ABOUT CHARLOTTE STREET
Charlotte Street centers Kansas City’s most forward-thinking visual artists, writers, and performers—acting as the primary incubator, provocateur, and connector for the region’s contemporary arts community, and its leading advocate on the national stage. Since 1997, Charlotte Street has distributed over $2.5 million in awards and grants to artists and their innovative projects, and connected individual artists to each other and to the greater Kansas City community. For more information about Charlotte Street, its awards, programs, and initiatives, visit www.charlottestreet.org.
STATEMENT ON OPPORTUNITY EQUITY
Charlotte Street values an equitable, diverse, and inclusive art community, which we interpret as all artists having fair access to the tools and resources they need to realize their artistic endeavors. We acknowledge structural inequities that have excluded individuals and communities from opportunities based on race, gender, disability, sexual orientation, class, age, and geography, and strive to counter those inequities in our work. We encourage panelists and selection committees to actively consider and seek to recommend a diverse pool of applicants as finalists and recipients of these awards and all Charlotte Street programs.
The Charlotte Street Generative Performing Artist Awards seek to recognize, encourage, and significantly support Kansas City-based artists creating original, exceptional new work in all genres of performance. Providing artists with financial support, critical recognition, and public exposure, these Awards aim to reward artistic accomplishment to date and to support the continued development of artists' work and careers. Artists must be generative artists—that is, the creators of original new work.
Awarded artists will be those who:
- Create new, contemporary work
- Produce work that is innovative and/or experimental in terms of form, content, process, and/or presentation
- Demonstrate sustained commitment to deepening/expanding their work and generative practices
Through recognizing and supporting exceptional artists living and working in Kansas City, Charlotte Street seeks to empower and propel individual artists, enhance the artistic culture of our region, and increase Kansas City’s desirability as a place for artists to live and work.
Two recipients of the 2027 Charlotte Street Generative Performing Artist Fellow will receive:
- An unrestricted cash grant of $10,000
- Assistance in the production of a video recording of a performance over the course of the grant cycle
- Recognition by Charlotte Street at the time of Award announcement and throughout the year of 2027, including through announcements to media, online promotion, special events, and more
Criteria for selection:
- Strength of artistic work to date
- Promise for future artistic achievement
- Commitment to & demonstration of innovation/experimentation in terms of form, content, process, and/or presentation
- Potential impact of Award on continued artistic development
There are two Charlotte Street Artist Awards—the Charlotte Street Visual Artist Awards, and the Charlotte Street Generative Performing Artist Awards. This form is for the Charlotte Street Generative Performing Artist Awards.
Past Charlotte Street Generative Performing Artist Fellows are listed on Charlotte Street's website: charlottestreet.org/grants-awards/generative-performing-artist-award/
To complete this form please fill out the following four sections:
- Basic Information
- About the Applicant
- Work Samples
- Demographics (Optional)
If you have any questions about this form, or the Charlotte Street Generative Performing Artist Awards in general, please email info@charlottestreet.org or call the Charlotte Street front desk at (816) 221-5115.
The Charlotte Street Visual Artist Awards recognize and significantly support Kansas City-based visual artists of all media who are creating exceptional contemporary work. Providing artists with financial support, critical recognition, and public exposure, these awards reward artistic accomplishments to date and support the continued development of artists’ work and careers.
Awarded artists will be those who:
- Generate exceptional new work as visual artists
- Create work that is accomplished, imaginative, and authentic
- Demonstrate sustained commitment to their work artistic practices
Through recognizing and supporting exceptional artists living and working in the Kansas City metro area, Charlotte Street seeks to empower and propel individual artists, enhance the artistic culture of our region, and increase Kansas City’s desirability as a place for artists to live and work.
Three recipients of the 2027 Charlotte Street Visual Artist Awards receive:
- An unrestricted cash grant of $10,000
- Recognition by Charlotte Street at the time of the Award announcement and throughout the year 2027 as a Charlotte Street Visual Artist Fellow—including announcements to media, online promotion, special event features and more
- Inclusion in the 2027 Charlotte Street Visual Artist Award exhibition in respected Kansas City Art Institution (past exhibitions have been held at the Emily & Todd Voth Artspace, Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Nerman Museum of Contemporary Art, Spencer Museum of Art), accompanied by a printed brochure with images and commissioned writing about their work
Criteria for selection:
- Strength of submitted artistic portfolio to date
- Promise and desire for future artistic achievement
- Commitment to and demonstration of innovation and experimentation in terms of form, content, process, and/or presentation
- Potential impact of Award on continued artistic development
There are two Charlotte Street Artist Awards—the Charlotte Street Visual Artist Awards, and the Charlotte Street Generative Performing Artist Awards. This form is for the Charlotte Street Visual Artist Awards.
Past Charlotte Street Visual Artist Fellows are listed on Charlotte Street's website: charlottestreet.org/grants-awards/visual-artist-award/
To complete this form please fill out the following four sections:
- Basic Information
- About the Applicant
- Work Samples
- Demographics (Optional)
If you have any questions about this form, or the Charlotte Street Visual Artist Awards in general, please email info@charlottestreet.org or call the Charlotte Street front desk at (816) 221-5115.
Thank you for submitting a full application!
For the full application, we are asking for: a project description, short description of community engagement, a budget for the $6000 grant, a project timeline, and one press image.
For any questions, please contact Kimi Kitada (kimberly@charlottestreet.org).
DUE BY AUGUST 19, 2026 by 11:59 PM