Opportunity Fund Program to support Artistic Career and Professional Development in US

Deadline: 04-Jun-21

The City of Boston is seeking applications for its Opportunity Fund Program to help continue your professional development, support your artistic career, share your art, and teach others.

The Opportunity Fund provides grants that support meaningful one-time opportunities for artists living in the City of Boston to further develop their careers, and supports artists who want to plan free arts-focused experiences and events throughout the City that provide increased affordable arts and cultural programming for Bostonians in their neighborhoods.

The Opportunity Fund has two grant categories:

Artist Career Development (up to $500 grant for applications for one-time professional development opportunities, and up to $1,000 grant for supplies and expenses associated with artistic career), and
Community Arts Experiences & Events (up to $1,000 grant).

Funding Information

In FY21 $200,000 will be available for distribution in $500 and $1,000 grants from the Opportunity Fund. Grant size will depend on the grant category you apply for.

Eligibility Criteria

Artist Career Development Grant (grants of $500 and $1,000)

Individual artists living in the City of Boston who want to pursue meaningful one-time artistic opportunities to further their career such as:
- Funding for professional development opportunities. Whether it is taking a course to receive a certification related to teaching artistry, attending a conference, workshop, or webinar – if it supports your professional development as an artist or teaching artist, we’d like to help cover those costs. Grants up to $500.
- Funding to help support an artistic project. Whether you are painting a mural, recording an album, or choreographing a dance, this grant can be used by artists of any artistic discipline to help fund a personal artistic project. ($1,000)
- Funding for materials and artistic career expenses. Whether you need funding to support framing your work, funding to rent a rehearsal or studio space, or to buy equipment you need to make your work, this grant can be used by artists of any artistic discipline to offset the costs of your artistic career. ($1,000)
Who is Eligible?
- - Artists residing within the City of Boston are eligible to apply for the Artist Career Development Grant if their annual household income is under 65% of area median income, or $51,600. Nearly 90% of Certified Artists surveyed make an income of under $51,600.
  - Please note, if you have more than one household income that you share, you must combine all household incomes together to see if you are eligible for this grant. Only individual artists or artists who make a shared/combined income of less than $51,600 are eligible for this grant. For example: If you have a domestic partner who you share incomes with and your shared income is more than $51,600, you are not eligible for this grant.
What expenses are eligible?
- - - Cost of materials, equipment, and infrastructure that supports your artistic career,
    - Cost of travel, conference, residency fees, professional development workshop fees and,
    - Costs related to an artistic project, such as help framing paintings before an exhibition, or mastering an album (these are just examples!).

Community Arts Experiences & Events (up to $1,000)

Individual artists and teaching artists who would like to bring free public arts experiences or events into a community located in the City of Boston.
- Community Arts Experiences & Events prioritizes bringing arts experiences into neighborhoods in the City of Boston that have been identified as having a lower concentration of arts activities that are free and open to the public. Priority communities include: Allston/Brighton, Chinatown, Dorchester, East Boston, Fenway/Kenmore, Roxbury, Mission Hill, and Mattapan.
- Experiences do not have to happen in these geographic areas, but these geographic areas will be prioritized. Whether applicants’ arts experience or event will occur in one of these neighborhoods or not, applicants are encouraged to explain how the community they will serve through this arts experience or event are underserved by arts activities in the City of Boston.
- Experiences or events can be recurring, first-time, or stand-alone experiences or events
- Experiences or events can be, but are not limited to: Film screenings with post-viewing Q&As, arts learning classes or workshops taught by teaching artists, artist talks and panels, concerts and performances, arts festivals, etc.
- Experiences and events can be virtual due to COVID-19. When it is safe to do so, experiences and events can be in libraries, schools, or less traditional arts-learning spaces such as senior centers, health centers, community centers, or churches. Please note in-person experience and events applications will only be approved when it is deemed safe to gather in the Boston and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. For the time-being, they encourage virtual events.
- Experiences and events must be free and must be open to the public.
- If an experience or event includes showing a film, the film must be the applicant’s own work and/or the applicant must be able to prove permission to show this work.
Who is eligible?
- - Artists or teaching artists who are applying to bring arts experiences or events into communities can live anywhere, but the arts experience or event offered must occur in the City of Boston. Arts organizations, Main Streets organizations, schools cannot apply. This grant is only open for applications from individual artists in FY21.
What expenses are eligible?
- - - Materials for the arts experience or event
    - Costs associated with marketing the experience or event
    - Compensation for artist(s) facilitating experience, or artists hired as part of the event or experience.