For additional details, background information and FAQs, please visit HoustonBANF.org 

Download official guidelines in English or in Spanish. 

BANF 2025 Artist Awards 

The BIPOC Arts Network and Fund (BANF) is a regional partner for the Ford Foundation's America's Cultural Treasures (ACT). Over its five years, BANF aims to resource better and nourish the arts sector that celebrates and serves the Black, Latinx, Asian, Indigenous, and other communities of color in the Greater Houston Region.  

Recognizing that individual artists are essential to Houston's arts ecosystem, BANF is investing $1M over three years to create transformative opportunities for artists whose artistic practice demonstrates a history of leadership, service, and support for and with Greater Houston's BIPOC communities.  The BANF Artist Awards will provide a one-time investment of up to $20,000 each to 50 artists who are members of Greater Houston's Black, Indigenous, Latinx, Asian American, Pacific Islander, Middle Eastern and/or other communities of color. The 2025 awards will be the second and final round of 25 awardees named within this three-year period. 

The BANF Artists Awards are an investment in the artists and their commitment to Houston's communities of color. This funding provides significant support to individual artists who contribute to the rich BIPOC cultural legacies of Houston – past, present, and future – and demonstrate a substantial contribution to their chosen community. 

Further, to echo the commitment to sharing and building community-based wealth, awardees commit to learning with and from each other and creating a learning community that can facilitate adaptation and thriving.  All grantees and awardees are essential to building a network of arts leaders, practitioners, and organizations committed to building a thriving arts ecosystem in the Greater Houston region. 

The BANF Artist Award invests in artist leaders who have demonstrated consistent and ongoing creative engagement and interaction that has benefitted Greater Houston's communities of color through arts and creative service. While artists’ service to communities does not need to be a central component of their creative practice, their history of creative and community work should demonstrate characteristics of servant leadership, as we believe that by investing in these artists, the greater Houston community will also benefit. Although the concept of who is an artist, what constitutes creative work, and what is service are intentionally left open, applicants are invited to describe how they show servant leadership in their work; focusing on the needs, growth, and well-being of their communities, rather than individual benefit. 

Eligibility Overview

Applicant must:

• Demonstrate continuous residency in the 9-county region (including Austin, Brazoria, Chambers, Fort Bend, Galveston, Harris, Liberty, Montgomery, and Waller Counties) of Greater Houston for a minimum of 2 years.
• Be at least 21 years of age by June 17, 2024

Review Criteria

Awardees will share these characteristics and experiences:

• Artists who self-identify as a member of Greater Houston's Black, Indigenous, Latinx, Asian Pacific Islander and/or other communities of color will receive particular consideration. 
• Artists whose creative work has been recognized by local, regional, or national cultural organizations, leaders, artistic professionals, or other community advocates and leaders. Recognition is not just through awards, but includes community impact, and the contribution their art/process has had in the community.
• Artists have demonstrated a history of service and support for and with a community of color in Houston. The artists’ focus is geared towards a thriving community rather than individual gain. Distinctive from collaboration, service to the community highlights the well-being, and growth of its members.  
• Artists have demonstrated a history of and commitment to artistic activity/production.
• Artists have demonstrated a commitment to learning, offering expertise, and engaging with others in a productive and active manner.

This award is not tied specifically to any project or grant. BANF is asking applicants to think beyond a project, and rather narrate their histories, the impact of their work, how artists think about their practice beyond a single performance, and to uplift their contributions to the Greater Houston BIPOC arts ecosystem and their specific communities. In other words, instead of a project grant, this is an opportunity to name your story. 

Key Dates

Application open: Monday June 17, 2024, 10 a.m. CT

Application deadline: Monday, July 29, 2024, 11:49 p.m. CT