Recently Funded Projects
Catskill Wheelhouse
Broadcasts from the Forest Outdoor Classroom
“Through this project, Wheelhouse sought to fully implement our Broadcasts from the Forest project, which we piloted this in the summer of 2024. This project seeks to empower children's storytelling, music-making, and artistic expression through the creation of digital media (audio and visual) that is rooted in our forest play space. Implementation requires the creation of an outdoor media classroom space, as well as the purchase of recording devices and microphones.”
WAM Theater
Deepening the Pipeline: mentorship project for emerging, women-identifying artists from historically marginalized communities
“WAM Theatre deepens its pipeline of opportunities for emerging, women-identifying artists from historically marginalized communities by expanding mentorship, professional development, and production credits. In this final year of Brabson Foundation’s support, the project launched a sustainable model for equitable access in the performing arts, offering paid apprenticeships, BIPOC-centered artistic leadership, culturally responsive mentorship, and expanded visibility for early-career artists.”
Early Music Associates
BLEMF 2025: Early Music in the African Diaspora
“This project aimed to raise awareness of the multi-dimensional Black experience through the lens of its music. From May 25 through May 31, 2025, Bloomington Early Music offered a free-admission series of events headlined by six live and four virtual (with public screenings) professional concerts. Concert programs focused on Black composers, performers, poets, and communities making music in a range of contexts, each accompanied by a preconcert discussion.”
Working Dogs for Conservation
Saving the American Chestnut Tree with Conservation Dogs
“We evaluated dogs’ ability to detect a single blight-resistance gene inserted into the genome of the American chestnut tree. Canine detection is needed because only ½ the nuts inherit the gene, and current screening methods are resource and time intensive. This work is to help facilitate chestnut restoration, which will constitute the largest ecological restoration in history, and it will inform future dog work on synthetic biology, with implications for pest and GMO management and monitoring.”
Wonderscope Children’s Museum
Crossroads of Past and Present: Learning through Imaginative Play
“The Regnier Family Wonderscope Chidlren’s Museum sought funding to build a train station ticketing booth within our Crossroads of Past and Present transportation exhibit. The booth was designed to give children an immersive, imaginative space to develop foundational math skills like counting, estimation, and money mastery, and visual path mapping skills while also practicing key social-emotional skills like turn-taking and collaboration, all through the lens of Kansas City's transit history.”
Pigeonwing Dance
The Carpet Series 2025
“The Carpet Series 2025 brought professional contemporary ballet directly to NYC neighborhoods through 9 free outdoor shows from April - September. Using an 8x10 Persian carpet as a portable stage, eight professional dancers performed sophisticated choreography by Guggenheim Fellow Gabrielle Lamb in parks and plazas across Manhattan and Brooklyn. Each show consisted of four 15-minute sets in an accessible drop-in format, allowing approximately 1,200 people to engage with dance on their own terms.”
