The Venues & Spaces Grant is designed to strengthen organizational capacity, reach new audiences, and deliver engaging programs that foster dialogue, connection, and belonging.
Donor Name: Prebys Foundation
State: California
County: San Diego County (CA)
Type of Grant: Grant
Deadline: 04/30/2025
Size of the Grant: $100,000 to $500,000
Grant Duration: 1 Year
Details:
Long-term goals of the foundation for the Arts are to:
- Ensure great arts education, programming, and institutions are accessible and exciting to all communities and neighborhoods.
- Support emerging and underrepresented artists to create and be celebrated for their art, and to live and thrive in San Diego County.
- Strengthen and diversify public support (funding and audience engagement) for inclusive and innovative art and artists.
Invigorating creative venues and spaces contributes to the health of arts and culture organizations and the surrounding community. It fosters well-being and pride of place within neighborhoods and across the region. This initiative builds on the past two years of work while also honing in on ongoing community discussions about accessible, affordable venues and spaces for arts experiences and participation in San Diego County.
This initiative’s goals are to:
- Enhance access to quality venues and spaces;
- Build the capacity of the arts and culture organizations managing and/or activating these spaces.
Funding Information
- Total Funds for the Initiative: $3.75M in funding.
- Potential Grant Amount: Grants will be up to $250,000 over 1 year.
Grant Period
1‑year funding.
Uses of Funds
- Increased access to arts and culture experiences through activation in places where access to arts and culture amenities is limited or significantly underinvested.
- If your organization is committed to a venue or space for a longer duration (own, operate, or rent):
- Infrastructure to enhance the space and/or artist/audience experience (including addressing safety, ADA, or other needs).
- Costs related to partnerships and collaborations (e.g. shared space, affordable rent programs).
- Technology that supports consistent activation of the venue/space (e.g. paperless ticketing, digital ticket lottery system).
- Performances, exhibitions, art-making, and other related activities in specific venues and spaces.
- Preference for:
- Venue(s)/space(s) that are confirmed or pending with a high likelihood of use.
- Collaborations and partnerships.
- A focus on addressing issues for populations/communities that are most disconnected from resources (e.g. transportation or cultural barriers; those specific to new/emerging artists, artists and organizations that have historically had less access to resources, or art deserts).
- A proven track record of meaningfully engaging audiences/the community, whether in the stated venue(s)/space(s) or others.
Eligibility Criteria
- 501(c)(3) organizations, fiscally sponsored entities, or tribal entities.
- Located in and serving San Diego County.
- Organizations where a central part of the mission and vision is arts and/or culture.
- Current grantees are eligible to apply as long as the current award does not overlap with this grant, both in scope and timeframe.
Criteria
- Projects/activities must align with at least one of the following activities related to the venue/space as a means of increasing access to arts and culture within the community:
- Maintenance or development of new/upgraded arts and culture infrastructure (e.g. lighting or sound systems)
- Increased mutually beneficial partnerships and collaborations
- Enhanced vibrancy of the venue/space’s neighborhood/surrounding area (for example, driving traffic to local businesses, building social trust, activating dark areas in ways that enhance public safety)
- Project must focus on populations/communities that are most disconnected from engagement with arts and culture experiences (e.g. addressing transportation or cultural barriers; centering new/emerging artists, artists or organizations that have historically had less access to resources, or art deserts).
- Venue/space activation must occur during the grant period. (Proposed activations may be part of your ongoing activities.)
- Demonstrate how this activation aligns with community needs (those served and/or the surrounding neighborhood), either through past engagements and/or proposed project design.
For more information, visit Prebys Foundation.
