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Photo: Crystal Birns
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Develop Grants

Funding for professional development (activities that improve artistic skills or expand business and professional capacity) up to $1,500. Develop grants do not require a public presentation/exhibition. Open to Santa Cruz County artists and arts organizations. 

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Guidelines

Please read the guidelines before completing your application. Guidelines include important information about eligibility and review criteria.

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Orientation Video

Watch the video from our February 16 Grants Orientation, covering Create and Develop grants.

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Orientation Slides

View the presentation slides from our February 16 Grants Orientation, covering Create and Develop grants.

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Application Questions

The Develop 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.

Develop Grant FAQs

Applicants may only apply for one grant per cycle (Create or Develop, not both).

Support and Elevate grantees will no longer be eligible to apply for Develop grants, in order to reserve enough of that funding for individual artists and other arts organizations. Support and Elevate grantees also remain ineligible for Create grants.

We may not be able to offer Create and Develop grants in fall 2023. If you are planning a professional development 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.

Some examples include but are not limited to: fees and travel expenses to attend a class or conference, apprenticeship, hiring a consultant, software purchases, social media support, updating a website, and purchasing equipment. View our list of current grantees for some examples of recently funded Develop grants (note that all types of grants are included on this webpage).

Current Grantees

Yes, we recognize that in certain cases materials or supplies can have a significant impact on an artist’s skills or career, even if they are “consumable” and will be used up quickly. However, you must be able to make a clear case for why those specific materials will have an impact for you in the long term. What will happen once those materials/supplies are gone? Will you then be at a new place in your artistic development? If so, it may be worthwhile to apply. If not, an application for those materials/supplies will likely not be very competitive compared to other applications. We know every artist needs access to materials and supplies, but since our grants are limited by our available budget, we want to ensure our grants have the most impact possible.

First, read the guidelines (available by February 8). 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 would like to learn more about your recent professional development (in the past two years) and how the activities/expenses you are seeking funding for are related to the professional development work you have engaged in most recently.

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.

Read More FAQs About Our Grants

General FAQs are available at the bottom of our Apply for a Grant webpage.

Contact Us with Additional Questions

Email: grantsprogram@artscouncilsc.org