Lewis Prize for Music Accelerator Awards – Jul 16

Posted by Lewis Prize for Music on June 1, 2021

Lewis Prize for Music Accelerator Awards Applications Now Available

The Lewis Prize for Music is accepting applications for its 2022 Accelerator Awards. Accelerator Awards are open to Creative Youth Development (CYD) music organizations seeking to influence youth-serving systems so all young people have access to learning, creating, and performing experiences that reflect their culture and identity.

The organization recognizes that systems change happens through a dynamic intersection of catalysts, including philanthropy. To that end, it invests in and partners with creative youth development leaders to fill gaps where systems fail and imagine new systems for young people to thrive and lead the way for future generations. It also understands that in order to be an effective partner in disrupting inequitable systems, it must do so from the inside out, as actors in systems itself, which is why it strives to center racial equity in its internal practices as well as in its funding and external relationship.

Creative Youth Development (CYD) organizations that are working toward systemic change are eligible to apply. In addition, youth served by the organization must be between the ages of 6 an 21 and must learn, create, and/or perform music for at least 50 percent of their overall program participation time.

To be eligible for a grant, the organization must have been in operation beginning in or before 2016; have tax exempt 501(c)(3) status under the Internal Revenue Code or have a fiscal sponsor (not necessarily established in or before 2016) with such status; be located in the United States or a U.S. territory and serve young people in the U.S. or one of its territories; operate independently of schools/school music programs and operates outside of school hours; provide consistent, ongoing participation opportunities for youth that sequentially build skills and relationships over time, ideally multiyear; addresses opportunity gaps and/or circumstances of marginalization (through systems change) for the young people served, at least 50 percent of whom are from historically marginalized circumstances; and have at least 30 percent of its board and/or management staff reside in or represent the community served.

The online application portal will be open from May 18 to July 16 at 5:00 p.m. PST.

For additional information about the application process, webinar registration information, an FAQ, and a link to the application portal, visit the Lewis Prize for Music website.

Deadline: July 16, 2021