Populus Fund
2025 Populus Fund Applications open March 7!
Founded in 2020, Populus Fund is a regranting initiative organized by The Union, through the generous support of The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, to support innovative artist projects regionally. We aim to fund creative visual arts projects that exemplify exciting and meaningful ways of working in, for, and with the public.
In 2025, Populus Fund will award a total of seven $10,000 project grants. These grants are aimed toward artists or artist groups/collectives working outside established institutions. Artists working outside of a traditional visual arts practice— in performance, dance, film, text, sound, etc.—are eligible to apply so long as their project proposal has visual arts as a driving force.
Regranting Region
Artists living in the following 35 counties surrounding the Omaha metro area are eligible to apply for funding:
IOWA COUNTIES
Audubon, Cass, Crawford, Fremont, Harrison, Mills, Monona, Montgomery, Page, Pottawattamie, Shelby
NEBRASKA COUNTIES
Burt, Butler, Cass, Colfax, Cuming, Dakota, Dodge, Douglas, Gage, Johnson, Lancaster, Nemaha, Otoe, Platte, Polk, Saline, Sarpy, Saunders, Seward, Stanton, Thurston, Washington, Wayne, York
ELIGIBILITY
To be eligible to receive a Populus Fund grant, applicants must meet the following eligibility criteria:
Be 18 or older
Reside in one of the eligible 35 Nebraska/Iowa counties listed above
Applicant can provide a W9 and Social Security Number (SSN) or Individual Taxpayer Identification Number (ITIN) once selected to receive an award
Applicants must be visual artists, curators, collectives, cultural organizers, collaborations, or artists with a history of presenting their work in visual arts contexts/venues
Performance, dance, film, text, sound, or any artist that works outside of a traditional visual arts practice is eligible to apply as long as their project proposal has visual arts as a driving force.
Ineligible to apply:
501c3 organizations and LLCs established for commercial enterprise
Staff, board, or immediate family member of The Union for Contemporary Art
2022 & 2023 & 2024 Populus Fund Project Grant Awardees
Selection Jury:
Awardees will be selected by a rotating panel of artists and arts professionals. Union staff will remain fully neutral in the selection process, beyond facilitating a short vetting process to ensure applicants meet eligibility criteria.
The selection jury is different each grant cycle and jury members are chosen to best reflect the diverse pool of applicants. Each selection jury will include:
an artist, arts professional, or community organizer from out of state,
an arts professional engaged with another Regional Regranting program,
a previous grantee
PROJECT CRITERIA
In 2025, Populus Fund seeks to fund artist-organized projects that offer opportunities for artists to use their skills to provide experiences, content, materials, activities, platforms, etc. that engage and connect with the community through art.
Populus Fund grant recipients will receive funding for projects that promote collaboration with the public and are radically accessible. Funds can be used for the research, development, or creation of public-facing new work, a project or performance. Public engagement can occur via process, presentation, production, or publication. This may include exhibitions, performances, events, lectures, workshops, screenings, readings, publications, residencies, programming at artist-run-spaces, online projects, etc.
Populus Fund's aim is to expand the financial support for artist-led projects in our region. Projects in partnership with funded organizations, art museums, or commercial galleries that have their own operating and programming budgets or a capacity to fundraise for their own projects will not be considered for funding. However, we do accept projects that work in partnership with DIY, underfunded, or self-funded arts and community organizing groups. Please reach out to us if you have questions about an institutional partner on your project.
Projects that support inclusion, diversity, equity, and access are strongly encouraged. Projects that engage the public must prioritize the health and safety of participants. Applicants should identify any safety protocols if necessary.
Application guides and feedback session sign-ups for 2025 will be available in early January.
APPLICATION TIMELINE
March 7, 2025 – Applications open
April 8-12, 2025 – 1:1 application feedback sessions w/ Union staff
April 15-19, 2025 – 1:1 application feedback sessions w/ Union staff
April 27, 2025, 11:59pm – Applications close
June, 2025 – Awardee notification
July, 2025 – Awardee announcement
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More Funding Opportunities for Omaha-area Artists
Omaha nonprofit Amplify Arts promotes unity, innovation, and progress in the arts to build strong and vibrant communities. This work includes an Artist Grants program for area artists of many disciplines.
CLICK HERE to learn about current grant opportunities.
QUESTIONS + ACCESSIBILITY
Curious about something that is not answered above or on the FAQ page? Drop us a question at populusfund@u-ca.org.
Please reach out to The Union team if you have any questions about eligibility or would like assistance reading or filling out your application at populusfund@u-ca.org.
SUPPORT
If you are interested in expanding our support for artists by contributing to the Populus Fund, please contact our Development Director Jon Day, jon@u-ca.org.
Populus Fund is a regranting initiative organized by The Union, through the generous support of The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, supporting innovative artist projects throughout Omaha–Lincoln metros.
THE ANDY WARHOL FOUNDATION FOR THE VISUAL ARTS
In accordance with Andy Warhol’s will, the mission of The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts is the advancement of the visual arts. The foundation manages an innovative and flexible grants program while also preserving Warhol’s legacy through creative and responsible licensing policies and extensive scholarly research for ongoing catalogue raisonné projects. To date, the foundation has given over $218 million in cash grants to over 1,000 arts organizations in 49 states and abroad and has donated 52,786 works of art to 322 institutions worldwide.
