Culpeper Arts & Culture

The Charles E. Culpeper Arts & Culture grants honor the legacy of Charles E. Culpeper by supporting the artists and cultural organizations that make New York City one of the world's most dynamic creative capitals. The Fund is inspired by the conviction that arts and culture promote free expression, foster a deeper understanding of human experience, and provide a fresh lens on persistent problems and emerging challenges in diverse communities. The Fund aims to strengthen the cultural environment of the city by supporting its rich artistic community and the diversity of the city’s population.

Increasingly, the arts and artists have an important role to play in civic discourse and social movements—shedding light on important social, economic, and political issues; breaking down barriers; helping society heal after crisis and hardship; and offering hope for a better future. Artists are true innovators that spark creativity, inspiration, and imagination.

The movement toward a more equitable ecosystem of support and increased representation for artists who identify as Black, Indigenous, and people of color is underway. Throughout the city’s communities, promising artists are demonstrating a trajectory of artistic achievement and showing promise for further artistic growth and impact in society. Leaders at many of the city’s iconic museums and cultural institutions have initiated new hires and are implementing diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility plans for their organizations to break down barriers and increase artist and audience diversity.

To support these emerging trends, the program’s grantmaking includes a focus on community building and social impact, prioritizes artist-centered and multidisciplinary work, advances the Fund’s anti-racist and anti-sexist commitments, ensures attention to accessibility, and celebrates innovation. The program supports the creative process, elevating artists and cultural leaders across all disciplines. The Pocantico Center, located in Tarrytown, New York, is an important complement to the Fund’s grantmaking efforts, providing time and space for aesthetic exploration, artistic collaborations, and nurturing artistic imagination.

Organizations that nurture innovative, socially engaged, multidisciplinary artists working in new genres and with new technology are encouraged to apply. The Fund also seeks to encourage larger, established institutions to incorporate socially engaged art and artists into their programming and decision-making processes and to find innovative ways to engage diverse communities.