Temporarily Paused

• This micro-grant awards $300 every three months to one local artist or artisan or one from out of town that is bringing their art to our city and surrounding areas to share with our community. 
• Cycles and on the last days of August, November, February, and May and begin on the first day of September, December, March, and June. 
• Awards are given on the Second Saturday during Art Walk at 6:30 of the following months: September,  December, March, and June. Awards ceremonies are held in the Weird Sisters Freak Boutique LAB and Portal at 1004 Marine Drive, Astoria in the underground (go down the stairs at the corner). 
• Our previous applicants take turns acting as a selection panels so you know that a jury of your peers are deciding on winners. You too, may be chosen (by your peers) to sit on future panels. 
• We do not believe that those with the most money should be those who decide what culture is. 
• These micro-grants are supported by Weird Sisters Freak Boutique Clearing Sale - part Weird Sisters merchandise at discount and part donations from our community - both the donors and Weird Sisters give up the decision of winners and future panel members to the applicant pool (after the first decision since there was no one else to choose). 
• When covid protocols permit, Second Saturday Awards Ceremony will include finalists giving presentation to the judges with an audience present and able to also contribute to both the winning project and others. 

• We fund individual artists' projects primarily meant for artistic expression as opposed to sales - you can (and should) sell your projects, but we're funding for the expression so apply that way. 
• Art and artists in our view include all creative projects including (but not limited to) traditional and non-traditional object art, conceptual and social practice art, large scale and interactive art, writing, poetry, plays, musical performance or the supplies needed to create or perform these, digital art, costume making and any variations or mixing of these or new art that can be considered more creative than commercial. 
• We preference the odd, unusual, and non-traditional
• We fund either quality work or passion and dedication to learning and improvement
• We fund collaboration projects with more than one artist working on it
• We fund educational, retreat and residency opportunities for individual artists and collaborators 
• We occasionally fund extremely creative business ideas that blur the line between business and art

• We do not fund organizations of any type - not educational, art, or other organizations
• We do not fund business ideas that are merely slightly creative - for business ideas to be funded, the applicant must be just starting out and pushing the boundary between business and art substantially
• We do not fund personal medical, living expenses or other personal needs 

We make every attempt we can to match applicants that are not successful with either information to be more successful in the future, or referrals to other funding they may make use of. We're dedicated to supporting the arts and our community in any way available to us. 

Here's what you do: 

• Make a short video (you can use your phone) introducing yourself and/ or your project. If you're shy, you don't have to be on camera - you can narrate in the background while shoing your project - we'll also accept a written intro but if you can, push yourself to also send us this. 
• Gather some photos or samples of your work, a prototype or sketch if you haven't yet done the work yet, and links to any online portfolios you might have of past work to help our judges to decide. 
• Click the "APPLY HERE" button below to fill out the very simple form. 
• Please try to be available to give a short 10-minute presentation on the Event Day - Art Walk - Second Saturday of each month. 
• One Week before the Event the finalists will be announced on our Facebook page and will be notified via email. 
• Presentations will be given by finalists on the Event Day in front of judges and audience. Opportunities will be given for the audience to also fund the finalists and the winner will be decided and grant given at the Event. 
• If you cannot attend the event and you're a finalist, we'll ask that you provide a video presentation via email prior to Event Day which we'll play for the judges and audience.