Durham, Orange, and Wake Counties in North Carolina, one that provides meaningful artistic experiences for communities throughout the Triangle region. MDBF strikes a balance between supporting the region’s established institutions and newer and emerging organizations that reflect the full breadth of our cultures and neighborhoods.
In 2021, about 65% of MDBF Arts grants were awarded to organizations with operating budgets less than $500,000, 9% to organizations with budgets between $500,000-$1,000,000, and 24% to organizations with budgets greater than $1,000,000.
MDBF is a strong proponent of arts education, which is funded through the K-12 Education program.
MDBF focuses its arts grantmaking on strengthening arts organizations and nurturing artistic talent. Grants support a broad range of creative disciplines and practices—music, dance, theater, visual, digital/photography/filmmaking, literary, and audio (such as audio dramas).
Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Access: MDBF views our arts grantmaking through an equity lens. We are particularly interested in supporting organizations led by people of color, that incorporate arts accessibility into their work, and whose boards and staff reflect the diversity of the Triangle. By accessibility, we mean opportunities to encounter, appreciate, and participate in the arts. We support organizations that embrace and advance DEI practices and work towards equitable access and engagement in the arts.
In 2021, MDBF shifted most of its grantmaking from project-based support to operating support for organizations that align with our Arts Grant Program funding goals. MDBF offers two grant types described below that are awarded through an open and competitive grant process. There are separate and distinct eligibility and application processes for these grants.
We offer a two-year grant of $10,000 each year for a total grant of $20,000. These grants will be made to organizations with which MDBF has an existing funding relationship, defined as having had at least one grant between 2012-2021. We anticipate making 10 two-year grants.
Eligibility for 2-year Operating Support grants
Evaluation criteria for 2-year Grants
We offer a one-year $5,000 grant targeted to organizations that have never received a grant from MDBF or to those that haven't received a grant since 2012. This grant provides an opportunity for MDBF to get to know new organizations. We anticipate making 5 one-year grants.
Eligibility for 1-year Opportunity Grants:
Evaluation criteria for 1-year Grants
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
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.
In 2021, MDBF shifted 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 targeted to organizations with which MDBF has an existing funding relationship, defined as having had at least one grant in the past 10 years (since 2012).
Opportunity Grant: We offer a one-year $5,000 Opportunity Grant targeted to organizations that have never received a grant from MDBF or haven't received a grant in the past 10 years (since 2012). This grant provides an opportunity for MDBF to get to know new organizations.
There are different application forms for each type of grant.
We anticipate making 10 two-year grants and 5 one-year grants.
Preview applications:
In reviewing grant proposals, MDBF will use the following evaluation criteria: