Community Arts Program

The Community Arts program aims to ensure vibrant work is created, celebrating new voices and providing opportunities for artists and audiences, inclusive of the Bay Area’s diverse communities and cultures, to thrive. It focuses on supporting the creation of work by Bay Area artists and enhancing access to the arts for Bay Area communities, with a particular emphasis on celebrating the region's rich diversity by funding emerging artists and small to mid-sized arts and culture organizations that engage their communities with meaning and purpose.

Type of Support

Overview

This year, the Community Arts program plans to award approximately $1 million in grants through a quarterly open application process to individual artists and nonprofit arts and culture organizations located in the Bay Area. The grants, available in amounts of $5,000, $10,000, and $15,000, aim to offer general operating support, regardless of the specific project proposed by grant applicants. This approach is designed to provide grantees the most flexibility in responding to the unique needs of their projects and organizations.

Eligibility

Organization's Location
USA
Program Location
CA (Alameda County, Contra Costa County, San Francisco County)
Organization Type
Organizations with 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization status
Fiscally sponsored individual artists, organizations, collectives, or groups
Organization Budget And Years
Organization's annual budget is less than 2M
Other
  • Annual organization budget under $2 million
  • Located in or serving communities in Alameda, Contra Costa, or San Francisco Counties
  • Work within the disciplines of dance, music, theater, literary arts, visual arts, community festival/fair
  • Work within the sub-disciplines of circus arts, traditional/folk art, performance art, installation, fiber art, craft, sculpture, painting, photography, puppetry, spoken word, poetry, musical theater, multimedia performance, multidisciplinary, illustration, fiction, non-fiction, festival, cultural fair
  • Excludes disciplines of film, digital media, radio, podcast, journalism, games, AR/VR, hardware/software, video art unless part of multidisciplinary work within primary disciplines
  • One submission per application cycle allowed; multiple applications possible throughout the calendar year
  • Priority given to organizations not yet supported in the calendar year
  • Returning grantees must be in good standing with reporting requirements

Ineligibility

Artists creating or developing work without public presentation
Activities not open to the general public
Activities outside Alameda, Contra Costa, or San Francisco Counties
Organizations focused mainly on training or education without an artistic public presentation
Industry publications or awards
Retroactive funding
Debt reduction efforts
5k – 15k

Submission

Review Criteria

Our focus is on funding applicants who fulfill one or more of the following criteria:

  • Develop and showcase work intended for public viewing or community involvement
  • Collaborate with artists living in Alameda, Contra Costa, or San Francisco Counties
  • Produce work that resonates with, is created alongside, and serves communities historically marginalized or overlooked
  • Work with artists who embody a commitment to gender equality, and diversity in race/ethnicity, age, economic background, and/or abilities
  • Are artists or art organizations within Contra Costa County that have received insufficient funding