DONATE NOW

< Back To Grants

ArtsFund’s 2025 Youth Arts Opportunity Fund (YAOF) Grantees

In September 2025, ArtsFund announced a total of 41 awards from two of our longstanding grantmaking programs: The Youth Arts Opportunity Fund and the Guendolen Carkeek Plestcheeff Fund for the Decorative and Design Arts.  

ArtsFund’s Youth Arts Opportunity Fund (YAOF) aims to increase access to and participation in meaningful, sustained, robust arts experiences for historically underserved youth. All awards are granted as unrestricted general operating support. To learn more about the fund, please visit ArtsFund’s Grants page.   

The ArtsFund Board of Trustees approved a total of 31 individual grants, totaling a record distribution of $217,000. Applications were reviewed by a panel of community leaders, including:  

Avery Berschauer
A•B Inclusion

Cecelia DeLeon (Mousy DeVilla)
Teaching Artist

Moe’Neyah Holland
New York University

Levi Mogg
Teach for America

Anne Shukla
Allen Family Philanthropies

Gail Frasier
Seattle Public Schools 

ArtsFund’s 2025 Youth Arts Opportunity Fund grants were generously sponsored by Kaphan Foundation and other anonymous supporters.

 

2025 Youth Arts Opportunity Fund Grants 

Hilltop Artists in Residence | $15,000

Orquesta Northwest | $14,000

Seattle JazzED | $14,000

Arts Corps | $12,500

Coyote Central | $12,500

Bellevue Youth Symphony Orchestra | $10,000

Centro Cultural Mexicano | $10,000

Intiman Theatre | $10,000

TeenTix | $10,000

The Vera Project | $10,000

Youth in Focus | $10,000

Tacoma Youth Symphony Association | $7,500

Totem Star | $7,500

Urban ArtWorks | $7,500

El Centro de la Raza | $7,000

Red Eagle Soaring | $7,000

Key to Change | $5,000

Music Center of the Northwest | $5,000

Seattle Arts & Lectures | $5,000

Seattle Youth Symphony Orchestra | $5,000

SIFF | $5,000

The Rhapsody Project | $5,000

American Asian Performing Arts Theatre | $2,500

Arts Council of Snohomish County DBA Schack Art Center | $2,500

Jack Straw Cultural Center | $2,500

Pacific Northwest Ballet Association | $2,500

Seattle Chamber Music Society | $2,500

Seattle Children’s Theatre | $2,500

Seattle Opera| $2,500

Tacoma Refugee Choir | $2,500

Ted Brown Music Outreach | $2,500

Total = $217,000


The Guendolen Carkeek Plestcheeff Fund for the Decorative and Design Arts is an endowed fund which offers grants to nonprofit organizations in the Puget Sound regions with programs, exhibitions, educational programs, symposia, or publications related to the field of decorative arts. Applications are by invitation only. 
 

The Board approved 10 awards totaling $64,366 to support projects in the decorative arts. 

Applications to the fund were reviewed by a panel of community members with expertise in the field of decorative arts, including:


Leslie Jackson Chihuly

Chihuly Studio 

Michael Greer
ArtsFund

David Lewis
Artist & Author

Mayumi Tsutakawa
Independent Writer and Curator


2025 Guendolen Carkeek Plestcheeff Awards

Burke Museum | $9,100

National Nordic Museum | $8,566

Museum of Glass | $8,500

Frye Art Museum | $8,000

Museum of History and Industry (MOHAI) | $8,000

Museum of Pop Culture (MoPOP) | $7,100

Northwest African American Museum (NAAM) | $5,100

Hilltop Artists in Residence | $4,000

Seattle Art Museum | $4,000

Wing Luke Museum | $2,000

Total = $64,366