The Velocity Fund

In 2020, The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts authorized The Velocity Fund, which was then administered by Temple Contemporary at the Tyler School of Art and Architecture, to allocate funds to create and administer a COVID-19 Artist Emergency Relief Fund for Philadelphia’s visual artists with urgent need due to the pandemic. 

[text below from previous release]

Over the coming months, The Velocity Fund will manage the distribution of individual $1,000 unrestricted, one-time grants to Philadelphia visual artists based on an open application process.

Any practicing visual artist, who is currently a resident of Philadelphia and has experienced financial loss and/or hardship due to the COVID-19 pandemic is encouraged to apply.  

To ensure equity and transparency in the distribution of these funds, Temple Contemporary will select the recipients of this Emergency Fund through a blind-drawing (lottery) of all eligible applications. To increase the accessibility of funds during this ongoing crisis, the grants will be available and distributed in multiple phases. This staggered approach will allow artists not currently impacted by COVID-19 the opportunity to apply in the future if their situation changes.  

Artists who need financial relief can apply now—the application is short and simple. Please read the COVID-19 Artist Emergency Relief Grants FAQ page for further details on eligibility, the application process and grant distribution.  

The first round of funding was held on April 27, 2020 subsequent rounds were held on June 17, August 31, and November 30th. We secured funding for an additional round of funding in May 2021.

We will continue to update The Velocity Fund and Temple Contemporary websites with future application deadlines. Any eligible artist who does not receive funding in the first lottery drawing(s) will automatically be entered into the next pool of applications to receive funding as the next application cycle opens.  

If you have any obstacles in completing your application online or if you have questions that the FAQ page does not answer, please reach out to us at velocity@temple.edu.

Please note that The Velocity Fund Team at Temple Contemporary remains committed to administering The Velocity Fund 2020 grant cycle, supporting community engaged projects throughout Philadelphia.  Eligibility to the 2020 Velocity Fund grant is not impacted by applying for (or receiving) a COVID-19 Artist Emergency Relief Grant. 

Temple Contemporary creatively re-imagines the social function of art. This mission is guided by an advisory council representing a broad spectrum of Philadelphia residents, including high-school students of color in our North Philadelphia neighborhood, faculty and students at Temple University and civic leaders such as nurses, public historians and block captains. Collaborating with these advisors has centered our position of creative public service and has necessitated a fundamental philosophical shift for the organization to recognize social engagement as the determining factor of our programming. This shift necessitates a foregrounding of curatorial accountability, reciprocity and exchange that forms the basis of Temple Contemporary’s social life and, by extension, our values. Our recent work has included Funeral for a Home, Symphony for a Broken Orchestra and The Ongoing Revolution. Temple Contemporary is an initiative of the Tyler School of Art and Architecture at Temple University.

The Velocity Fund, administered by Temple Contemporary at the Tyler School of Art and Architecture, directly supports visual artists living in the city of Philadelphia. Established with the support of The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, The Velocity Fund is one of numerous Regional Regranting programs launched by the foundation to fund “under-the-radar artistic activity” by partnering with leading cultural institutions in cities across the nation where the level of self-organized artistic activity is the highest. 

The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts Regional Regranting Program aims to support vibrant, under-the-radar artistic activity by partnering with leading cultural institutions in communities across the country. The program allows The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts to reach the sizable population of informal, non-incorporated artist collectives and to support their alternative gathering spaces, publications, websites, events and other projects. Temple Contemporary in Philadelphia is one of numerous regranting partners. Other regranting cities include Albuquerque, Baltimore, Chicago, Cleveland, Denver, Houston, Kansas City, Miami, Minneapolis, New Orleans, Philadelphia, Portland (ME), Portland (OR), Saint Louis, San Francisco, and Washington DC.