"You won't have peace and agreement in the world unless we're connected by culture and art. Art transcends borders."

Jozef Szajna, Polish director and Holocaust survivor

Independence Foundation believes that the well being of a community is broadened by supporting a wide variety of opportunities for people to experience culture and the arts. The arts can bind people through shared experience and understanding. The Foundation supports programs in the arts that enhance the common artistic spirit through creation or performance. To this end, Independence Foundation provides general operating and project grants to arts groups that are community-based in origin, are designed to serve the needs of the community, and emphasize community participation. We also support many larger cultural institutions in the region, believing that they contribute to making the Philadelphia area both vibrant and economically healthy. Programs that connect the arts with nontraditional participants and increase both access to and awareness of the arts are of special interest to the Foundation.

Independence Foundation awards multi-year general operating grants aimed at strengthening organizations by supporting creative work and administrative capacity on the basis of community involvement, artistic merit and leadership in the field.

Each year, a limited number of organizations are invited to apply for grants under our Culture and Arts initiative. Requests for Proposals are distributed in the spring, with Grant Awards announced in the early summer. As with all of our initiatives, Independence Foundation does not accept unsolicited proposals.

All organizations not previously funded by the Independence Foundation should follow the guidelines for submitting Letters of Inquiry outlined on the Grant Application Procedure page.