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