Alternative Exposure Round 18 - 2024 (ENGLISH)

Southern Exposure's Alternative Exposure grant program supports the independent, self-organized work of artists and small groups playing a crucial role within the San Francisco Bay Area arts community.

      Alternative Exposure provides monetary awards – grants of up to $5,000 each – to foster the development and/or presentation of artist-led projects and programs that are open to the public. Funded activities may include a new exhibition or exhibition series, the ongoing work of an independent art space or collective, a public art project, a one-time event or performance, publications directly related to the visual arts, an online project, an artist residency, a series of performances or screenings and more.

KEY DATES

Application Deadline Extended!: Sunday, August 18, 2024, 11:59PM PST
Grantee Notification:  October 2024

INFORMATION SESSIONS

- Wednesday, June 26, 2024, 5:00–6:00 PM – RSVP HERE

- Saturday, August 10, 2024, 11:00 AM–12:30 PM – RSVP HERE

Recordings of 2023 Info Sessions can be found at https://soex.org/alternative-exposure/information-sessions


BASIC INFORMATION
         Alternative Exposure grants directly fund visual arts projects that provide frameworks of support for artists to create and continue their work. Alternative Exposure is focused on supporting projects that present the work of more than one artist. If applying as a group, the artistic group or venue can be either long-standing or formed specifically for this opportunity. 

Projects presented by 501c3 nonprofit organizations are NOT eligible to apply. 


GRANT AMOUNTS
         Alternative Exposure will support projects at levels up to $5,000.

ELIGIBILITY:

  • The lead organizer must have an address in Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, Napa, San Francisco, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Santa Cruz, Solano, or Sonoma County. For collectives or groups, additional collaborators may live outside of these counties but the majority of collaborators in the group must live in an eligible county. Resulting project activities must be presented to the public within at least one of these areas.
     
  • Funded projects must be completed before June 30, 2026 and after November 1, 2024. For projects or programs that are a part of an ongoing project, the work supported by Alternative Exposure should be completed within this timeframe.
     
  • Applicants may be a lead organizer on more than one application, however, in these cases only one of their projects can be selected for funding.
     
  • Applicants that have received Alternative Exposure grants from Rounds 1-15 (2007-2021) are eligible to apply again as lead organizers if the first project was successfully completed and the final report was submitted to Southern Exposure. Recipients of Alternative Exposure Emergency Grants in 2020 are eligible to apply for this round of project-based funding.
     
  • Grantees from Rounds 16 (2022) or 17 (2023) are NOT eligible to apply again as lead organizers in Round 18. However, former grantees (both lead organizers and additional collaborators) from all previous rounds may participate in 2024 applications for new, unrelated projects as collaborators.
     
  • Projects that are fiscally sponsored are eligible, but this is not required. 

WHAT ALTERNATIVE EXPOSURE DOES NOT SUPPORT:

  • Projects presented by established art spaces or 501c3 nonprofit organizations are NOT eligible to apply. 
  • LLC's, collectives, or art spaces with an annual operating budget of over $100,000 are not eligible.
  • Work that is not based in the visual arts is not eligible. Traditional theatrical or dance performances, film productions, or purely sound/music performances without a visual component are not eligible.
  • An individual artist seeking support to make their own work is not eligible.
  • Individual artists whose work includes groups of people in its creation, but whose finished work is solely considered that of the individual artist’s, not the collaborative group as a whole are not eligible.
  • Work that is presented at Southern Exposure is not eligible.
  • Board members, staff, or curatorial council members of Southern Exposure are not eligible to apply as lead organizers of projects.

REVIEW PROCESS AND SELECTION CRITERIA

Southern Exposure’s review process will take 6-8 weeks. Proposals will be reviewed by an impartial panel of three local and/or national jurors who are artists and arts professionals. Reviews will be based on the following criteria:

  • The artistic strength and creative vision of the proposed project
  • How meaningfully the proposed project will support Bay Area artists and impact Bay Area audiences
  • The demonstrated capacity of the applicant to realize the proposed project
  • The project's support for a diverse artistic community beyond those historically privileged by arts institutions, with priority given to projects led by Black, Indigenous, POC, queer, trans, GNC, disabled, and low-income artists
     

THE JONATHAN BERNBAUM MEMORIAL AWARD 

Southern Exposure is honored to present an Alternative Exposure Award in memory of Jonathan Bernbaum. Multi-media and video artist Jonathan Bernbaum tragically died in the 2016 Oakland Ghost Ship Fire at the age of 34. The Jonathan Bernbaum Memorial Award will honor his work and his commitment to the Bay Area artistic community by supporting the work of a project that focuses on performance or multi-media work. The recipient will be chosen from amongst the pool of Alternative Exposure applicants. Eligibility rules above apply.


 

WHAT DO WE MEAN BY "VISUAL ARTS"?
         Alternative Exposure supports visual arts and projects strongly related to the visual arts. The work of media and performing arts are eligible when the visual arts are a central and essential element of the finished work. Southern Exposure is committed to new, diverse, and risk-taking forms of visual art and helping to define new practices. If you have questions about whether your project is eligible please attend one of the information sessions or reach out to us at alternativeexposure@soex.org.  

 
WHO SHOULD BE THE LEAD ORGANIZER?
         If your project has more than one organizer or you are applying as a collective, please choose one person to serve as the lead organizer. The lead organizer will be the primary contact for the project during the application and granting process. You can choose to list up to six additional collaborators on the application. The collaborators you list should be people who share organizing responsibilities on the project. Artists who are supported through your project, but do not have organizing responsibilities, do not need to be listed as collaborators in the application.

APPLICATION
         Your application must be completed via electronic submission. If you need support submitting your application, please call Southern Exposure at 415.863.2141 or email us at alternativeexposure@soex.org.

APPLICATION CHECKLIST:

         1. YOUR PROPOSED PROJECT
          Outline your project in the form of a brief summary along with a full description and address the following:
 

  • Describe your project in detail.
  • Where will your project take place? (Proposed projects may not take place at Southern Exposure.) No worries if you don’t have a location yet, please share how you plan to secure one. If your project does not require a physical venue, how will it be publicly accessed?
  • Describe how your project supports or provides opportunities for local artists.
  • Tell us about your approximate project timeline and include milestone dates relevant to your project.
  • If you haven't yet selected artists whose work will be presented, describe how you will choose the artists.
  • If you haven't produced a project like this before, please describe your relevant experience completing a similar project.
     

2. APPLICANT INFO

3. BUDGET

(Find samples of previous grantee budgets here.)


4. VISUAL SUPPORT MATERIALS
         You will be prompted to upload up to 10 digital image files or links to URLs when you are completing the online application.


5. ANNOTATED CHECKLIST OF VISUAL SUPPORT MATERIALS


6. CONTACT INFORMATION
         Tell us how we can get in touch with the lead organizer, and up to six additional collaborators.


A BRIEF HISTORY
         Alternative Exposure was launched in 2007 in partnership with The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts to recognize and support the movement of independently organized, public-facing, artist-centered activity that animates local and regional art scenes but that lies beyond the reach of traditional funding sources. Since then, The Andy Warhol Foundation has invested in the creation of a growing national network of 32 regional regranting programs. The Regional Regranting Program is administered by non-profit visual art centers across the United States that work in partnership with the Foundation to fund artists’ experimental projects and collaborative undertakings. Programs are developed and facilitated by organizations in Alabama, Albuquerque, Atlanta, Baltimore, Boston, Chicago, Cleveland, Denver, Detroit, Houston, Indianapolis, Kansas City, Los Angeles, Miami, Milwaukee, Minneapolis, Knoxville, New Orleans, Newark, Oklahoma, Omaha, Philadelphia, Phoenix & Tucson (AZ), Portland (OR), Portland (ME), Providence, Raleigh & Greensboro (NC), Saint Louis, San Francisco, San Juan, PR, Seattle, and Washington D.C. To learn more about the many projects funded by Alternative Exposure visit www.soex.org.

ABOUT SOUTHERN EXPOSURE
         Southern Exposure (SoEx) is a vital Bay Area institution where visual artists have opportunities to conceive and present innovative contemporary art to new audiences. SoEx is dedicated to giving artists the space, infrastructure, and resources they need to realize ideas and projects in an open, supportive environment.

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