Art and Change Grant and Leeway Transformation Award
Philadelphia-based grants from the Leeway Foundation supporting women and trans artists whose creative work engages with social change, with awards of up to $15,000.
Overview
The Leeway Foundation is a Philadelphia-based grantmaking organisation focused on women and trans artists and cultural producers whose work engages with social change. It operates two primary grant programs for individual artists: the Art and Change Grant and the Leeway Transformation Award. Both programs support work across a wide range of artistic disciplines, including film and documentary, that uses creative practice to advance social justice and community change.
The Leeway Foundation's geographic focus is Pennsylvania, with particular priority for artists in the greater Philadelphia area. Its grants are among the most accessible available to Philadelphia-area women and trans filmmakers, combining a straightforward application process with genuine recognition of art as a tool for social transformation.
Art and Change Grant
The Art and Change Grant provides grants of up to $2,500 to women and trans artists in Pennsylvania creating art-for-change work. The grant is intended for projects at active stages of development or production rather than for completed works. It is open to artists working in any discipline, including film, documentary, and video. The accessible grant size and relatively open eligibility make this a useful entry-level grant for filmmakers building their first body of funded work.
Leeway Transformation Award
The Leeway Transformation Award is a larger recognition grant of up to $15,000, awarded to women and trans artists in the greater Philadelphia region whose body of work demonstrates a sustained commitment to art for social change. Unlike the Art and Change Grant, the Transformation Award recognises a career trajectory rather than a specific project -- it is given to artists whose overall practice has made a demonstrable contribution to social change through art over time.
Eligibility
Both grants are specifically for women and trans artists. The Art and Change Grant is open to artists throughout Pennsylvania. The Transformation Award is limited to artists in the greater Philadelphia region. Film and documentary work is eligible alongside all other artistic disciplines.
Artists must be creating work that engages with social change -- art intended primarily for commercial entertainment or without a meaningful social justice dimension is unlikely to be competitive.
Who Should Apply
Women and trans filmmakers in Pennsylvania, particularly in the Philadelphia area, who are creating documentary or film work with a social change dimension. The Art and Change Grant is accessible for project-stage support; the Transformation Award recognises established practitioners with a sustained art-for-change practice.
See Also
For documentary filmmakers building a social impact campaign alongside their film, see Documentary Financing: Building Your Stack. For production planning tools, use the Production Schedule Calculator.
