Announcing 2026 Seed Fund & CDI grant recipients

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We are pleased to announce the recipients of the 2025-26 Seed Fund grants!
We received 59 applications requesting $305,459 and awarded $57,925 to a total of 19 projects.

  • Tier 1 :: 4 grants awarded = $3,525
  • Tier 2 :: 9 grants awarded = $25,910
  • Tier 3 :: 6 grants awarded = $28,490
  • Total = $57,925

We are also thrilled to announce the recipient of the 2026 FFA Community Development Investment grant. Congratulations to Dr. Kate Riegle van West and Dr. Chris Neuenfeldt who have been awarded $17,750 for their project to Evaluate the Therapeutic Impact of Poi Assisted Therapy (PATH) for Trauma Recovery.

Congratulation to this year’s Seed Fund recipients!

  • Flow Fest Seattle – Symbiotic
    Seattle, Washington
  • The Central Wisconsin Flow Arts Initiative
    Merrill, Wisconsin
  • Flow Fests 2026 in 5 Cities
    West Palm Beach, Florida
  • Grow With The Flow Collective
    Tucson, Arizona
  • Arkansas Flow ‘n Grow
    Little Rock, Arkansas
  • Cascade Juggling Festival
    Bellingham, Washington
  • Las Vegas Fire Dancers
    Las Vegas, Nevada
  • Portland Winter Light Festival
    Portland, Oregon
  • Winter Workshop Series 2026-2027
    Chicago, Illinois
  • IJA 2026 Flow Show and Glow Jam
    Dover, Delaware
  • NYC Flow Day
    Brooklyn, New York
  • Great Lakes Flow Retreat (GLF)
    Ypsilanti, Michigan
  • The Hazard Factory Fire Show!
    Seattle, Washington
  • The Sanctuary Fire Flow Jam
    Venice, California
  • Spark Program
    Sacramento, California
  • Valley Flow
    Los Angeles, California
  • “Road to Kinetic”
    Morgantown, West Virginia / Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
  • Virtually Augmented Juggling
    Worcester, Massachussetts
  • Flowburger
    Seaman, Ohio

This round’s grants focused on events/gatherings and presentations that would promote and support the flow arts. You can find the guidelines here.

Announcing 2024-25 Seed Fund grant recipients

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We are pleased to announce the recipients of the 2024-25 Seed Fund grants. We received 86 applications requesting $409,050 and voted to raise the funding by $26,120 to fund a total of 13 projects.

  • Tier 1 :: 2 grants awarded = $1,600
  • Tier 2 :: 7 grants awarded = $20,910
  • Tier 3 :: 4 grants awarded = $33,610
  • Total = $56,120

Congratulation to this year’s recipients!

Kate Riegle van West
Preliminary research on poi as a form of EMDR in motion

Bridget Knight
High Desert Fire Artists Flow Arts Education and Community Outreach

Afton Benson
Educators Guide

Cale Patton
Finding our Flow at Gillespie

Robyn Vandiver
Flow Arts to 50 and Beyond

Janelle Recca
Beginner Workshop Series

Logan & Madeline
Cloud Nine Flow Arts Education

Austen Cloud
The Kinetic Alphabet

Danielle Steiner
Jaja Flow Prop Training

Alicia Taliaferro
Philly Flow Academy

Casandra Tanenbaum
Flow Arts for the International Day of Play, South Florida

Spoon Circus in Northern California

Jeremiah Johnston
Throw & Flow: A Beginner Tutorial Series and Practical Guide to Juggling, Flow Arts & Object Manipulation

2024-25 Seed Fund Program Adjustments

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The Board of Fund the Flow Arts learned a great deal in the process of inviting, evaluating and awarding the 2023-2024 Seed Fund Grants. Having metabolized these learnings, the following adjustments are being made as of the 2024-2025 grant cycle.

SEED FUND

Seed Fund Awards will be made for Tiers 1 – 3 only. These Tiers are:

  • Tier 1: up to $1,000
  • Tier 2: $1,001 – $5,000
  • Tier 3: $5,001 – $10,000

What had been known as Tier 4, for grants that range from $10,001 – $20,000, will be awarded in a separate process, noted below.

Project types will alternate year by year. The project categories are:

  • Events/Flow jams
  • Teaching/Outreach
  • Performance/Presentation
  • Resource/ Research

In 2024-2025, the next cycle, we will consider applications for the Teaching/Outreach and Resource categories.
In 2025-2026 we will consider Events/Flowjams and Performance/Presentation.

The plan is for the categories to alternate year by year. Please refer to the Seed Fund Proposal Guidelines for the specifics on the application process and requirements. The Guidelines for the next round will be available October 1.

COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT INVESTMENTS

Previously known as the Seed Fund’s Tier 4 grants, these awards are intended to be more substantial investments in ongoing, continuing projects. The awards will range from $10,001 – $20,000. These grants will be run as a separate program from the Seed Fund. Applicants will express their interest in a brief Letter of Intent which simply describes the project. From these LOIs, full proposals will be invited from the most promising or potentially impactful projects. Please refer to the Community Development Investment Proposal Guidelines for the specifics of the application process and requirements. These guidelines will be available October 1.

APPLICATION WORKSHOPS

Beginning with the 2024/2025 grant cycle, Fund the Flow Arts will offer application workshops to explain the guidelines, expectations, and offer tips and answer questions from interested applicants. These will be held virtually on the following dates:

  • Wednesday, October 9, 2024 at 5 p.m. PDT / 7 p.m. Central / 8 p.m. Eastern
  • Wednesday, November 6, 2024 at 7 p.m. PDT / 9 p.m. Central / 10 p.m. Eastern

These sessions will be recorded and available to view after they take place. These sessions will be free on Zoom or Google Meet, but we will ask for RSVPs. Please keep an eye out on our social media or website, fundtheflowarts.org, for details closer to the dates.

As always, thank you for all the flow awesomeness you put out into the world! We look forward to seeing you at one of the Application Workshops, and if you have any questions, please email flowarts@gmail.com

Announcing 2023-24 Seed Fund grant recipients

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We are pleased to announce the recipients of the 2023-24 Seed Fund grants. We received 166 applications – over 3 times the number of applications compared to the previous round!
The total amount requested was $909,291 and we voted to raise the funding by over $25,000 to fund a total of 25 projects spreading across 15 states.

  • Tier 1 :: 10 grants awarded = $9,800
  • Tier 2 :: 10 grants awarded = $31,739
  • Tier 3 :: 3 grants awarded = $17,390
  • Tier 4 :: 2 grants awarded = $20,000
    Total = $78.929

Congratulation to this year’s recipients!

Winter Workshop Flow Jam Series, IL
To support Chicago’s Full Moon Jam Foundation’s series of monthly, indoor events during the winter.
$12,000

Being a Bridge, CA
To support safety, accessibility, and inclusion for Deaf and Hard of Hearing Flow Artists at events.
$ 8,000

The Flow Nexus, CA
To support a mobile educational space comprised of a library of flow tools and flow dojo, as well as workshops and a video series.
$6,000

Flow Arts Show at the 77th Annual IJA Festival, WI
To support the production of a Flow Show at the International Jugglers’ Association’s annual festival in Green Bay, WI.
$6,000

Eastside Spin Jam, WA
To support a flow arts meet-up and workshops in Bellevue, WA
$5,390

Eastside Showcase, WA
Eastside Showcase at the Northwest Arts Center in Bellevue, WA
$5,000

Open Burns, Washington DC
Monthly flow and fire event and workshops presented by Astraea Burners, for predominantly LGBTQIA+ members in the Washington, DC area.
$5,000

Photonix, MI
To support a student-run Flow Arts organization and performance group at the University of Michigan.
$4,500

Cascade Juggling Festival, WA
Joint project of Cascade Jugglers of Seattle and The Bellingham Circus Guild.
$4,500

Lebanon Flow Arts Family – Friday Flow Night, OR
An all-inclusive Flow Arts Group serving the semi-rural communities in the Willamette Valley, OR.
$2,500

Sierra Flow Society Flow Jam, CA
To support monthly flow jams and free workshops at a local venue.
$2,500

Spread the Flow, FL
To support a series of free entry, sober flow jams and workshops in Central and South Florida.
$2,500

Madison Circus Space PROPosal, WI
To create a library of flow arts props for use by community members at the Madison Circus Space in Madison.
$1,842

Santa Fe Flow Jam, NM
A regular flow jam for the Flow Arts community of Santa Fe, NM
$1,820

Tahoe Flow Arts & Fitness, CA
To help provide props and instruction at a Flow Arts & fitness studio in Tahoe Vista.
$1,577

StuyFlow, NY
A student-led high school club in Stuyvesant High School in New York that practices the flow arts, performs in the school’s annual shows that operates under the principles of Peace, Love, Unity, Respect, and Responsibility (PLURR).
$1,000

Flow Dojo
A flow arts collective in Boise, ID whose mission is to make the flow arts more visible, accessible, and affordable to broader audiences within their community and the greater Pacific Northwest.
$1,000

Albuquerque Flow and Fire Group, NM
A bi-weekly meet-up to practice fire and flow in a safe, supportive environment in Albuquerque.
$1,000

Flow Arts in the Park, NC
A flow arts community in Charlotte to present workshops and an open flow space at the Feel Good Fest.
$1,000

Flow Arts at the LEAF festival, NC
Workshops and flow arts props for a festival in Black Mountain
$1,000

Flow Art Gatherings, VA
Monthly flow arts gathering in Richmond
$1,000

Flow Arts festival at Looking Glass Studio, MI
A multi-prop flow arts festival in Warren.
$1,000

Flow Workshops, IA
Flow Arts workshops at Cirque Wonderland Studios in West Des Moines
$1,000

Indoor winter flow meet-ups, OH
Indoor flow space during the winter months.
$900

Flow for the Fifties and Beyond, CA
An online, global flow arts education and practice venue for people over age 40.
$900