VisionIntoArt has received a $600,000 grant from the Mellon Foundation.

The grant will “support capacity building for the continued development and sharing methodologies of [the organization’s] creative production model.”

Per an official press release, the funding will allow for the expansion of the organization’s equity-driven approach and support such projects as Paola Prestini and Brenda Shaughnessy’s “Sensorium Ex,” which centers disabled artists and seeks to reimagine more accessible and inclusive processes for creative growth in opera. Other works affected by this support include “We Were Fridays” and an untitled opera by Prestini and poet Robin Coste Lewis about racial equity in the arts; this latter work will premiere at the Spoleto Festival USA in 2026.

The grant will also fund the VisionIntoArt Impact Lab Fellowship, which facilitates research and creative documentation around artistic methods and models that emerge from the organization’s projects.

“We are thrilled to be supporting VisionIntoArt’s collaborative producing model, not only for the bold creative works it will generate but the impact it can have field-wide in centering equity as a catalyst for artistic innovation,” said Emil Kang, Program Director for Arts and Culture at the Mellon Foundation, in the press release. “The fact that VIA’s inclusive model will also advance disability justice in spaces like AI technology is a testament to how we as a culture benefit when artists lead the charge in innovation.”