Unikitawa at 2024 Northwest Folklife Festival, photo by Northwest Folklife Festival

Apply to receive general operating support and/or funds for facility projects

Seattle, WA – The Seattle Office of Arts & Culture has two grants open for arts and culture organizations: Centering Art & Racial Equity and Cultural Facilities Fund. To streamline the process for those who want to apply for both grants, there’s one online application. Centering Art & Racial Equity offers $500 – $18,000 for up to three years, and Cultural Facilities Fund offers up to $50,000.

“A core value of Centering Art & Racial Equity is to support the local arts ecosystem holistically,” said Kathy Hsieh, Cultural Investments Strategist. “To inspire the collective action of Seattle arts and culture organizations to become more anti-racist, human-centered, and accessible.”

The Cultural Facilities Fund has been on pause since the pandemic but is open once more to help create better access for people who have been unfairly excluded from owning, managing, or leasing property. “Our arts community has evolved tremendously since the pandemic, and we’ve heard the call loud and clear for the need to invest in cultural spaces that make Seattle beloved, vibrant, and special,” said Ashraf Hasham, Partnerships, Education, and Grants Manager.

Apply for both grants before they close on Aug. 5 at 5 p.m. Pacific. The guidelines for both are also available in Amharic, Chinese (Traditional), Hindi, Japanese, Korean, Russian, Somali, Spanish, Tagalog, Tigrinya, and Vietnamese. Virtual information workshops are available to help you turn in your best application.

What People Are Saying

The ongoing assistance has enabled us to stay resilient and focused on our mission. We are grateful for the partnership that fosters our continued growth and success.

– Kay Clemons, Centering Art & Racial Equity grantee

This grant allowed us to continue amplifying and empowering the creative voices of aspiring young recording artists in our community. It helps us fill the Seattle arts education gap by funding operating expenses.

– Daniel Pak, Totem Star, Centering Art & Racial Equity grantee

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About Centering Art & Racial Equity

Centering Art & Racial Equity is the Seattle Office of Arts & Culture’s organizational support program designed to inspire Seattle’s arts and culture organizations to work collectively towards a more equitable arts ecosystem. Arts, culture, heritage, and arts service organizations with a minimum of three years of providing accessible programming in Seattle are encouraged to apply. We prioritize supporting Seattle organizations who actively work to center inclusive, anti-racist, and human-centered values.

About Cultural Facilities Fund

The Cultural Facilities Fund supports Seattle arts, heritage, cultural, and arts-service organizations with their facility projects. Our goal is to create better access for people who have been unfairly excluded from owning, managing, or leasing property. We know that communities most affected by structural racism and oppression have had the least access to controlling cultural spaces, so we’re focusing on projects that work to change this.

This program has been on pause since the pandemic. In 2025, to create greater equity and access, we are re-opening the program as part of a combined application with our Centering Art & Racial Equity grant.

About the Seattle Office of Arts & Culture

Formed in 1971 with a mission to activate and sustain Seattle through arts and culture, the Seattle Office of Arts & Culture manages the City’s public art program, cultural partnerships grant programs, The Creative Advantage arts education initiative, and cultural facilities such as the Langston Hughes Performing Arts Institute and ARTS at King Street Station.

In alignment with the City’s Race and Social Justice Initiative, we seek new solutions that use arts as a strategy to drive not only our office, but the City as a whole toward racial equity and social justice. We will continue to break barriers and build arts-integrated tools that challenge the status quo and push us toward the inclusive society we envision.

We are supported by the 16-member Seattle Arts Commission, citizen volunteers appointed by the Mayor and City Council.