Longitudinal data from the National Endowment of the Arts show that participation in the arts transforms the lives of people of all ages. Involvement in the arts increases school attendance, civic engagement, college matriculation and employment rates.
Since 2019, SSF has made an impact in high-need, high poverty areas in Western Massachusetts by awarding more than $100,000 in grant money to 18 arts organizations and individual artists. Grants are key to the long-term viability of arts organizations and they are even more important for artists operating in low income, predominantly BIPOC communities. Most grant applications are costly and time consuming, making arts funding an issue of race and privilege. Scarlet Sock Foundation disrupts the current grant model by centering community identity and need, and uses a simplified application process that only requires easy to access data.