take pART Grants are awarded to arts and culture organizations and other public benefit organizations to help finance specific arts and culture activities and programs that are participatory.
Donor Name: City of San Jose
State: California
City: San Jose
Type of Grant: Grant
Deadline: 01/16/2026
Size of the Grant: $10,000 to $100,000
Grant Duration: 1 Year
Details:
take pART: Cultural Participation and Community Engagement Grants support arts activities offered by arts organizations and community service organizations with continuing arts programs, as well as small semi-professional and professional arts organizations, and artists seeking to secure City support for specific arts activities, rather than general operating support.
Eligible activities include, but are not limited to, community-based arts projects that involve San Joseresidents directly in the artistic process, as well as projects by small artist-centered groups that do not have the need to build the kinds of institutional infrastructure required of Operating Grant applicants.
take pART Grants support three guiding principles of Cultural Connection, San José’s plan for culturaldevelopment in the coming decade:
- Cultural Participation: Supporting residents’ personal, active participation in arts and culture.
- Cultural Pluralism: Using culture as a connector and fostering a “cultural commons” through arts and culture.
- Public Value of the Arts: Using personally meaningful arts experiences to help achieve community goals and create a better San José.
Funding Information
- Groups may submit take pART grant requests between $2,500 and $25,000. However, an applicant’s grant request may not exceed:
- 25 percent (25%) of the group’s entire organization-wide expenses in its most recent fiscal year; and
- 50 percent (50%) of the project’s cost, whichever is less.
Grant Period
July 1, 2026 – June 30, 2027.
Types of Activities
Types of activities that grants may support include, but are not limited to:
- Creative expression opportunities for San Jose residents who are not professional artists, through participation in the making and presentation of works of dance, literary arts, media and new media arts, music, theater, visual arts, and other art forms;
- Activities, in any arts discipline, that express the cultural values or heritage of culturally specific communities that make up the city of San José, especially communities that are economicallyunderserved and communities that lack access to formal/conventional arts programs and/or arts venues;
- Arts programs, or individual arts projects, of small groups of artists who have organized to produce or exhibit work for public presentation in San José;
- Opportunities for the public to enjoy arts activities in San José neighborhood venues, such as community centers, libraries, community halls, and other non-traditional settings outside the downtown core;
- Single activities and extended projects that provide arts and cultural education opportunities for
- youth, special populations, or the community at large in neighborhood, community, and institutionalcare settings. Such projects may include, but are not limited to, professional artists teaching in
- institutional-care settings, training programs for student or apprentice artists, and projects that
- introduce people to the arts of any culture.
Eligibility Criteria
Applications that are complete and submitted by the deadline will be accepted from groups that meet allthe following conditions:
- The group has a principal place of operations in San José.
- Exception: A group that does not maintain a central place of business and consistently hashad annual budgets below $150,000 can qualify if they offer a majority of their programming in San José.
- The group has 501(c)(3) nonprofit status or is the sponsored project of a 501(c)(3) fiscal sponsor.
- The group, in its current form, has at least a one-year history of providing arts programs in San José venues (venues must be accessible to people with disabilities.)
- The group’s project: 1) has expenses of at least $5,000; and 2) takes place during the period of July 1, 2026 – June 30, 2027 in the city of San José; and is not intended solely as a fundraiser nor to convey a religious message or advocate a political position.
- The group a) is not a division/department within the City of San José; b) did not submit a FY 2026-2027 Festival, Parade and Celebration Grant application for the project; and c) will not submit a FY 2026-2027 Operating Grant application.The group is in compliance with requirements pertaining to any previous grant it has received through the Office of Cultural Affairs.
For more information, visit City of San José.
