Applications Open: We Are Family Foundation ‘The Creatives’ Frontliners 2026 Fund

Applications are open for the We Are Family Foundation Youth to the Front Fund: “The Creatives” Frontliners 2026. The deadline is April 13, 2026. This fund supports young creative leaders under 30 who tackle community challenges through arts and culture. These leaders use their skills to fight uncertainty, harm, and erasure in their areas. This article covers the fund’s purpose, who can apply, and steps to submit an application.

Creative leaders serve as caretakers and catalysts during tough times. They use imagination, storytelling, and group activities to fight injustice and create fair futures. In places hit by loss, they restore by replanting, rebuilding, and reimagining what is broken. Recovery happens together. They also find joy on purpose through gatherings, performances, and shared culture to build connections and care.

Key themes in their work include:

• Restoration: Replanting, rebuilding, and reimagining damaged areas as creative and community actions.
• Joy: Gathering, performance, and cultural practices that nurture connection and mutual care, not just escape.
• Cultural heritage: Living knowledge that keeps languages, crafts, music, and wisdom alive while adapting to new times.

In 2026, the Youth to the Front Fund keeps supporting young leaders who make real, measurable change right now. These creatives shape culture and change stories. They organize communities with art and build stronger human and environmental systems that help everyone.

Applicants must be founding leaders under 30. Their work must focus on BIPOC communities and fight systemic racism, inequality, inequity, and injustice. They work in areas like:

• Visual & Material Arts: Painting, sculpture, photography, film, installation, design, fashion, craft, and material-based practices across physical and digital mediums.
• Performance & Embodied Practice: Dance, theatre, live and interdisciplinary performance, movement-based work, and contemporary or ritual-informed embodied expression.
• Music & Sound: Composition, production, DJing, sound art, and community-based audio storytelling across live and recorded formats.
• Writing & Literary Arts: Poetry, prose, spoken word, journalism, publishing, archival work, and narrative storytelling across platforms.
• Film, Media & Cultural Documentation: Documentary, short-form film, community journalism, archival projects, and media practices that preserve and amplify cultural narratives.
• Design, Architecture & Spatial Practice: Architecture, urban and landscape design, public art, installation, product and social design, and community-led placemaking.
• Digital & Creative Technology: Creative coding, immersive media, gaming, XR/AR/VR, web-based art, and technology-driven cultural experimentation.
• Creative Changemaking & Cultural Strategy: Curation, creative organizing, cultural storytelling, culinary and folk arts, and interdisciplinary practices bridging art and civic engagement.
• Holistic Healing, Community Spaces & Sport: Wellness practices, restorative and integrative healing, youth and community sports, shared spaces, and movement as cultural practice.

To apply, use the online application portal. For full details, check the “The Creatives” Frontliners page. Act fast before the deadline.

Jude Ogar wrote this post. He is an educator and youth development practitioner with years of experience. He cares deeply about helping youth in Africa grow.

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Frequently Asked Questions

Who can apply for the ‘The Creatives’ Frontliners 2026 fund?

Founding leaders under 30 whose work targets BIPOC communities and fights systemic racism, inequality, and injustice through creative practices.

What arts fields does the fund cover?

It includes visual and material arts, performance, music, writing, film, design, digital tech, creative changemaking, and holistic healing or community spaces.

What are the main themes of supported work?

Restoration by rebuilding damaged areas, joy through cultural gatherings and performances, and cultural heritage by keeping traditions alive while adapting.

How and when do I apply?

Use the online application portal at apply.wearefamilyfoundation.org/submit before the April 13, 2026 deadline; check the full page for details.