Create Grants
Create Grants
Funding for arts and/or cultural projects open to the public in Santa Cruz County, up to $3,000. Open to Santa Cruz County artists, arts organizations, and non-arts organizations working in collaboration with artists.
Please read the guidelines before beginning your application. Guidelines include important information about eligibility and review criteria.
Watch the video from our February 16 Grants Orientation, covering Create and Develop grants.
Download the slides from our February 16 Grants Orientation, covering Create and Develop grants.
The Create Grant application is an online application. Download this Microsoft Word document to view the application questions in advance.
Key Dates
See above to watch the video recording and download the presentation slides.
Fri. March 3, 11am-1pm
Drop in Zoom Q&A
Click here to join Zoom
(Meeting ID: 81853845468 Passcode: L10JU86A
Fri. March 10, 11am-1pm
Drop in Zoom Q&A
Click here to join Zoom
(Meeting ID: 81853845468 Passcode: L10JU86A)
Tues. March 14, 5-7pm
Drop-in Q&A
Arts Council Conference Room
1070 River Street, Santa Cruz
Wed. March 15, 5-7pm
Drop in Q&A
Watsonville Library Conference Room
275 Main Street, Watsonville
Fri. March 17, 11am-1pm
Drop in Zoom Q&A
Click here to join Zoom
(Meeting ID: 81853845468 Passcode: L10JU86A)
Eight slots available to applicants who have never received an Arts Council grant, sign up here.
Please plan to submit your application well before 5pm! Late applications due to technical difficulties or any other reason are not accepted. The grants portal is often slower to load as the deadline approaches.
Look for an email on this date, sent to the email you used to log into the grants portal.
All payments need to be sent by June 30 at the latest. We will send your payment once we receive your signed award letter.
When all funded activities/expenses must take place.
Create Grant FAQs
Applicants may only apply for one grant per cycle (Create or Develop, not both).
The Grants Program Objective criteria has been eliminated and some small changes have been made to the other three criteria.
Organizations are no longer required to match Create grants with other funding.
We may not be able to offer Create and Develop grants in fall 2023. If you are planning a project or activity for January - July 2024, we encourage you to apply now.
The First-Time Applicant Pool is available only to applicants who have never submitted a grant application to the Arts Council. If you have applied before, regardless of whether you were awarded the grant or not, you are no longer a first-time applicant.
First, read the guidelines (available by February 8). We also highly recommend attending the February 16 Zoom grants orientation (register here). Once you've done that, if you're still unsure, please feel free to reach out and ask! Email our team at grantsprogram@artscouncilsc.org.
If you are planning to have an audience and / or participants, then you most likely are eligible to apply for a Create grant, which has a higher maximum award. If you're not planning to share your work publicly as part of the grant, then a Develop grant may be a better fit. However, certain activities can sometimes fit either type of grant. First, read the guidelines (available by February 8). We also highly recommend attending the February 16 Zoom grants orientation (register here). Once you've done that, if you're still unsure, please feel free to reach out and ask! Email our team at grantsprogram@artscouncilsc.org.
We like to support a variety of different projects each cycle! If your idea meets the eligibility and criteria listed in the guidelines, we'd love to read your application. View our list of current grantees for some examples of recently funded Create grants (note that all types of grants are included on this webpage).
Current GranteesGeneral FAQs are available at the bottom of our Apply for a Grant webpage.