California Arts Council seeking Applications for the Impact Projects

Deadline: 02-Feb-21

The California Arts Council is seeking applications for the Impact Projects grant program intends to support collaborative projects that center artists and artistic practice in responding to issues facing California at this time, including the pervasive social, political, and economic inequalities experienced by those communities most vulnerable to, and adversely affected by, the COVID-19 pandemic.

This program prioritizes local artists and forms of arts and cultural expression that are unique to, and/or historically rooted in, the specific communities to be served.

Impact Projects grants support arts organizations for collaborations between local artist(s) and community members to develop and express their own creative and artistic goals and address a community-defined need.

These priorities include strengthening the creative expression of artists, artistic practice, and community collaboration as vital strategies in healing, stabilizing, uplifting, and transforming communities. Artistic projects that foster creative social change in the areas of equity and access provide crucial opportunities for sustaining strong, healthy, vibrant, safe, and resilient communities in a region.

Funding Information

Applicant organizations can request up to $18,000 for the grant period.

Project Requirements

Applicant organization must develop and complete a project addressing the program’s goals to be completed within the project timeline. The project description must include an anticipated timeline for completion within the Grant Activity Period.
- Projects must be collaboratively developed between local artist(s) and community members to develop and express creative and artistic goals and address a community-defined need. Projects must utilize creative practices to impact social issues affecting a community.
Project planning, implementation, and evaluation must reflect a commitment to include and represent the communities to be served.
All aspects of the project should be free to community participants.
Rates of compensation for individual artists and/or arts workers to be supported by this grant must be appropriate to experience and comparable to fees for other local skilled workers.
Individuals to be compensated by this grant may not be full-time students in a degree program directly related to any type of compensation/credit for this project.
All CAC-funded programs, services, information, and facilities, including online spaces, where funded activities take place must be accessible for individuals with disabilities, including but not limited to individuals who are Deaf, Hard of Hearing, Deaf-Blind, have difficulty speaking, have a physical disability, visual disability, developmental disability, learning disability, mental illness or chronic illness.

Eligibility Requirements

Applicants must comply with the requirements below. All applications must include the listed items at the time of submission in order to be reviewed, ranked, and considered for funding.

California-based – Documentation as being a California-based nonprofit arts/cultural organization; an arts-based unit of municipal or county government; or a tribal government, or nonprofit social service organization with regular ongoing arts programming and/or services and a principal place of business in California.
Arts programming – Applicants must have a minimum two-year history of consistent engagement in arts programming and/or services prior to the application deadline.
501(c)(3) organization as applicant or fiscal sponsor – Non-governmental applicant organizations must demonstrate proof of nonprofit status under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code, or section 23701d of the California Revenue and Taxation Code.
Fiscal sponsors – An applicant organization without nonprofit status must use a California-based fiscal sponsor with a federal 501(c)(3) designation to apply for funding.
- The fiscal sponsor will provide the fiscal oversight and administrative services needed to complete the grant.
- A Letter of Agreement between the fiscal sponsor and the applicant organization must be signed and submitted with the application. A blank signature field will not be accepted. If a grant is awarded, the fiscal sponsor becomes the legal contract holder with the California Arts Council.
- The fiscal sponsor cannot be changed during the Grant Activity Period.
- Fiscal sponsors must have a minimum two-year history of consistent engagement in arts programming and/or services prior to the application deadline. (Acting as a fiscal sponsor to arts and cultural organizations is considered an arts service.)
Racial equity statement – In January 2020, the CAC approved its Strategic Framework which articulated their commitment to racial equity. As the agency has been evolving their own race and equity practices, they invite applicants to start, continue, or strengthen their racial equity practices with us. Applicants are required to submit a racial equity statement as part of the application.
- The racial equity statement should explain the applicant’s commitment and tangible efforts (if applicable) to advancing the leadership of and service to indigenous people, communities of color, racially and ethnically diverse individuals, tribal communities, immigrant and refugee communities, and communities whose principal languages are not English.
- They recognize that organizations/projects led by people of color, or other systematically marginalized community members, may already do the labor of weaving racial equity into their work; this is not a moment for the CAC to validate but rather to honor that work.
- The CAC is committed to providing a webinar and other technical assistance in order to support organizations prior to their submission of a racial equity statement.
Certificate of good standing – Nonprofit organizations and fiscal sponsors (if applicable) must have “active status” with the California Secretary of State (SOS) showing evidence of “good standing” at the time of application. You can verify your organization’s status by conducting a search using the SOS online Business Search tool. An indication of “active” (versus “suspended,” “dissolved,” “cancelled,” etc.) confirms that your nonprofit corporation exists, is authorized to conduct business in the State of California, has met all licensing and corporation requirements, and has not received a suspension from the Franchise Tax Board.