New updates effective November 16, 2025: Individual applicants will now be required to complete a short identity verification step through Submittable’s secure Identity Verification (IDV) process before submitting their Quick Grant application. You can learn more about IDV here.

• Please note that you will need access to a valid, unexpired government-issued ID (such as a driver’s license, state ID, or passport) and a device (smartphone, tablet, or laptop/computer) with a working camera to complete this step.

Notifications for this cycle will be shared via Submittable on October 15, 2026, by 5:00 pm PT. We encourage you to add Submittable to your Safe Senders list so that you don't miss any communications from CCI—see instructions here.

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The Quick Grant program provides up to $600 in professional development funds to staff members of nonprofit arts organizations based in San Francisco or San José, as well as to California-based artists, creatives, cultural practitioners, and cultural producers. This program supports artists and arts workers with funding to enroll in workshops, attend conferences, and work with consultants, coaches, and mentors in order to build their administrative capacity, hone business skills, and strengthen the financial resilience of an organization, artistic practice, or area of cultural production.

Effective July 16, 2025, the Quick Grant program is expanding its eligibility to include advocacy education and caregiving expenses. CCI understands that artists face growing pressure to self-advocate in the absence of traditional worker protections. We believe that this change supports the essential skill-building in policy engagement and systems change, critical to enhancing the capacity for artists to practice their work. This update reflects our commitment to strengthening the financial resilience and long-term sustainability of individual artists and arts workers. 

WHO CAN APPLY

Individual Artists, Creatives, Cultural Practitioners, & Cultural Producers

• Must currently reside full-time within the State of California

Nonprofit Arts Organization Staff Members

• Staff of a nonprofit, tax-exempt arts organization located in the City and County of San Francisco or the City of San José
• Staff of a fiscally sponsored arts organization with the majority (i.e., 75%) of the organization's public programming occurring within the City and County of San Francisco or the City of San José (see HOW TO APPLY section for additional eligibility requirements)

ELIGIBLE ACTIVITIES

To be eligible for Quick Grant funding, activities must:

• Build administrative capacity, hone business skills, and/or strengthen the financial resilience of the grantee’s practice, area of cultural production, or arts organization.                                                                      
• This includes activities with a focus on advocacy education, technology skill-building, and training in areas like copyright registration or other intellectual property protections.
• Begin after the application notification date. For example, for the August 15, 2026, deadline, the proposed activity must start on or after the notification date of September 16, 2026.     

INELIGIBLE ACTIVITIES

At this time, Quick Grant funding cannot support the following:

• Activities focused primarily on creative or artistic skill development, art teaching/teaching artist methods and techniques, or artistic presentation/production 
• Activities that support an applicant’s adjacent enterprise
• Funding to offset applicant’s regular salary or wages or fees for temporary/contract employees
• Funding to support overhead expenses
• Funding to purchase art supplies, materials, or advanced inventory 
• Activities proposed by artists, creatives, cultural practitioners, or cultural producers to support the operations of a nonprofit organization or a role in arts administration, and vice versa, activities proposed by organizational staff to support an individual art or cultural practice 
• Activities that begin less than one month after the nearest application deadline (applications are due on the 15th of each month); for example, if you apply by the August 15 deadline—between July 16 and August 15—the activity cannot begin until on or after September 16
• Funding to offset fees associated with college tuition or college credit activities

To view an Application Preview (.doc and .pdf versions), Grant Guidelines, and Frequently Asked Questions, please visit the Quick Grant webpage here.

For technical assistance (e.g., upload issues), request support at: https://www.submittable.com/help/submitter/. Submittable’s business hours are 9 am – 5 pm MT. They aim to respond within 24 business hours.

OVERVIEW

Center for Cultural Innovation (CCI) offers recurring and one-time grant opportunities for individual artists and arts workers across the nation, with open application cycles occurring throughout the year that center a range of disciplines and focus areas. For this reason, we’re actively seeking individuals interested in joining peer grant review panels and engaging in shared decision-making processes. 

Learn more about CCI's grant opportunities here.

Prospective panelists should be interested in the grantmaking process and in supporting individuals in the arts. They should also have a deep understanding of a particular discipline or area of experience. We also encourage folks who are coming up in the field to consider serving on a grant panel as a professional development experience. All panelists will receive an honorarium for their valuable time and expertise. 

Panelists will be selected based on the needs of the particular grant panel and contacted by CCI staff to discuss panel participation and commitment (including, but not limited to, online training, independent review and scoring, and grant panel discussion).

We will keep the information you submit below on file for two years (2026 to 2027). We will only contact you if you are being considered for an upcoming panel. 

Thank you for your commitment to supporting individuals in the arts!

Note: Your responses are CONFIDENTIAL and will be used for internal purposes only.

SUPPORT

If you have any questions or need additional information, please contact CCI at grants@cciarts.org.

PROGRAM OVERVIEW

Launched in 2026, CALI Futures (the “Fund”) supports artists and cultural workers across California–individually and in teams–who are meaningfully contributing to alternative efforts outside of conventional nonprofit and for-profit arts and culture systems that have not worked for everyone. This Fund encourages those working in alternative efforts focused on income, ownership, and care, and uplifts the role of artists and cultural workers in shaping and sustaining these efforts. By supporting alternative efforts operating at systemic levels to provide greater financial stability, strengthen creative ownership, and deepen connections to each other, CALI Futures supports the work that makes thriving conditions more possible for the broader arts ecosystem.

CALI Futures provides project-restricted grants of up to $5,000 to artists and cultural workers who are contributing to alternative efforts that hold promise for greater sustainability, sense of belonging, and self-determination than current conventional systems offer. Competitive applicants will present (a) a clear project request; (b) proof of an active, current artistic or cultural practice; (c) a description of the applicant’s contribution to furthering an alternative effort that improves financial sustainability, creative ownership, or mutual support, and addresses challenges not sufficiently solved by conventional nonprofit or for-profit sectors; and (d) framing that ambitiously describes the larger implications that this alternative work can have on transforming artists’ lives and the artistic and cultural possibilities of the future. The Fund supports individuals and teams at every stage, from initial ideas and early concepts to research, implementation, experimentation, and reflection. A total of $100,000 in funding will be available each year across the 2026–2028 funding cycle.

Please visit the CALI Futures webpage to review the Application Preview (.doc and .pdf versions), Grant Guidelines, Example of Competitive Applicants, and Frequently Asked Questions.

ELIGIBILITY

CALI Futures applicants can be individuals or teams of individuals. For those applying as a team, all team members must also meet the following criteria; this is to ensure that funding supports the intended population. To be eligible for funding consideration:

• Applicants must be individual artists or cultural workers (e.g., cultural producers, culture bearers, creatives, cultural practitioners);      
  • Artists (a person who practices any of the various creative arts, such as visual artists, craft, poets, musicians, dancers, media artists, sculptors, filmmakers, etc.); or
  • Cultural Workers (a person who is continuing to keep a cultural identity and/or tradition alive and thriving).

• Applicants (including all team members) must reside full-time in California;
• Applicants must be contributing to an alternative effort that improves the financial sustainability, creative ownership, fosters mutualistic social support, or other beneficial outcomes within the arts and culture sector; and 
• Applicants’ contribution to an alternative effort must have occurred or begun (i.e., the involvement is still in progress) on or after January 1, 2020.

Note: Only one application will be accepted per team (i.e., individual team members cannot submit separate applications that describe the same project). Teams will therefore need to select a single team member to apply, and if funding is approved, this individual will be responsible for fulfilling the grant requirements. Review the Frequently Asked Questions for more details. 

HOW TO APPLY

Applications will be accepted online from June 9 - August 28, 2026, and all applicants will be notified about their funding status on November 17, 2026, by 5:00 p.m. PT. Complete applications must be submitted by the deadline—no exceptions will be made. In addition, applications with missing or inaccessible content (e.g., corrupted or password-protected files) will not be reviewed.

Only one application will be accepted per team (i.e., individual team member (include C in the subject line) or call 415.288.0530 for assistance. You may also schedule a time to speak he application. Information about the other team members will be collected in the application. 

QUESTIONS & SUPPORT 

CCI staff are here to help and listen. Please email us at grants@cciarts.org (include CALI Futures in the subject line) or call 415.288.0530 for assistance. You may also schedule a time to speak here. For Deaf applicants and those with hearing loss, contact CCI using the California Relay Service—our staff is trained in making and receiving these calls.

If you need technical assistance (e.g., password or upload issues), request support at: https://www.submittable.com/help/submitter. Submittable’s business hours are 9 am – 5 pm MT. They aim to respond within 24 business hours.