Resources for arts organizations and artists
Artists and culture-makers play a crucial role as documentarians, storytellers, and leaders in communities throughout the Bay Area, both reflecting and helping to make meaning from what’s happening around us.
Our funding advances our vision of a Bay Area where the arts — and artists, arts workers, and culture-makers — are resourced for creative self-expression within connected communities that celebrate cultural vibrancy.
In partnership with our fellow Bay Area arts funders, regranting organizations that use Hewlett Foundation funds to support the arts, and all of our grantees, we support the powerful role arts play in the lives of people and communities throughout the Bay Area and beyond.
The following organizations offer additional opportunities for artists, arts practitioners, and arts organizations to find support for their work.
Support via Hewlett Regranters
As the largest private funder of the arts in the San Francisco Bay Area, and one of the largest nationally, The Hewlett Foundation’s Performing Arts Program makes grants to support meaningful artistic experiences for the people of the region, with a portfolio of roughly 200 grantee organizations and an annual grantmaking budget of more than $20 million.
We have long partnered with arts organizations who regrant to artists and nonprofits, working closely with artists to develop and present new works. Through more than 20 regranting organizations, we are able to extend our reach to support more individual artists, arts practitioners, and small organizations across the Bay Area. Grantseekers should note specific requirements and application deadlines for each regranting organization.
Alliance for California Traditional Arts (ACTA) is a statewide regranting organization with expertise in building and maintaining relationships with and among culture bearers, in cultural communities across the state, especially in isolated rural communities. The Living Cultures Grants Program provides funding to projects in traditional arts. Its Apprenticeship Program offers a period of concentrated learning for apprentices who have shown a commitment to and a talent for a particular folk or traditional art form. ACTA makes about 90 grants statewide each year through its grant programs and has supported hundreds of artists and small arts organizations since it awarded its first grants in 2006.
Center for Cultural Innovation is an arts service organization that supports artists, culture bearers, cultural entrepreneurs, and the art sector. Hewlett is a proud partner in the Investing in Artists regranting program, whose mission is to support individual boundary-pushing artists to further innovate. With the Quick Grants Program, they support artists and arts organizations’ financial resilience through professional development. CALI Catalyst makes grants to support the work of arts leaders explicitly seeking to make the arts field more equitable, inclusive, and accessible. Finally, the Vallejo Arts Fund directly benefits the city of Vallejo’s arts and artist community, which has historically lacked funding and support for artists and culture bearers.
Dancers’ Group promotes the visibility and viability of dance through programs that assist, advocate for, and support San Francisco Bay Area dance artists, the dance community, and audiences. As a Hewlett regranter, their CA$H Dance Program ensures artists throughout the Bay Area have equitable access to services, networks, and supports, relevant and responsive to their priorities. Their programs include free dance performances, fiscal sponsorship, and technical assistance to dance projects supporting diverse artists, organizations, and audiences. Each year, Dancers’ Group events reach a total of 4,200 audience members, and it provides supportive services to more than 125 fiscally sponsored projects.
East Bay Community Foundation supports fair and equitable opportunities and outcomes for residents of the eastern region of the San Francisco Bay Area. Hewlett Foundation partners with them on the East Bay Fund for Artists regranting program, dedicated exclusively to expanding funding and opportunities for East Bay artists. Each year, 15 to 40 East Bay composers, playwrights, choreographers, and visual and media artists receive grants from the East Bay Fund for Artists to commission new works that promote racial and social justice.
Horizons Foundation is a community foundation devoted to increasing the visibility of and addressing issues of importance to LGBTQ+ people. Hewlett partners with them on the Community Issues Funding Program for nonprofits and fiscally sponsored programs that support the LGBTQ+ community across nine Bay Area counties. Each year, Horizons awards approximately 30 grants through the program, of which typically 20%-30% are for LGBTQ+ art and culture projects with annual budgets of $1 million or less.
A program of the Humboldt Area Foundation since 2002, the Native Cultures Fund supports California Native arts, cultural revitalization, and knowledge transmission between generations. Initiated and led by Native peoples, the Native Cultures Fund is a partnership between Native Nations, the Humboldt Area Foundation, the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, and other donors. The program supports the transmission of knowledge between generations through a renaissance of California Native art culture, sacred sites, and language development. The fund has made over $2.9 million in grants to 389 community-based projects in more than 100 California Native communities.
Theatre Bay Area is a membership organization that builds awareness, appreciation, and support for theater in the Bay Area. The CA$H Theatre Grant Program provides grants to artists and small theater companies that support artistic projects, capacity-building activities, and public performances. Its programs include marketing, research, professional development opportunities, and auditions, with a membership of 1,000 individual artists and 250 theater companies.
Gerbode Foundation is dedicated to providing grants for the environment, justice, advancing truth, special initiatives, and the performing arts. Its Special Awards in the Arts program makes grants to Bay Area arts organizations to commission new works by playwrights, composers, and multimedia artists. Each year, commissions are awarded to six organizations in a specific discipline. At $50,000 each, these are among the larger grants available for artistic projects in the Bay Area, each year supporting six regional artists and organizations.
Walter and Elise Haas Fund’s Creative Work Fund celebrates the role of artists as problem solvers and making art as an important avenue for engaging and strengthening communities. Funding for artist projects is scarce, especially outside major Bay Area urban centers. Each year, the Creative Work Fund awards over 20 grants, up to $50,000 each, for collaborative art projects in 11 Bay Area counties. Since its founding in 1994, the Creative Work Fund has supported hundreds of Bay Area artists, in multiple artistic disciplines, with a requirement that two-thirds of the grant amount must go to support the artist directly.
Zellerbach Family Foundation makes grants to strengthen San Francisco Bay Area communities. As a regranting partner with the Performing Arts Program, the family foundation supports artists and small arts and culture organizations in San Francisco and the East Bay through its Community Arts Program. The program makes more than 150 project-driving grants annually and is highly accessible, with four application deadlines each calendar year, and awards ranging from $5,000 to $15,000.
Support from Grantees
Communities are stronger, healthier, and more empowered when they can easily access and participate in creative artistic and cultural expression. Our Performing Arts Program grantees bring greater artistic and cultural vibrancy to the broader community. Many of our grantees also offer grants and support for other artists, arts practitioners, and organizations. Grantseekers should note specific requirements and application deadlines for each organization.
Artist Power Center, created by the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, empowers artists and activists through opportunities that equip them to work, thrive, and inspire change. Artists can find grants and get free help from grantwriting experts on the Artist Power Center app.
Arts Council Napa Valley works with Napa County’s government agencies, arts organizations, and artists to place art in public spaces and guide the county’s arts education master plan. Each year, it awards small grants to about 40 artists, students, schools, and arts organizations.
Arts Council Santa Cruz County promotes creative expression and thriving communities throughout Santa Cruz County. It supports youth, artists, and arts organizations through grants, professional development, arts education services, the Tannery Arts Center, and production of community arts events.
Creative Sonoma is dedicated to advancing and supporting the diverse creative community of Sonoma County by producing programs and providing services that include grants and funding, arts education, and individual assistance.
InterMusic SF supports the professional and artistic growth of Bay Area musicians and the art of small ensemble music. Its programs include grants, fiscal sponsorship, professional development, and performance partnerships, and it serves individual musicians and small ensembles practicing diverse traditions.
National Guild for Community Arts Education is the national service organization for nonprofit community arts education providers in the United States. The guild provides various programs, including research, professional development, and networking opportunities; a broad constituency of more than 5,000 organizations as part of the national Creative Youth Development Network, and an annual conference for its 430 member organizations.
SVCreates is a regional arts service organization whose mission is to uplift and empower the creative culture of Silicon Valley. Focused on the South Bay, including San Mateo and Santa Clara counties, it builds capacity, raises value and visibility, and increases access to arts and creativity. Its grantmaking supports creative enterprises through various awards for arts organizations and projects.
Support from Other Regional Funders
Many private foundations and local governments also support the arts in the Bay Area. Grantseekers can find further support from the following funders. (Please note specific requirements and application deadlines for each organization.)
City of Berkeley Civic Arts Grants
City of Oakland Cultural Funding Program
City of San Jose Office of Cultural Affairs
Clarence E. Heller Charitable Foundation
David and Lucile Packard Foundation
San Francisco Grants for the Arts
Artists and culture-makers are foundational to what makes the Bay Area vibrant and innovative. Artist services — from strengthening capacity, like perfecting a fundraising pitch, to technical support like fiscal sponsorship or legal assistance — are also essential for a thriving arts ecosystem in the Bay Area and beyond. The following organizations and service providers support artists, arts workers, and organizations with services that advance and innovate their area of artistic expression.
Arts Advocacy
Learn how to advocate for and encourage public funding for the arts in California.
California for the Arts advocates for increased public funds for the arts, builds the field’s advocacy capacity, and supports the efforts of arts advocates statewide.
Center for Cultural Power is a women of color artist-centered cultural strategy organization committed to building the collective power of artists addressing issues of migration, climate change, gender/sexuality, and racial justice.
San José Arts Advocates is a collaborative project, driven by San Jose’s creative community, that’s dedicated to education, advocacy, and action to support arts and culture.
SOL Center for Liberated Work collaborates across diverse communities to radically reimagine work and social protections for all. They share resources in a living library.
Western States Arts Federation helps state arts agencies, arts organizations, and artists in their quest to serve diverse audiences, enrich the lives of local communities, and provide access to arts and arts education for all.
Arts Leadership
Cultivate and grow your leadership growth and capacity.
Arts Education Alliance of the Bay Area connects arts education communities and works toward a more just and creative San Francisco Bay Area.
Emerging Arts Professionals focuses on the empowerment, leadership, and growth of Bay Area emergent arts and culture workers.
genARTS Silicon Valley serves emerging arts and cultural leaders and bridges communication between emerging, mid-career, and established leaders.
Multicultural Arts Leadership Initiative hosts a year-long training program that shares technical skills, philosophical underpinnings, and networking opportunities with arts practitioners in Silicon Valley.
Rockwood Leadership Institute offers leadership training for those willing to step out of their comfort zone, learn with and from others and give and receive feedback on their strengths and learning edges.
Fellowships & Residencies
Explore opportunities to deepen your field of artistic study.
Dresher Ensemble Artist Residency provides studio space and equipment to create new work in the time-based arts, like theater/performance, dance/movement, and music/sound art/instrument invention.
Headlands Center for the Arts provides residency programs, fellowships, and awards to approximately 100 artists, working across disciplines, annually.
O2 Sabbatical Award honors dedicated Bay Area nonprofit executive directors with an essential break for rest and renewal, to reignite their purpose and empower leadership throughout their organization.
Playwrights Foundation supports contemporary playwrights by helping them develop new plays and accelerate their careers, including artist residencies.
Organizational Development
Leverage the tools to sustain and grow operational capacity.
Budgeting & Financial Health
BDO Nonprofit & Education Practice focuses exclusively on supporting nonprofit organizations and grantmakers to improve financial and operational health, while expanding their impact.
Community Vision Capital & Consulting is a community development financial institution that is knowledgeable of and committed to arts and culture.
Nonprofit Finance Fund helps mission-driven organizations adapt, thrive, and drive positive change through lending, consulting, and their work to positively influence how money flows to nonprofits.
Metis Associates helps arts organizations secure external funding, strengthen implementation, track outcomes, and grow a body of evidence for their work.
Roadmap Consulting provides tailored capacity-building support to justice movements, including financial assessment and planning, fundraising and data analysis, and strategic planning.
Legal Services
Bill Martinez Arts Consulting is an immigration lawyer offering visa application assistance for artists and musicians.
Tamizdat helps the performing arts community to address the problems presented by international borders and U.S. immigration policy and procedure.
Real Estate
Find and establish sustainable artistic spaces.
Community Arts Stabilization Trust (CAST) is a community-centered real estate organization providing financial vehicles, capacity building, and technical assistance to artists and arts entities. (CAST is also a Hewlett Foundation grantee.)
Artist Space Trust builds upon the community land trust movement to secure permanently affordable spaces for artists to work and live.
Resources for Cultural Inclusion
Gain tools to cultivate inclusive creative expression and cultural participation.
artEquity provides tools, resources, and training at the intersection of art and activism to create and sustain a culture of equity, inclusion, and justice.
OF/BY/FOR ALL Change Network is a year-long online program for civic and cultural organizations, providing an intentional framework to help organizations become more inclusive and equitable.
