4Culture announces Call for Proposals for Arts Sustained Support

Deadline: 14-Oct-20

The 4Culture has announced a call for proposals for the Arts Sustained Support to provide operational funding that organizations and agencies receive for the robustness, creativity, and quality of the overall artistic services they provide to King County residents and visitors.

Arts organizations and Local Arts Agencies all over King County use Sustained Support funding as a modest but dependable building block in their annual budgets.

Eligibility Criteria

Sustained Support is available for King County-based non-profit organizations, local arts agencies, municipalities, and tribal governments. They award these funds based on an organization’s overall mission and accomplishments—this grant is not project-based.

The following types of organizations may apply:

Local arts agencies (LAAs) and arts organizations with a 3-year minimum operating history and a record of artistic or cultural accomplishment.
- LAAs are designated municipal agencies or nonprofit organizations that provide a range of arts services for a specific King County community (for example, the Kent Arts Commission or the Maple Valley Creative Arts Council).
- Arts organizations are nonprofit entities that provide arts programming to the public and/or that provide services—training, administrative support, technical assistance, and more—to arts professionals (for example, Seattle Art Museum, Annex Theatre, or Washington Lawyers for the Arts).
- Arts organizations that do not have 501(c)(3) non-profit status may apply, but if they are selected for funding they will need the fiscal sponsorship of another 501(c)(3) “umbrella” organization in order to claim their awards.

Criteria

The 4 Culture fund all of the grants through a competitive process, carefully evaluating each application. For this particular grant, they focus on different criteria depending on how your organization is structured and what type of work you do. Below they outline all the different types of organizations that can apply, and what they will look for—please contact them if you’re unsure of what category you fit into.

In addition to reviewing your application, they will conduct an on-site review of your organization. Professionals from the field and community members provide written reports, which are given to the panelists considering your application. New applicants should contact 4Culture staff right away to set up an on-site visit.

For arts organizations:
- Clarity and achievement of your organization’s mission and goals.
- Community impact and support, achieved through a consistent level of programming and accessibility for audiences.
- Active role of artists in your organization’s mission and activities, and the continuity of artistic, management, and board personnel.
- Financial accountability as demonstrated through board oversight, audience revenue, and contributed income.
For local arts agencies (LAAs):
- Quality, scope, diversity, and impact of your annual programming.
- Commitment of local government through dedicated staff, commission structure, and annual financial investment in cultural programming.
- Responsiveness to community needs—including diverse populations—through strategic planning, programming, funding, collaboration, technical assistance, convening, and communications.
- Growth and development of resources, scope, impact, and community participation.