Quad City Arts Awards $129,150 in Arts Dollars

Quad City Arts is pleased to announce 2026 Arts Dollars grant awards totaling $129,150 to 28 organizations and 11 individual artists.
Since 1990, Quad City Arts has supported the local art community by awarding more than $1,600,000 in grants to local artists, non-profit organizations, and schools. Arts Dollars funds are generously provided by the Hubbell-Waterman Foundation, the Quad Cities Community Foundation - Isabel Bloom Art Education Endowment, and the Illinois Arts Council Agency, a state agency.
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CAPACITY BUILDING GRANTS

• Main Street East Moline: Expansion of Harmony Fest, including the creation of an art competition
• Moline High School Drama Boosters: Purchase of new body microphones for theatre program
• WVIK Quad Cities NPR: Phase II of community content studio creation
•  YouthHope: Build out of CRE8 Studios to include different spaces for different mediums/programs

EDUCATION GRANTS

• Carolyn Krueger: Pottery classes & scholarships at The ARTery
• artsBASICS: Support for bringing practicing artists into classrooms for special projects
• Azubuike African American Council for the Arts: A Film & A Conversation film series
• Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Mississippi Valley: Art classes and museum field trip
• Junior Theatre Inc: Providing Equity Access to Theatre Arts
• Muscatine Art Center: Support for bilingual monthly programming and summer theatre camp
• Quad Cities Jazz Festival Ltd: Third Sunday Jazz Series + Bill Bell Jazz Festival

PROJECT GRANTS

• Charlotte Boyer: funding for short film
• Curtis Lewis: Development and Production of original musical Funky Soul
• Gaye Shannon-Burnett: Creation of story quilts and accompanying workshops
• Jeff Ignatius: ‘leavings,’ a photography exhibit at The ARTery
•  Jessica Beshears: Creation of Vol. 2 of art ‘zine, ‘Undercurrent’
• Meghan Hollister: Translating Nature, a series of 10 eco-art workshops
• Rowan Schussheim-Anderson: Creation of tapestry for a solo exhibition at the Figge
• Shayla Ray Kent: Plein Air in the Park public art-making sessions
• Thomas Chouteau: Kaleidoscope Odyssey exhibit at the Putnam Museum
• Vinnie DeVore: poetry chapbook, including original illustrations
• Argrow’s House: Art workshops for survivors of domestic/sexual violence
• Autistic & Loved: Art Workshops for tweens & teens w/autism
• Breath of Encouragement: Motown & Friends: A Tribute musical showcasing local performers
• Eulenspiegel Puppet Theatre: Creation of new puppet show centered around the Mississippi River
• Greater Quad Cities Hispanic Chamber of Commerce: Creation of mural at new offices
• Her Voice Media: Community reading/storytelling project around The House on Mango Street
• Hilltop Campus Village: Mural along Parking lot of Celebrity’s Beauty + Woke Smoothie Shop
• Martin Luther King Jr. Community Center: Youth created mural along 7th Ave in Rock Island
• Mercado on Fifth: Mural on shipping container w/pollinator garden
• Midwest Writing Center: Creation of Write Back, a literary arts incubator
• Narratives QC: Spoken word + visual arts workshops focused on mental health
• Opera Quad Cities: 25th anniversary showcase production
• Quad Cities Pride Alliance: Performers for Pride Festival
• Quad Cities: Pride in Memory: Hiring local musicians for creation of music for documentary film
• STEAM on Wheels: 3-D Pen Family Art Night
• Tapestry Farms: Floral Design training to support continued floral business
• The Third Place QC: Creation of a community mural through collaboration with Art with Atticus and Third Place visitors
• World Relief Quad Cities: Arts in English Summer Camp for Refugee Youth

In 2025, 38 individuals/organizations in Quad City Arts’ six-county region reached over 105,000 people utilizing funds from Arts Dollars. Approximately 100 events were produced, over 16,000 students reached, and 740 artists were directly paid through the funds. Quad City Arts staff does not judge, score, or determine the distribution of Arts Dollars funds, serving only as administrators and moderators to the process. Grantees are determined by a revolving panel made up of community stakeholders representing the arts, public and private sectors, and funding institutions, with final distribution granted by the Quad City Arts Board of Directors.
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CONTACT
Ben Gougeon, Director of Community Engagement
[email protected] 309-793-1213 ex. 100








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