August 2025 DreamCreative News and Opportunities Round-Up

North Carolina: City of Charlotte Creative Growth Grants

The City of Charlotte’s 2025 Creative Growth Grants support local artists and cultural organizations working to shape the city’s creative future. Grants up to $25,000 are available for poets, dancers, musicians, storytellers, and more to elevate their work in the community.

Apply by Aug. 4.

Maker MasterMind: The Business of Filmmaking with Mike Shum 

Join DreamSpring on Aug. 21 at 10 a.m. MST for a conversation with independent filmmaker Mike Shum as part of our free Maker MasterMind series. Learn how Mike built a career producing and shooting documentaries for outlets including PBS Frontline and Al Jazeera Witness, becoming a multi-award-winning filmmaker along the way.

Register for the free Aug. 21 webinar.

The Leaders of Color Professional Development Fund

The Leaders of Color Network Professional Development Fund 2024 reimburses Creative West's (formerly WESTAF) Leaders of Color Network members for activities/materials that they feel contribute to their development professionally. Awards will be funded at an average of $500 or the amount requested, if less.

Apply by Aug. 31.

Liu Shiming Artist Grants 

Supporting early career visual artists, applicants must have either received a degree in studio arts between 2015 and 2023, or had their debut show at a gallery or juried art exhibition between 2015 and 2023. $5,000 grants will be disbursed in two payments, with $3,000 by Jan. 15, 2026, and the remaining $2,000 upon completion of the proposed project.

Apply by Aug. 31.

The Hodder Fellowship  

The Hodder Fellowship will be given to artists and writers of exceptional promise to pursue independent projects at Princeton University during the academic year. Potential Hodder Fellows are composers, choreographers, performance artists, visual artists, writers, translators, or other kinds of artists or humanists who have “much more than ordinary intellectual and literary gifts” and are selected more “for promise than for performance.” Hodder Fellows spend an academic year with Princeton, but no formal teaching is involved. A $93,000 stipend is provided for this 10-month appointment as a Visiting Fellow.

Apply by Sept. 9. 

Creator Innovation Fund

The Creator Innovation Fund offers up to $50,000 in seed funding for content creators with innovative digital project ideas focused on pop culture, sports, lifestyle, or documentary. Projects should subtly promote issue education and social awareness.

Apply anytime. 

This Woman Knows Grant

This monthly $500 grant supports U.S.-based women creative entrepreneurs and artists who are bootstrapping their dreams or navigating reinvention. $15 application fee.

Apply anytime.