Herbert Simon Family Foundation Announces 2023 Recipients of Indianapolis Creative Risk Fund

Herbert Simon Family Foundation (HSFF) in partnership with Central Indiana Community Foundation (CICF) and a community panel of artists and arts administrators announced 11 recipients that will receive a total of $125,000 in grants. Grant awards range from $4,450 to $15,000.  

The Indianapolis Creative Risk Fund, a pilot fund created by a community panel and funded by the Herbert Simon Family Foundation, was created to provide funding to individual artists, artist collectives, and collaborations of individual artists to take creative risks and pursue experimental projects. The fund was announced in September to a significant response, with more than 100 applications submitted for review. 

The panel prioritized proposals that had interdisciplinary collaborations, pursued new mediums for the artists involved, addressed challenging and personal topics, and concepts with significant artistic merit with uncertain financial potential. 

This fund is part of a trio of initiatives funded by the Herbert Simon Family Foundation, including Artists At Work Indianapolis and the Indianapolis Artist Bridge Loan Fund, that seek to support, fund, and build the Indianapolis cultural economy in ways that change mechanisms and power structures, and center individual artists, art collectives, and arts organizations that have historically been outside of the mainstream local arts scene.  

See the full list of recipients below: 

  • Bryn Jackson & Nasreen Khan 
  • Clockwork Janz & Rob Funkhouser 
  • Gregory rose 
  • Jeri Warner 
  • Joshua Thompson
  • Lauren Curry 
  • Mina Keohane, Fred Erskine, & David Melsheimer 
  • Nhat Tran 
  • Samantha Ortiz 
  • Sylvia Thomas 
  • Ventiko & Lukas Felix Schooler 
Related Stories
January 5, 2026
The Crosser Family Foundation, a fund of the Hamilton County Community Foundation, has announced $479,376 in grants awarded to 18 nonprofit organizations.
December 11, 2025
Hamilton County Community Foundation (HCCF) has received a grant of $6 million from Lilly Endowment Inc. through the Community Support Grant component of the ninth phase of its Giving Indiana Funds for Tomorrow (GIFT IX) initiative.
December 8, 2025
Hamilton County Community Foundation (HCCF) has awarded $558,000 in total grant funding this year, including $405,000 distributed through its 2025 competitive grant round.