I’ve been meaning to post about this for weeks and now that the deadline is looming, I’m finally kicking into action! For other procrastinators like me (I prefer to think of it as ‘responding well to deadlines’) this is your wake up call… there is less than one week left to get your grant applications in to the City of Oakland’s Cultural Funding Program. The deadline is Monday, June 16th at 5:00pm.

What is the  Cultural Funding Program you ask? Well, in a nutshell… it’s money for the Arts. Money for art in our schools, money for art organizations, and money for individual artists. And if you think this is chump change it’s not… last year the City of Oakland gave out nearly a million dollars in grant funding, and a piece of this can be yours if you have a project in mind that will benefit the community of Oakland.

THERE ARE THREE CATEGORIES OF GRANTS:

1. Organizational Projects: supports Oakland-based nonprofit organizations producing art activities in Oakland that culminate in a local public outcome for the benefit of the community. (ProArts, the Crucible, Youth UpRising, Creative Growth, Oakland Interfaith Gospel Choir are just a handful of the many incredible organizations that receive funding support from our city, and this is where the bulk of the funding goes.) APPLY HERE
2. Art in the Schools: supports Oakland public schools to create quality, hands-on arts experiences in the school setting to enhance the classroom curriculum. APPLY HERE
3. Individual Artist Projects: supports Oakland resident individual artists producing art activities in Oakland that culminate in a local public outcome for the benefit of the community. Grant maximum is $4999. Past projects include performance art, mural installations, music workshops, literary works, and much more! APPLY  HERE

The city has hosted a number of workshops to help grantseekers in preparing their applications and the final workshop is tonight. It’s focused on the Individual Artist Project category and grantseekers are strongly advised to attend before applying. The final workshop is tonight!

INDIVIDUAL ARTIST PROJECT HOW-TO-APPLY WORKSHOP
Oakland City Hall, 1 Frank Ogawa Plaza (14th & Broadway), Hearing Room 2 (First Floor)
5:30-7:00pm tonight, Tuesday June 10th
You should register in advance by emailing RSVP with name and today’s date to dpate@oaklandnet.com or  call (510) 238-7561.

Good luck. And may everyone go forth and make ART!