The Mac Miller Fund has announced plans to award grants 75 micro-grants of $1,000 to Black, Indigenous and People of Color to assist them in their work. According to a statement, the BIPOC Artist Micro-Grant program was created by the Pittsburgh Foundation’s Center for Philanthropy, and money provided through the fund established in 2018 by the family of the late rapper.
Applications for the program are open through July 23 here, and the selection committee will inform grantees of their decision by Sept. 1. According to a release, the grants will be practice-based, which means recipients will be able to use the awards in whatever fashion they choose. The program is open to artists who live in the counties of Allegheny, Armstrong, Beaver, Butler, Fayette, Greene, Indiana, Mercer, Lawrence, Somerset, Venango, Washington and Westmoreland.
“This program is yet another wonderful example of how the fund is channeling Mac Miller’s spirit in the Pittsburgh region and the rest of the country,” Pittsburgh Foundation President and CEO Lisa Schroeder said a statement. “As his fame skyrocketed, he shared his musical artistry generously — allowing people to internalize it however they would choose, and he reached out broadly. While there is much more work to be done in supporting racial diversity in our region’s arts community, we are grateful to the family of Mac Miller and our Center for Philanthropy staff for collaborating to develop such a powerful program.”
Kelly Uranker, vice president of the Foundation’s Center for Philanthropy added that the grant program aims to “carry forward Mac Miller’s creative and artistic legacy and his family’s vision for helping artists, particularly younger artists, recognize their full potential.”
Back in 2019, the Mac Miller Foundation donated $100,000 to music program for teens in the late rapper’s hometown of Pittsburgh. The donation was given to the Homewood-Brushton YMCA in an effort to fund its partnership with the nonprofit Tuff Sound Apprenticeship Program, which trains young adults on becoming sound engineers.
Miller died in September 2018 from an accidental overdose of fentanyl, cocaine and alcohol. He was 26.