The Our Fund Foundation Awards $300,000 in Arts and Culture Grants to South Florida LGBTQ+ Nonprofits

Our Fund's LGBTQ+ Arts and Culture grant recipients

The grant recipients of Our Fund’s 2024 LGBTQ+ Arts and Culture Fund

Wilton Manors, FL (October 2, 2024) – The Our Fund Foundation awarded $300,00 in grants through its 2024 Arts & Culture Fund. With generous funding from the Warten Foundation, which supports Our Fund’s grant programs,16 deserving organizations and projects that support dynamic LGBTQ+-specific programs and initiatives.

The arts and culture beneficiaries received grants ranging from $5,000 – $20,000 in recognition of the impact they each have on South Florida’s vibrant LGBTQ+ community during a celebratory reception at the Wilton Art Works Gallery on September 30.

“It is fundamental we continue to support these brilliant arts organizations that enrich our community in so many diverse ways,” said David Jobin, President and CEO of The Our Fund Foundation. “This level of giving would not be possible without the generosity of partners such as the Warten Foundation and our passed Legacy Society members who included The Our Fund in their wills and estate plans.”

The Our Fund Foundation’s 2024 LGBTQ+ Arts & Culture Fund & Culture Fund Grant recipients include:

  • BLINC Black LGBTQ+ Liberation
    Thou Art Woman
    A BIPOC-centered event series celebrating LGBTQ+ women and their allies through performance and visual art since 2014. 
  • a cole one productions
    springfruit
    Two Black queer kids from Miami’s Down South countryside will stop at nothing to make it to their first Pride in Miami Beach.
  • Florida Atlantic University
    2024-2025 Fair Play Initiative
    FAU Theatre Lab’s Fair Play Initiative is a commission and development program for new plays and stories about the LGBTQ+ experience. 
  • Florida International University Foundation
    Preserving Our Histories: The Miami AIDS Memorials Projects 
    Preserving and narrating the history of HIV/AIDS in South Florida through community oral histories and the curation of a new exhibition. 
  • Gay Men’s Chorus of South Florida
    General Operating Support
    The Gay Men’s Chorus of South Florida uses music to celebrate the lives of LGBTQ+ people. 
  • Hollywood Art and Culture Center
    Open Dialogues LGBTQ+ Film Series
    The Open Dialogues LGBTQ Film Series presents free screenings and discussions based on the coming-out and ally narratives of South Florida residents. 
  • Island City Stage
    Season 13 Operational Support
    Support for Island City Stage’s 2024/2025 Season, “Something Old, Something New,” and for underserved audiences to attend season performances. 
  • Maven Leadership Collective
    Consistent Gardeners Artist Residency
    Consistent Gardeners: The Maven Artist Residency is South Florida’s first multidisciplinary LGBTQ+ artist residency and commissions initiative.
  • Miami Book Fair 
    LGBTQ+ Authors Series at Miami Book Fair 2024 
    To present a wide-ranging, inclusive, and diverse selection of LGBTQ+ authors and programming at Miami Book Fair 2024, as informed by our mission.
  • Niki Lopez – What’s Your Elephant
    Operating Support
    A dynamic combination of art exhibits, interactive installations, talks, and workshops to facilitate discussions on topics such as gender, LGBTQ+ matters, social justice, placemaking, discrimination, and abuse.
  • OUTSHINE Film Festival
    OUTshine LGBTQ+ Film Festival
    Presenting 100+ world-class LGBTQ+ films during festivals in Fort Lauderdale and Miami to entertain, inspire, enrich, educate, and encourage community. 
  • Plays of Wilton POW!
    Continuing to Grow LGBTQ+ Theater in 2024
    2024 will be a year of growth for Plays of Wilton (POW!) which will continue to produce LGBTQ+ all year through POW! and Women of Wilton and in New York City.
  • The Pride Center at Equality Park
    Jammin’ at The Center
    A sizzling selection of LGBTQ+ and ally artists brought to the heart of Wilton Manors designed to foster community engagement & celebrate diversity. 
  • South Florida Pride Concert Band
    Heroes and Villains with The South Florida Pride Concert Band and Voctave
    A concert performance at the Parker Playhouse by the South Florida Pride Concert Band with guest artists Voctave.
  • Thinking Cap Theatre
    Queer Woman-Centered Educational & Main Stage Theatre Programming
    A queer-woman centered playwriting workshop series and a queer-woman authored and focused main stage production.
  • Venetian Arts Society
    From South Florida with Love!
    Showing the humanity & cultural richness of Broward via live performances that are professionally filmed and available on demand. 

Support for the 2024 LGBTQ+ Arts & Culture Fund Came from the following:

  • Warten Foundation 
  • Jim Laird Legacy Fund 
  • Scott Bennett Charitable Fund 
  • Shelley and Sam Goren 
  • Daniel Hunt Endowment Fund 
  • Lawrence R. Hyer Donor Advised Fund 
  • Jim Morgan & Joe Rodonis Appreciation Fund 
  • Ross3 Fund 
  • Steve Rothaus and Ric Katz 
  • Dick Schwarz and Tom Massey 
  • Sue Wilder Charitable Fund 
  • Darrell Windle and Dave Samber 

The 2024 Arts & Culture grant review committee, made up of community volunteers, gave special consideration to organizations that have limited appeal to traditional funding sources as well as to applications that leverage partnerships between similar-missioned agencies to reduce duplication of effort/resources and expand reach/services and organizations that proved an effective and dedicated approach to addressing gaps in representation of marginalized communities.

About The Our Fund Foundation

Established in 2011, The Our Fund Foundation has grown into the third-largest LGBTQ+ foundation in the nation. As South Florida’s only LGBTQ community foundation, The Our Fund Foundation promotes philanthropy, manages enduring investments, and conducts meaningful grant-making to improve the lives of LGBTQ people in South Florida. For more information or to make a donation of any size, please contact The Our Fund Foundation at theourfund.org or call 954-565-1090.

President and CEO of The Our Fund Foundation, David Jobin