The Impact Projects supports arts organizations in collaborating with California-based artists and communities to address locally defined needs through artistic practices.
Donor Name: California Arts Council
State: California
County: All Counties
Type of Grant: Grant
Deadline: 05/12/2026
Size of the Grant: $10,000 to $100,000
Grant Duration: 1 Year
Details:
The Impact Projects purpose is to support collaborative projects that center artists and artistic practice in responding to issues experienced by historically and systemically under-resourced communities, including but not limited to, social, political, and economic inequalities. This program prioritizes California-based artists and forms of arts and cultural expression that are unique to, and/or historically rooted in, the specific communities to be served.
Projects must use artistic practices to impact social issues affecting their communities, including but not limited to systemic marginalization, incarceration/justice systems, arts learning, poverty/economic disparity, health disparities, accessibility for people with disabilities, housing insecurity, violence, food insecurity, cultural/social justice, intergenerational/multigenerational learning, veterans’ issues, immigrant/refugee/asylum seeker/migrant issues, LGBTQIA+ issues, environmental sustainability, and climate change/natural disasters/climate refugee issues.
Goals
- Heal, stabilize, uplift, and transform communities
- Fund 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
- Strengthen community collaboration
- Support artistic practice and the creative expression of artists.
Priorities
- Organizations serving historically and systemically underserved communities located in the lower two quartiles of the Healthy Places Index, including rural and inland areas, as well as regions with a history of low investment from the CAC;
- First-time grantees, who have not previously received direct CAC funding (except for organizations whose only previous CAC funding was a Cultural Pathways grant); and
- Small organizations with Total revenues of $250,000 or below.
Funding Information
Applicant organizations can request up to $25,000 for the 1-year grant activity period.
Eligibility Criteria
- Nonprofit, tax-exempt 501(c)(3), California organizations
- Units of municipal, county, or Tribal governments
- Fiscally sponsored organizations.
Restrictions
- Applicant must develop and complete a project addressing the program goals within the Grant Activity Period.
- Projects must be collaboratively developed between California-based artist(s) and community members to address a community-defined need.
- Projects must use artistic practices to positively impact social issues affecting a community.
- Lead artist(s) must be California-based.
- Project planning, implementation, and measures of success/evaluation (if applicable) must include and represent the communities to be served.
- All aspects of the project must be free to community participants/audiences or affordable/accessible.
- Rates of pay for artists and arts workers supported by this grant must be appropriate to experience and comparable to fees for other local skilled workers.
- Individuals to be paid by this grant may not be full-time students in a degree program if they are receiving compensation/credit for this project.
- All CAC-funded programs, services, information, and facilities where funded activities take place, including online spaces, 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.
For more information, visit California Arts Council.
