The City of Boston is now accepting applications for its Opportunity Fund Grant.
Donor Name: City of Boston
State: Massachusetts
City: Boston
Type of Grant: Grant
Deadline: 05/20/2025
Size of the Grant: $1000 to $10,000
Grant Duration: Grant Duration Not Mentioned
Details:
The Opportunity Fund helps strengthen Boston’s civic fabric and supports more equitable participation in the arts for all Bostonians. It affirms MOAC’s belief that every neighborhood should be home to meaningful cultural expression—and that local artists are essential civic partners in that work. Experiences must be in a location that is publicly accessible and ADA accessible in the City of Boston.
Examples include but are not limited to: public buildings such as libraries, schools, or less traditional arts-learning spaces such as community-based organizations, businesses, and parks.
Funding Priorities
Please note that the funding priorities are different from the eligibility requirements. They encourage you to apply if you meet the eligibility requirements, but do not meet all, some, or any of the funding priorities below.
- Creative workers with an individual annual income under 80% of the median household income in Boston ($91,200)
- Creative workers with an individual annual income under 30% of the median household income in Boston ($34,300)
- Performing artists
- Applicants who did not receive the Opportunity Fund in last year’s application cycle
- Residents in neighborhoods who live in the following neighborhoods: Chinatown, Dorchester, East Boston, Hyde Park, Mattapan, Mission Hill, and Roxbury.
- Community Arts Experiences planned in the neighborhoods
- Applicants who are proposing experiences in the neighborhood that they live in.
Funding Information
- Total funds available: $300,000
- Size of grants: $3,000.
Eligible Expenses
Experiences must be entirely free to the public. Eligible expenses include:
- Materials and supplies for the proposed experience (This can include refreshments that are free to the public. Alcohol is not an eligible expense.)
- Costs associated with marketing the experience
- Costs associated with renting a space for the experience
- Compensation for applicant creative workers facilitating the experience, and/or artists hired as part of the experience.
Eligibility Criteria
Individual applicants should meet all of the following criteria to be eligible.
- You are 18+ years of age
- You are an active working individual artists, creative/cultural workers, teaching artists, and cultural practitioners of all artistic backgrounds and disciplines (subsequently referred to as “creative workers” throughout these guidelines)
- You are currently a resident of the city of Boston, and have lived in the city of Boston for at least one full year at the time of this application
- You are not currently enrolled as a full-time undergraduate student or graduate student
- Due to limited funding and the goal to partner with a diverse range of arts stakeholders, the following are ineligible for this grant:
- Previous Neighborhood and Downtown Activation Grantees who received over $20,000 in total.
- Creative workers may apply for both the Opportunity Fund and Neighborhood Activation Grant, but if selected, they can only receive funding from one of these programs.
For more information, visit City of Boston.
