Clarion West to Receive $10,000 Grant from the National Endowment for the Arts

Seattle—Clarion West has been approved for a $10,000 Grants for Arts Projects award to support salaries and administrative costs for expanding online adult and youth writing workshops.

This project will bring together the rich history of Clarion West intensive writing workshops with the need to provide low cost and accessible online programming for emerging writers in speculative fiction.

This project is among the more than 1,100 projects across America totaling nearly $27 million that were selected during this second round of Grants for Arts Projects fiscal year 2021 funding. 

“As the country and the arts sector begin to imagine returning to a post-pandemic world, the National Endowment for the Arts is proud to announce funding that will help arts organizations such as Clarion West reengage fully with partners and audiences,” said NEA Acting Chairman Ann Eilers. “Although the arts have sustained many during the pandemic, the chance to gather with one another and share arts experiences is its own necessity and pleasure.”

“In this project, we will grow our capacity to sustainably maintain and improve our online offerings in order to provide high-quality literary classes and workshops, as well as a thriving writers community online, to help emerging writers be more successful in their careers” States Clarion West Executive Director Marnee Chua. “In 2020, our online workshops served an estimated 1,500 local and US adults. For this project, we seek to improve the full accessibility of our website and online classes for all students interested in taking the classes.” 

Clarion West is expanding their literary workshops to online offerings for youth and adult writers of speculative fiction. Including, but not limited to science fiction, fantasy, and horror, speculative fiction is an important part of literary art that encourages creative thinking and engagement with new concepts. Clarion West brings over 36 years of experience managing writing workshops in speculative fiction with award winning authors to bear on crafting a supportive online environment for writers to develop their craft and create a community to help achieve their lifelong goals. 

For more information on the projects included in the Arts Endowment grant announcement, visit arts.gov/news.