California Arts Council Offer Non-Profit Arts Groups Big Money To Come Up With Community Projects

The California Arts Council is offering non-profit arts groups in California up to half-a-million dollars to come up with projects addressing issues like homelessness, climate change and mental health. 

The money is part of the agency's new Innovations + Intersections grant that will fund projects incorporating health and technology. 

"We came up with technology and health/wellness as two areas with some of the greatest potential to be of significant value to our communities,” said Nashormeh Lindo, who chairs the council. 

They're excited to see what kinds of ideas people come up with, she said.

"We're looking at every type of discipline in the arts from the visual arts: painting, sculpture, printmaking, photography,” she said. “As well as the performing arts: theatre, dance. Written arts, spoken word, all of those things."

The council has committed at least $1.65 million to the program. At least three grants will be awarded, but the exact number of grants will be decided based on the results of the application review process. The money comes from one-time funding in former Gov. Jerry Brown’s final state budget. 

"People have three years to actually pull the grant off and then they can get up to $500,000 to do it," Lindo said. "We think that this will show the power that the arts have with the caveat that we give them extra time and extra money to do it. And we're excited to see what kind of ideas people come up with."

The Innovations and Intersections grant will fund projects that bring together arts and technology or arts and wellness. The deadline for the grant Letter of Intent is April 14. 

This story was produced for the web by Tiffany Lew.

This story was updated Feb. 7 to note that the deadline to apply has been extended to April 14.