The Department of Cultural Affairs (DCA) is pleased to announce the 2023-2024 funding cycle of the Public-Space Activation Fund.
Donor Name: City of Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs
State: California
City: Los Angeles
Type of Grant: Grant
Deadline: 07/31/2024
Size of the Grant: $10,000 to $100,000
Grant Duration: Grant Duration Not Mentioned
Details:
PAF projects fall under the following four categories:
- Neighborhood Expressions (NE): Micro-grants for individual LA City artists ranging from $600-$1,200 (depending on location) to produce a free public activity or presentation hosted by an operator/manager of a venue within the artist’s own neighborhood (proposed venues may not be a conventional arts space, such as a product-design gallery, cineplex, theater lobby, etc.). Neighborhood Expressions grants are given to Los Angeles artists who wish to start a new collaboration with a neighboring café, coffee shop, retailer, health clinic, community center, indoor/outdoor market, or other nearby businesses to engage community members and neighborhood audiences. Indoor activities are allowed in the NE category but open-air activities are highly encouraged.
- Arts and Social Wellness (ASW): “Seed funding” generally ranging from $7,500 to $10,000 for community entrepreneurs who aim lead a collaborative effort to animate an outdoor public space with a free public activities such as: live performance(s), temporary banner(s)/mural(s), candlelight vigil, cultural picnic, or mini-festival. ASW projects are framed around community-relevant themes that bridge the arts with: science, nature, environmental goodness and justice, and/or community wellness and health. ASW projects promote mental, physical, environmental, community wellness, and/or promote art+science and should be pitched under one of the two descriptions below:
- Pop-up projects (such as cultural presentations, creative engagements/workshops, temporary installations such as vinyl murals) proposed by a team of local players who live or work in the neighborhood of the proposed project. Pop-up proposals should draw attention to relevant themes or topics and be planned in alliance with one or more local neighborhood associations. All Pop-up projects must be able to garner an audience of at least 300 people. Up to $7,500 can be requested for a Pop-up project. Projects which pay fees to ten (10) or more artists/ensembles (with 50% living or working in the neighborhood-area) are most competitive.
- Festival-style projects (such as art walks or street fairs) which aim to enliven a corridor (a single street spanning a couple of blocks or more) while building collaboration and economic development among neighborhood businesses. All Festival-style projects must be able to garner an audience of more than 1,000 persons. Up to $10,000 can be requested for Festival-style projects. Projects which pay fees to ten (10) or more artists/ensembles (with 50% living or working in the neighborhood-area) are most competitive.
- International Festivals & Intercultural Foods (IFIF): Activities under this category are also categorized as either Pop-ups and Festival-style projects (see public attendance requirements above) and feature such free public events as: community picnics, outdoor festivals, pop-up performance events, block parties, outdoor food/food-truck festivals, and creative enhancements to farmers markets with live performing arts and cultural activities. IFIF projects should embrace multicultural themes and promote opportunities for cross-cultural learning and feature entertainment that can take place at a range of street-adjacent, family-friendly spaces, such as: farmers markets, public parks, school yards, parking lots, and other publicly accessible outdoor spaces.
- International Participation And Promotion Projects (IPAPP): In this new category, eligible nonprofit organizations apply to carry out a specific, collaborative project outlined as an “Imminent Opportunity” posted by DCA and approved by the project host and endorsed by their municipal/regional/state or federal endorser(s). Projects will involve collaborative presentations that showcase a range of Los Angeles talent abroad while also supporting the hosting-presenting of international artists visiting Los Angeles. The overall goal of IPAPP is for DCA to build the capacity of Los Angeles-based nonprofit arts organizations (working alone or together) to send a performer, ensemble, or set of related groups to accomplish a DCA approved and posted “Imminent Opportunity” with respectful attention expected to the diplomatic responsibilities to interface with: government authorities, embassies or consulate officers, event sponsors, and other project authorizers.
Funding Information
$600 to $45,000
Eligibility Criteria
Eligible applicants will be Los Angeles-based Community Entrepreneurs (neighborhood business managers, independent artists, cultural activists, nonprofit organizations, and/or collaborative pairings of such partners under the stewardship of one lead-agent). If your nonprofit agency is currently a grantee of DCA in PAF or any other Grant Program, then you should define your PAF proposal as a new collaboration that bridges your agency with like-minded partners (note the only PAF category a current DCA grantee can serve as a lead applicant is under the International Participation And Promotion Projects category; current DCA grantees may also participate as named collaborators in Arts and Social Wellness and International Festivals & Intercultural Foods proposals).
For more information, visit CLADCA.
