The Mike Kelley Foundation Inaugurates Its Grantmaking Program

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Rachel Bauch

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THE MIKE KELLEY FOUNDATION INAUGURATES ITS GRANTMAKING PROGRAM

Will Continue the Late Artist’s Philanthropy and Honor His Legacy Through

GrantsMade to Los Angeles Organizations for Artists’ Projects

LOS ANGELES, CA, June 8, 2015 —The Mike Kelley Foundation for the Arts announced today that it will accept applications for its first formal funding initiative, the 2016 Artist Project Grants. Designed to benefit artists and arts organizations alike, the grants will be made directly to organizations for compelling, inventive and challenging projects by visual artists or artists’ collectives working in any medium.

To support adventurous programming at a variety of scales, the Foundation welcomes applications for artist-centered projects, particularly the creation of new works, and innovative collaborations between artists and organizations of all sizes. Letters of Inquiry for the initial round of grants will be accepted through August 5, 2015, as detailed on the Foundation’s website.The Foundation expects to announce the first grants, totaling around $250,000, in March 2016 for projects to be realized between April 2016 and December 2017.

“In his art and writings, Mike thought hard about the nature of giving and made grants to smaller institutions in Los Angeles during the last years of his life,” said John C. Welchman, Chair of the Foundation’s Board of Directors. “Mindful of his enormous influence on a generation of L.A. artists, we will follow suit by focusing first on the L.A. arts community. In the spirit of Mike's passion and candor we want to support work that may be difficult to fund due to its content or complexity. Whereas some funders are risk-averse, we hope to be risk-friendly.”

In the period since Mike Kelley’s death in 2012, the Foundation has settled the artist’s estate and completed important projects initiated by Kelleyhimself, including amajor touring retrospective that originated in Amsterdam and travelled to Paris, New York and Los Angeles, as well as theMobile Homesteadpublic artwork in Detroit. The Foundation also continued to make the discretionary grants to arts organizations that Kelley had supported since 2007. Following a period of research and consultation, the Foundation will build on Kelley’sphilanthropic activitiesand honor his achievements through increased grantmaking and legacy initiatives. An organization-directed but artist-centered grant program, sensitive to current needs and issues, will launch the Foundation’s program.

“The Foundation has developed a grant program that accommodates a wide range of artistic and curatorial practices and is responsive to the ways in whichLA-based organizations, large and small, are working with artists,” explained Mary Clare Stevens, Executive Director of the Foundation and former head of the artist’s studio.

“We hope that the hybrid nature of this grantwill fill gaps in current funding byincorporating an artist's fee into each grant and allowing for some organizational overhead costs," Stevens added. "By recognizing that it is often a challenge for organizations to compensate artists and to maintain operatingexpenses for these types of projects, the Foundation hopes to sustain and enhance the capacity of both artists and presenting organizations.”

Organizations are invited to review the Guidelinesfor eligibility details and Letters of Inquiry instructions.

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About the Foundation

The Mike Kelley Foundation for the Arts seeks to further Kelley’s philanthropic work through grants for innovative projects that reflect his multifaceted artistic practice. The Foundation also preserves the artist’s legacy more broadly and advances the understanding of his life and creative achievements. The nonprofit Foundation was established by the artist in 2007. For additional information about the Foundation, please visit

About the Artist

The work of artist Mike Kelley (1954-2012) embraced performance, installation, drawing, painting, video, sound works and sculpture. Kelley began his career in the late 1970s with solo performances, image/text works and gallery and site-specific installations. He came to prominence in the 1980s with a series of sculptures composed of common craft materials. The artist’s later work addressed architecture and filmic narratives using the theory of repressed memory syndrome coupled with sustained biographic and pseudo-biographic inquiry into his own aesthetic and social history. Regarded as one of the most influential artists of our time, Kelley produced a body of deeply innovative work in dialogue with American popular culture as well as both modernist and alternative traditions.

Photo: Cameron Wittig

Courtesy Mike Kelley Foundation for the Arts