Community Cultural Arts Grants

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The Virginia Beach Arts and Humanities Commission's Community Cultural Arts Grant Program is now open for applications for Fiscal Year 2022. Applications will be accepted in two cycles. This grant is designed to aid in building cultural equity in the arts in Virginia Beach by providing support for arts-based projects that reflect our changing communities through innovative, culturally rooted, and/or participatory projects with the goal of bringing the community together to celebrate cultural and ethnic diversity. The grant also recognizes a need to support both emerging and existing organizations that are not typically represented in traditional local funding infrastructures.

Groups representing underserved communities including culturally/ethnically diverse communities are encouraged to apply.  ​

The deadline for the first round of FY22 Community Cultural Arts Grants is 5pm on Wednesday, September 15.


 Goals of the Community Cultural Arts Grant
​​A high strategic priority in the Virginia Beach Arts Plan 2030 is to develop, support and promote greater diversity of arts offerings - particularly in the area of culturally/ethnically specific arts. Actively expanding culturally diverse activities directly fulfills City Council’s Goal 7 to be “An Inclusive Community that is Welcoming and Empowers All.”   
 
The goal of this grant is to foster cultural equity in the arts through: 
  • Enhancing understanding 
  • Nurturing and celebrating authentic cultures 
  • Increasing access  
  • Strengthening community  
  • Investing in underserved/underrepresented communities
  • Activating innovation, non-traditional presentation, and/or participatory experiences that are reflective of the changing communities in which we live. ​

 Eligibility and Criteria
​Applications for this grant must align with one or more of the following cultural equity outcomes: 
  1. Enhance understanding of and respect for diverse cultural traditions, heritages, and forms of expression. 
  2. Nurture, celebrate, and support of authentic traditional cultural presentations and creative modern expression of culture from/by/of populations not typically included in the majority of arts presentation and/or funding opportunities. 
  3. Increase access to and inclusivity in experiences of culturally-rooted arts and creative opportunities for communities that have previously experienced less than adequate representation. 
  4. Connect individuals from diverse cultures, ages, and economic means in an effort to strengthen communities and/or neighborhoods through the arts. 
  5. Invest in communities with artists or organizations centered on building individual capacity and potential for economic growth and stability within communities historically experiencing lower levels of public investment. 
  6. Activate innovation, non-traditional presentation, and/or participatory experiences to provide alternative perspectives that reflect our changing communities. 
Eligibility: 
The grant program is open to 501(c)3 non-profit organizations whose mission is to represent, promote and develop arts programming derived from culturally and ethnically authentic sources, traditions, and inspiration for the purpose of increasing access, equitability, and opportunity for artists of culturally/ethnically diverse backgrounds and the surrounding community while increasing understanding and/or collaboration between diverse communities.  Programs must take place within the City of Virginia Beach and be open to the public. Organizations applying must be accommodating, welcoming, and open to people of all ages, abilities, sexual orientation, gender identities, ethnicities, cultural backgrounds, religions, languages, socio-economic conditions in their policies, practices, and programs.

Groups representing underserved communities including culturally/ethnically diverse communities are encouraged to apply.  

The deadline for the first round of FY22 Community Cultural Arts Grants is 5pm on Wednesday, September 15.

Proposals submitted to the program will be evaluated on the following criteria: 

Quality of Project: clear, well-conceived, authentic relationship to neighborhood or other community of interest, promotes arts participation and community relations.

Community Impact: project plan describes meaningful efforts to create community participation and reach a diverse audience..

Feasibility:  the organization has experience presenting this and/or other event(s); evidence of community involvement and support; and clear realistic budget for the event.​​

Contact Information