Supported by a collaboration between the Rhode Island Foundation, the Rhode Island State Council on the Arts (RISCA), and the Rhode Island Council for the Humanities (RICH), the Rhode Island Expansion Arts Program (RIEAP) offers funding and organizational assistance to community-based culturally diverse arts and cultural organizations. It supports small organizations whose programs and missions center on the cultural practices and traditions of Rhode Island’s diverse peoples. RIEAP provides the skills and tools these organizations need to grow as equal partners in the Rhode Island arts and cultural community. Priority is given to newly-emerging groups and those with little history in grant funding. In seeking to build the capacity of these organizations, the RIEAP recognizes the broader role they play in strengthening their communities including cultural preservation, education, and youth development.
Funding from Expansion Arts focuses on developing resilient organizations, including governance, financial management, fundraising, marketing and audience development, documentation and evaluation, leadership development, and strategic collaborations and partnerships. Funding also will foster greater connection across the arts and humanities as well as provide leadership and professional development for a broader network of RIEAP-eligible arts and cultural organizations.
About the grant awards
Every four years, the Rhode Island Foundation, Rhode Island State Council on the Arts, and the Rhode Island Council for the Humanities, selects four organizations to participate in the next thee-year RIEAP program which includes:
- $10,000 grant each year for three years to each organization
- Participation in four to six capacity building workshops
- Access to professional consultants
- One-on-one consultation with an experienced arts and culture administrator
- Scholarships to attend regional and national conferences
- Opportunities for seed grants supporting such areas as youth development and intercultural collaborations
- Convenings with RIEAP alumni that include national recognized keynote speakers such as María López De León and Carlton Turner.
Organizations eligible to apply include:
- Small organizations whose programs and missions center on the cultural practices and traditions of Rhode Island’s diverse peoples.
- Organizations the reflect and engage the people and experiences of racially diverse communities in our state.
The 2019 – 2021 cohort selected to participate in the three-year program includes:
ECOArts USA
ECOArts USA supports arts, cultural and educational exchange programs between artists of color from the United States and artists from Cuba by promoting their talent and creativity.
Korean American Association of Rhode Island
The Korean American Association of Rhode Island was founded in 1975 with the desire to celebrate and share Korean culture with Rhode Island.
Langston Hughes Community Poetry Reading Committee
The Langston Hughes Community Poetry Reading Committee celebrates the legacy of the renowned African-American poet. Langston Hughes’s poems, dating from the Harlem Renaissance through the 1960s, continue to resonate today.
Sankofa Community Connection
The Sankofa Community Connection empowers individuals through education, workshops and training in order to build a thriving African American Community in Newport County.
Youth Development Grant (YDG)
The Rhode Island Expansion Arts Program (RIEAP) provides funding to the RIEAP cohort to help facilitate their current or future youth development programs where the younger generations learn about their cultural heritage and identity. The YDG grant supports programs that promote future leaders and programs that ensures cultural sustainability.
About Intercultural Collaboration Seed Grants
The RI Expansion Arts Program (RIEAP) funding partnership (RIF, RISCA, and RICH) offers biennual seed grants that promote intercultural collaboration where cultural ideas, traditions, and heritages are shared. We seek proposals from current and alumni grantees of RIEAP for projects and programs that support creative partnerships, strengthen our state’s cultural ecosystem, and create sustainable connections between cultural organizations.
In 2018, the following organizations were recipients of the Intercultural Collaboration Seed Grant:
Colombian American Cultural Society and the Puerto Rican Institute for the Arts and Advocacy
The India Association of Rhode Island and Hmong United Association of Rhode Island
Oasis International and RI Cape Verdean Heritage Subcommittee
Rhode Island Black Storytellers and the Laotian Community Center of Rhode Island
The Rhode Island Indian Council and RI Latino Arts
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The Rhode Island Expansion Arts Program includes 40+ alumni organizations, some are listed below.
Art and Culture of the Americas
Cambodian Society of RI
Columbian American Cultural Society
Eastern Medicine Singers
ECAS Theater
Hmong United Association of Rhode Island
India Association of Rhode Island
Laotian Community Center of Rhode Island
Oasis International
Progreso Latino
Puerto Rican Institute for the Arts and Advocacy
Quisqueya in Action
RI Black Heritage Society
Rhode Island Black Storytellers
RI Cape Verdean Heritage Subcommittee
Rhode Island Indian Council
RI Latino Arts
Rites and Reason Theatre
RPM Voices of Rhode Island
Tomaquag Museum
