The FY19 Guidelines are below and the application window for FY19 is now closed.
You may check out the recorded Informational Webinar, which provides an overview of eligibility and the grant categories. We also have a webinar on the Individual Artist Commission category available here.
Do you have a question about your grant application? Schedule a 15-minute one-on-one phone call with a program officer to discuss a question you have about the grant category or application process before you submit. Program officers will not read grants, but can help guide you through your decision making about how to make your application more effective.
For FAQs and more, check out our Grant Application Resources page.
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The Artistic Legacy Grant (ALG) is an annual grant for $40,000 to acknowledge the impact of an artistic director that has served the organization consistently for 25 years or more. Through the vision of the artistic director, the awarded organization is considered to be a vital member of the respective community(ies) they serve and has a history of working to educate the broader community on the importance of their culture and/or artistic genre. Legacy funds may be used to support organizational or artistic legacy planning including: transition or succession planning; strategic planning; implementing retirement plans; and/or artistic documentation or publications reflecting the history of the organization. The recipient of the annual Artistic Legacy Grant will be recognized at the annual San Francisco Arts Commission (SFAC) grants convening. The awardee is required to attend the grants convening and designate a representative to work with the SFAC on the final presentation.
For questions about this grant category, please contact Program Officer, Debbie Ng at debbie.h.ng@sfgov.org or (415) 252-2216.
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Applications Due: Friday, March 22, 2019 at 12 noon PST
The Artists and Communities in Partnership - Social Justice (ACIP - SJ) grant program provides project support for arts organizations and community-based organizations to use the arts to address a specific issue impacting historically marginalized communities in San Francisco. ACIP-SJ seeks to foster social justice and equity, centering artists as leaders for social change.
For questions, contact Program Officer Robynn Takayama at robynn.takayama@sfgov.org or (415) 252-2239.
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Applications Due: Wednesday, October 31, 12 noon
The Artists and Communities in Partnership - Creative Youth Grant (ACIP-CY) provides high quality hands-on creative arts experiences infused with creative youth development principles to youth from historically marginalized communities in San Francisco. This grant supports a partnership between Arts Organizations and Youth Organizations (school, afterschool program, CBO) to engage in an in-depth project with youth (ages pre-K to transitionally aged youth 18-24). The project may occur during the school year or as intensive summer programming.
For any questions, contact Program Officer Liz Ozol at Liz.Ozol@sfgov.org or (415) 252-2231.
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Applications Due: Wednesday, October 31, 12 noon
The Arts for Neighborhood Vitality grant is no longer available. The San Francisco Arts Commission has re-allocated the funds to the Grants for the Arts Neighborhood Arts Collaborative category.
For more information about the Neighborhood Arts Collaborative grant, please contact Grants for the Arts: 415-554-6710.
The Cultural Equity Initiatives (CEI) grant program offers grants up to $100,000 to small and mid-sized arts organizations for capacity-building initiatives that ensure the artistic and cultural vitality and the sustainability of San Francisco’s arts organizations that are deeply rooted in historically marginalized communities.
For questions, contact Program Officer Debbie Ng at debbie.h.ng@sfgov.org or (415) 252-2216.
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Applications Due: Thursday, November 8, 12 noon
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The Creative Space (CRSP) grant program supports the enhancement of San Francisco cultural facilities through Planning and Facility Improvement Grants. The category aims to improve existing arts facilities and develop new ones that will support the work of San Francisco’s arts organizations and artists.
PLANNING GRANTS: Grants for up to $50,000 to arts organizations for the planning or pre-planning for the development or acquisition of arts facilities. Funds may be used for overall plan development or specific components, such as: feasibility studies, design and engineering consultations, financial and management analysis, market analysis, site analysis, needs assessment, or capital campaign preparation. Organizations must have an average two-year operating budget of less than $2 million.
FACILITY IMPROVEMENT GRANTS: Grants for up to $100,000 to tax-exempt arts organizations with programming space for capital improvements and/or to address key safety, code-compliance, and/or ADA accessibility issues. Improvements must be of a “built-in” or “permanent” nature and/or specific to the space. The affected spaces must be integral to the organization’s arts activities. Organizations must have an average two-year operating budget of less than $2 million.
- LEVEL 1: Grants for up to $50,000 for arts organizations that have at least three years remaining on their lease at the start of the grant term, or, has a year-to-year lease and has leased the space for a minimum of ten years prior to the start of the grant term.
- LEVEL 2: Grants for up to $100,000 for arts organizations that hold title to their space, or have a lease with at least five years remaining at the start of the grant term
For questions, contact Senior Program Officer Jaren Bonillo at jaren.bonillo@sfgov.org or (415) 252-2227.
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Applications Due: Wednesday, November 14, 12 noon
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The Ebony McKinney Emerging Arts Leadership Grant (EMEALA) is a collective effort to recognize arts and culture administrators who are addressing critical issues facing San Francisco’s arts community. The grant continues the work of Ebony McKinney, whose deep commitment to cultivating leaders of color and increasing equitable access to the arts in the Bay Area made a lasting positive impact locally and nationally before her unexpected death in July 2017. The recipient of the annual Ebony McKinney Emerging Arts Leadership Award will be recognized at the annual San Francisco Arts Commission (SFAC) grants convening.
For questions about this grant category, please contact Senior Program Officer Jaren Bonillo at jaren.bonillo@sfgov.org or (415) 252-2227.
Individual Artist Commission (IAC) grants support individual artists who have been continuous residents of San Francisco since October 2016 for specific personal, artistic projects that, in turn, stimulate the creation and presentation of new works of art throughout the city’s neighborhoods. Artists may request funding for the full artistic process, or one phase of a larger creative arc, as long as project scope is appropriately scaled to funding request and project goals. IAC grants support the generation of new creative work. The artist should be focused on realizing creative or aesthetic ideas, rather than on documentation or journalism. Although collaboration is acceptable, the individual artist is the grantee. The commission must include some form of public presentation, either as a work-in- progress (for example: a neighborhood workshop, a reading, an open rehearsal, etc.) or a final polished piece in San Francisco that takes place during the project period.
This grant category considers proposals for projects in alternating disciplines each year. In 2019, Individual Artist Commissions will be available for Visual, Literary, and Media Arts.
For questions, contact Program Officer Robynn Takayama at robynn.takayama@sfgov.org or (415) 252-2239.
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Applications Due: Thursday, November 8, 12 noon
Related Policies
Native American Arts and Cultural Traditions (NAACT) grants support individual artists and small and mid-sized arts organizations that are authentically connected to a Native American community and engaged in significant programming that is rooted in Native American arts and cultural traditions. NAACT is no longer a separate grant application, but woven into Artists and Communities in Partnership Youth and Social Justice, Cultural Equity Initiatives, Individual Artist Commission, Organizational Project Grant, and Creative Space Planning and Facilities grant programs. If you are applying for NAACT funding in these grant programs, you must substantiate how you or your organization is authentically connected to the Native American community in San Francisco. If you would like to apply for NAACT, please see further instruction in the grant applications listed above.
*Per the Human Rights Commission, Native American is defined as people of indigenous descent from North, Central, and South American heritage as well as Native Hawaiians, Samoans, Marshall Islanders, and the indigenous people of Guam (whether enrolled, federally or nationally recognized or not). All groups indicated are encouraged to apply, but due to limited funds, priority will go to artists that are affiliated and connected to groups falling under the jurisdiction of the United States.
For questions about this grant category, please contact Director of Community Investments, Barbara Mumby at mbarbara.mumby@sfgov.org or (415) 252-2215.
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The Native American Arts and Cultural Traditions Special Grants (NAACT-SPX) consist of one-time grants to address emerging needs within the arts ecosystem of San Francisco. Projects cover a wide range of arts activities related to neighborhood and/or community-based engagement and arts access.
For questions about this grant category, please contact Director of Community Investments, Barbara Mumby at mbarbara.mumby@sfgov.org or (415) 252-2215.
The Organization Project Grant (OPG) program supports small and mid-sized arts organizations in the production and presentation of artistic works, in all disciplines, accessible to the general public in San Francisco. OPG supports—in whole or in part— specific arts projects that have been determined to be of sufficient quality and benefit or interest to the community at large or to specific segments of the community. OPG grants may be used to fund art exhibitions and installations, film and video screenings, music and dance concerts, theater performances, on-line arts projects, literary readings and publications, workshops in various art forms, local arts festivals, and other activities in a similar vein. Applications will be reviewed in visual art, literary art, media art, music, dance, and theater. This grant does not fund arts education classes.
For questions, contact Program Officer Debbie Ng at debbie.h.ng@sfgov.org or (415) 252-2216.
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Applications Due: Friday, October 19, 12 noon
Related Policies
The WritersCorps Teaching Artist in Residence (WCTAIR) grant is a three-year grant, renewed annually, that provides support to individual teaching artists to offer free, long-term, in-depth literacy–focused arts workshops to youth at San Francisco community sites. Sites may include in-school or after-school classes and must include complementary programming with a neighborhood branch of the San Francisco Public Library. The communities prioritized by the grant may include, but are not limited to, youth who are low-income, impacted by the justice system, pregnant or parenting teens, and/or English language learners.
The WCTAIR grant will support teaching artists with a proven track record of working with the proposed youth population to deliver high quality programming. The Arts Commission will provide a multiyear grant award to cultivate a deep collaboration between a literary teaching artist and a community-based organization or school. The Agency will also provide technical assistance and professional development for the teaching artist. These activities will include periodic meetings with the grantee cohort and occasional learning institutes for mutual support and shared learning. The grant prioritizes funding for teaching artists with experience to be effective in the community they propose to serve.
Questions about the grant should be directed to Program Officer Liz Ozol at liz.ozol@sfgov.org or (415) 252-2231.
view Guidelines & Instructions & apply
Applications Due: Wednesday, November 14, 12 noon
Occasionally, the Arts Commission receives additional funding from the Board of Supervisors for one-time projects. Guidelines for 2019-2020 Special Projects are live!
Applications Due: Monday, April 1, 2019 at 12 noon PST
For questions about this grant category, please contact Director of Community Investments, Barbara Mumby at mbarbara.mumby@sfgov.org or (415) 252-2215.