Arts Access Grants

Guidelines and Application Instructions

Overview

The Arts Access Grant program is driven by the need to increase access to relevant and impactful arts experiences by historically marginalized communities throughout Santa Clara County. The program provides project support for programming specifically designed to reach historically underserved audiences. Arts Access Grants are made possible through a partnership with the County of Santa Clara and with support from the County Board of Supervisors, with additional funding from the National Endowment for the Arts.

Examples of alignment and access include:

Access to arts exhibitions and performances by County clients such as foster youth, social services clients, etc.
Art that thematically addresses County priorities such as intimate partner violence, anti-obesity, literacy, suicide prevention, etc.
Art supplies and instruction for clients of County programs such as The Hub, domestic violence shelters, etc.
Artistic programs serving historically marginalized populations and aligned with Santa Clara County values of inclusion, diversity, equity and heritage.

Grant Guidelines, Eligibility, and Evaluation Criteria

Two-year grant program

SVCREATES is transitioning to a two-year application cycle for Arts Access Grants. 2025 grant recipients will be eligible for grant renewal in 2026, contingent on SVCREATES available funding, grantee’s successful delivery of their project/program in year one, and submission of required reports. The grant will fund your delivery of a program each year to a specific population. The shift to multi-year funding is intended to support your capacity to deepen relationships with the communities you serve, and learn through project challenges and successes year over year. So while you might modify your project scope in year two, you are expected to serve the same community over both years of the grant program. Grant award amounts will be comparable in year one and year two.

Grants will be competitive and limited by the available funding. Approximately 10-15 grants will be awarded. Partial funding may be awarded. Due to the competitive nature of this grant program and the two-year program cycle, organizations must demonstrate a history of programming with the community to be served. This is NOT an opportunity to develop initiatives with audiences you have not previously engaged.

Grant Guidelines:

Projects or programs will be arts experiences (eg. performances, exhibitions, classes) that are made accessible to one or more distinct audiences/communities.
Projects or programs should employ primarily Santa Clara County based artists.
Projects or programs should serve historically marginalized communities; applications must define communities to be served. Communities might include: Title I schools, low income neighborhoods, rural communities, social service agency clients, and others. Please refer to the examples of alignment and access above.
Competitive projects will benefit from a partner or advisor with expertise about or representing the community to be served.
Project or program may be a renewal or expansion of an existing program or may be a new program with an audience previously served.

Eligibility Requirements:

Eligible organizations will be based in Santa Clara County (eg. have a primary performance, exhibition, or office space in the county and serve primarily Santa Clara County residents).
Eligible organizations will have 501c3 status or a qualified nonprofit fiscal sponsor.
Eligible organizations will have a minimum of three years of arts programming history in Santa Clara County.
Eligible projects/programs will serve Santa Clara County residents and take place in Santa Clara County.
New in 2024: Eligible organizations must have a history of programming with the community to be served, having provided at least one year of programming with/for the identified community.

Restrictions:

For-profit organizations are not eligible.
Institutions of primary and secondary education are not eligible.
Local governments are not eligible.
Universities and colleges are limited to providing fiscal sponsorship for one arts program only. Grants may not support operating costs for the university or college, but must be applied to program and overhead costs of the applying entity.
Grants may not be applied toward support for political or religious purposes, fundraisers for other organizations or causes, capital improvements, lobbying, or projects already completed.

Evaluation Criteria:

Applications will be scored and ranked by panel based on the following criteria:

Project description and goals are clear and compelling, and are aligned with the applicant’s mission.
Proposal demonstrates a commitment to craft, artistic excellence and artistic merit, including appropriate compensation to artists
Proposal articulates the specific community/audience to be served and demonstrates authentic partnership or experience/knowledge of community/audience to be served, including articulating why you consider this community historically marginalized.
Capacity of organization to successfully deliver the program in year one, evaluate and adjust project for year two, and deliver a second year of the program.
Project time frame and budget demonstrate realistic planning to complete the first year project by December 31, 2025.

Application

Applications are now closed for 2025 Arts Access Grants.

Grantee Requirements

This grant program is funded in part by the National Endowment for the Arts, a federal agency. If you are offered a grant under this program, there are a few requirements you must meet. SVCREATES staff will provide a full orientation and support as needed to assist you in meeting these federal requirements. If you have any questions about these requirements prior to completing your application, please reach out to Sinjin Jones: [email protected]

Federal requirements:

Grantees must have a Unique Employer Identifier (UEI) that reflects the organization’s legal name and current, physical address. You will need to submit your UEI to SVCREATES before you receive your grant funds. A UEI is easily requested through the System for Award Management (SAM.gov). SVCREATES staff will provide guidance in requesting your UEI.
Grantees must not be disbarred, suspended, or have any other exclusions or disqualifications from doing business with the federal government. This typically results from fraudulent activity. If this applies to your organization, you will know. But you will need to “certify” to SVCREATES that you are not excluded or disqualified. You will do this through your grant agreement.
Grantees will be required to track all expenditures made under this award and retain all financial records and other supporting documents related to the award for a period of three years from the date you submit your final report.
Grantees must ensure that the funded project is implemented in full accordance with the US Constitution, Federal Law, and public policy requirements: including, but not limited to, those protecting free speech, religious liberty, public welfare, the environment, and prohibiting discrimination.

SVCREATES requirements:

Grant awards are contingent on the completion of a grant agreement.
Renewal and payment of your grant award in year two will be contingent on SVCREATES available funding, grantee’s successful delivery of their project/program in year one, and submission of required reports.

Timeline:

Application Opens: September 20, 2024
Application Deadline: October 25, 2024
Application Review: November-December 2024
Award Notification: mid-December 2024
Initial Grant Period: January 1, 2025 - December 31, 2025
Interim Reporting Deadline: 30 days following year-one program completion or December 1, 2025, whichever comes first.
Year-Two Renewal Notification: within 30 days following submission of interim report.
Year-Two Grant Period: January 1, 2026 - December 31, 2026

Arts Access Grantees

ArtHouse Studio

Creativity for Life: Realizing Equity and Mental Health for Youth of Color in Santa Clara County. Arts programming for Santa Clara County low-income youth of color via in-school art programs; after school, weekend, and summer arts programming; professionally curated youth art exhibits; and mental health art videos at school-based Wellness Centers.

Cashion Cultural Legacy

FOLKLOREADA Annual Community Festival. FREE one-day community folk festival featuring six hours of cultural music and dance performances, food, artisan vendors, and participatory activities. Family-friendly FOLKLOREADA takes place in the Mexican Heritage Plaza in the heart of the low income, primarily Mexican and Mexican-American Mayfair neighborhood of San José.

CreaTV San Jose

Summer Documentary Institute. A five-week, youth-led program that provides production, technology training, and leadership development for a cohort of diverse, low-income youth. Teens work in small groups and in connection with local organizations to produce a short documentary. Youth learn the art of storytelling through technical digital media skills that prepare them for future academic, creative, and professional endeavors.

de Saisset Museum, Santa Clara University

Native American Symposium: Truth & Reconciliation Across Diverse Nations. Santa Clara University’s third annual Native American Symposium developed in collaboration with the Muwekma Ohlone Tribe of the San Francisco Bay Area. The museum’s existing relationship with the Muwekma Ohlone and other Native groups, and new relationships being forged through repatriation and other conversations, drives the creation of platforms for our Native partners to share their message and truth with audiences and generate content and resources that support their efforts and interests.

EASTSIDE Magazine

EASTSIDE Magazine. Support for quarterly publication and the stipends for emerging storytellers and artists from East San José. Amplifying diverse community voices while fostering cultural heritage and advocacy through storytelling.

Local Color SJ

Color Me Rad. Youth Empowerment Series with Color Me Rad, three five-day cohort arts education courses serving 30 students who don’t have access to arts education. These cohorts will provide uniquely designed arts education free of cost to students over spring and summer breaks. Cohorts will end with a public exhibition of the student's artwork, with the option to sell prints of their work and the goal of discovering new pathways in the arts.

MACLA/Movimiento de Arte y Cultura Latino Americana

Centering LGBTQ Latinx Artists and Community. A series of performance programs in 2025-2026 that uplift the work of LGBTQIA+ Latinx artists and deepen our engagement with LGBTQIA+ community.

Mosaic America

Mitigating social isolation and improving health outcomes for seniors in low-income housing. Cultural programs and activities for seniors in music, dance, and food across cultures are co-created and shared by residents and professional artists. Programs include, Chinese pop and operatic music; Mexican folklorico; Somali, Mexican, Chinese food; resident-led photo and calligraphy exhibits; Vietnamese modern dance; Dances of the Silk Road; Hula and other welcoming traditions.

Palo Alto Players

Creating Accessible Theatre Experiences at Palo Alto Players. Creating a more welcoming environment and removing barriers to participation for blind, deaf and neurodivergent audiences, ensuring that all community members, regardless of their abilities, can experience and enjoy the transformative power of live theatre.

Poetry Center San José

Beautiful Black Books. In-person programming featuring both local and national Black poets. Programs explore poetry as a means of social change, provide mentoring, community building, and peer support for emerging black artists, and build and sustain a black audience for poetry in Santa Clara County.

Red Ladder Theatre Company and Child Advocates of Silicon Valley

Multidisciplinary Workshops in the Creative Process for Foster Youth. Multidisciplinary workshops in the creative process to systems-impacted foster youth in Santa Clara County.

San Jose Jazz

San Jose Jazz Progressions and Music Education Access through Live Concerts/Assemblies/Workshops. Leveraging the impact of existing Progressions music education activities by producing a series of concerts/workshops for local students in a variety of environments including in-school performances by touring musicians, workshops for high school jazz students, as well as field trips to see professional musical productions off-campus.

Silicon Valley African Film Festival

16th annual Silicon Valley African Film Festival’s The Power of Story Program. An interactive film screening program, featuring selected short films for middle school students of color and their teachers, with post-screening talkback sessions and break-out groups that promote self awareness. Includes pre-event classroom activity for teachers to engage their students in storytelling and owning their own voices and stories.

The School of Arts and Culture at MHP

Arts Education Program at Mexican Heritage Plaza. Serving 780 underserved, low-income youth in East San José through culturally specific arts engagement activities and instruction. Provided on-site at the Mexican Heritage Plaza, the Arts Education Program offers a safe, trusted, and culturally and linguistically responsive environment in which students learn about the arts.

Teatro Visión

2025 Teatro Visión Youth Production. Youth production of Sandra Cisneros' The House on Mango Street, which will provide professional arts development opportunities for youth actors and provide access to theater experiences for Santa Clara County's Latinx communities.

Cambodian American Resource Agency (CARA)

Expanded Teaching Curriculum. In preparation for the 2025 commemoration of 50 years since the fall of Phnom Penh to the Khmer Rouge, CARA will provide classes in Cambodian music and dance traditions. Students will participate in performance with surviving artists from the Cambodian genocide, many of whom have not performed in many years, at a culminating event in 2025.

Cashion Cultural Legacy

Academy Expansion Pilot Project. Los Lupeños Academy will pilot Folklórico Dance classes for middle school students, older adults and K-5 educators, filling distinct needs in their community and nurturing intergenerational connections.

Children's Musical Theater San Jose

CMT Presents: Alum Rock Spring Camp, a free weeklong Spring Break camp for 80 students in partnership with the Alum Rock School District, providing a comprehensive theater training program that promises to be engaging, challenging, inspiring, and fun.

EASTSIDE Magazine

Quarterly Publication. Support for the contributors, poets, artists, and the distribution of Eastside Magazine, a quarterly publication that captures the heart of East San José by highlighting the community’s deeply rooted history, cultural vibrancy, ample assets, and considerable resources from a space of agency and community power.

Mosaic America

inCulture. Culturally responsive creative arts activities for socially isolated Vietnamese and Mandarin-speaking seniors living in low-income housing in San Jose. This project aims to address the health and wellness needs of these populations, while preserving and celebrating their cultural heritage, and enhancing their quality of life.

Palo Alto Players

Expanding Access Toward a More Inclusive Theater Experience for community members with disabilities. Addressing the challenges that community members with disabilities face when attending live theater performances, as well as breaking down the barriers that may prevent them from attending live theater at all.

Red Ladder Theatre Company

Multi-Disciplinary Workshops in the Creative Process for Foster Youth. Red Ladder Theatre Company, in partnership with Child Advocates of Silicon Valley, will provide a series of workshops in the creative process for youth in the foster system that engages and involves both the youth themselves and the Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASAs) who serve these youth. Workshops use the tools and techniques of improvisational theater to help participants develop positive life-skills.

San Jose Jazz

SJZ Progressions and Music Education Access through Live Concerts/Assemblies/Workshops. San Jose Jazz will leverage the impact of their existing Progressions music education activities by producing a series of concerts/workshops for its local students in a variety of environments including in-school performances by touring musicians, workshops for high school jazz students, as well as at least one field trip to see a professional musical production off-campus.

San Jose Multicultural Artists Guild

Crowns - A Celebration of Cultural History: Black Women and Their Crowns. The production is a celebration of Black culture, featuring hats (crowns), music, song, folktales, and stories showcasing the enriched customs and norms of a community. The project will also serve as a means to discuss "Black hair" and the importance of the CROWN Act. Student matinee will include discussion sessions and opportunities for creative expression.

San Jose Museum of Art

Free Cross-Curricular Art Courses for Title One Students. Sowing Creativity, a classroom residency program, builds student engagement and enthusiasm for cross-curricular subjects while also providing needed opportunities for creative expression that are increasingly absent in schools.

San Jose Taiko

More Taiko for Schools. Funding to increase capacity to meet the demand for Taiko programs in schools. These in-school assemblies seek to celebrate America's cultural diversity through an inspirational blend of performance and education, offering relevant representation of the ever growing local Asian population.

School of Arts and Culture at MHP

The Arts Education Program provides access to high-quality arts education for children and youth in East San José, helping them to not only learn about a craft or instrument, but also connecting them to their peers, their families, their neighborhood, and their heritage.

Teatro Visión de San José

Supporting Teatro Visión's 2024 Youth Production. In partnership with Santa Clara University’s Arts for Social Justice Department, Teatro Visión will produce two short plays: La Mariposa and Breaking Through, both adapted for the stage by Leo Cortez from the stories by Francisco Jiménez. These plays will be performed with an adult cast at Santa Clara University, providing the youth cast with professional mentorship opportunities as they prepare for their own interpretation of the plays.

Cashion Cultural Legacy
FOLKLOREADA, free community folk festivals, featuring cultural music and dance performances, food, select artisan vendors, and family activities in the outdoor plaza at the School of Arts and Culture at the Mexican Heritage Plaza. The 2022 and 2023 festivals will be recorded and subsequently streamed for the benefit of community members unable to attend in person.

Children’s Musical Theater of San Jose (CMT)
KickstART gives students a fun, interactive, and educational onstage experience in the convenience of their school and alongside their classmates. CMT will partner with Robert Sanders Elementary School to guide their efforts to build a viable free afterschool musical theater program.

Chopsticks Alley Art
Theater for the Vietnamese American Community. Chopsticks Alley Art will commission experienced Vietnamese American theater artist and director Vinh Nguyen to write, produce, and direct a theatrical piece adapting famous and beloved Vietnamese folktales, myths, and legends. The production will be geared towards elementary-school-aged children and their families.

Cinequest
Cinequest Film and Creativity Festival, serving diverse audiences throughout the Bay Area and beyond through live and online programs. Through community partnership and collaboration, Cinequest will expand opportunities for program access to LGBTQ+, Latinx and underserved youth.

City Lights Theater Company and Teatro Visión
City Lights Theater Company and Teatro Visión have entered into a partnership to produce the musical Miss You Like Hell, book by Quiara Alegría Hudes, music by Erin McKeown, and lyrics by Hudes and McKeown. This production will enjoy a two-part performance run: at both CLTC's home venue in downtown San José, followed by a one-week run at the 500-seat Mexican Heritage Plaza theater adjoining San José’s Mayfair neighborhood.

New Museum Los Gatos (NUMU)
Reclamation: Public Art of the Muwekma Ohlone Tribe, a joint project between NUMU, the Muwekma Ohlone Tribal Council, and San Jose State University, features an art exhibition about Bay Area public art projects of significance to the Tribe. It will amplify the Muwekma Ohlone Tribal Council’s efforts to gain federal recognition through educating our community about their public art initiatives in the Bay Area.

Palo Alto Art Center
Creative Attention: Art and Community Restoration, is a multifaceted project that showcases the transformative power of the arts in our current age of anxiety. Includes a free-admission exhibition, artist residencies, virtual and onsite public programs, art therapy sessions, and a Community Day event with partners including the Mending Collective, artist Kenyatta AC Hinkle, and resident artist Marcel Pardo Ariza.

Red Ladder Theatre Company
Multi-Disciplinary Workshops in the Creative Process for Foster Youth is a series of workshops offered to youth in the foster system that engage and involve both the youth themselves and the Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASAs) who serve these youth. Designed by Red Ladder, in collaboration and consultation with Child Advocates Silicon Valley, youth are engaged in the creative process through storytelling, empathy, connection with others, and using their imagination.

San José Chamber Orchestra
Music Housecalls is designed as a series of free string ensemble performances presented to organizations/housing situations where the residents can’t reasonably get out to experience live music in public venues. These are predominantly homeless or disabled populations, ages ranging from children through seniors and include many families.

San Jose Jazz
The expansion of SJZ's existing Progressions Nucleos music education program includes a series of concerts/workshops for students in a variety of environments including in-school performances by touring musicians relevant to the student populations, as well as at least one field trip to see a professional musical production off-campus. Students receive free instruments and free weekly music instruction.

San Jose Multicultural Artists Guild
SJMAG will present award-winning Broadway actor Chester Gregory in We All Have A Song to Sing: The Eve of Jackie where he channels the dynamic spirit of Jackie Wilson: “Mr. Excitement,” one of the most influential artists in rock ‘n’ roll history. SJMAG will partner with Santa Clara County Alliance of Black Educators (SCCABE) and other community groups to bring both the production and lecture-demos with the writer/performer, Chester Gregory to approximately 200 students of color at Mexican Heritage Plaza in East San Jose.

San José Museum of Art
SJMA will re-launch its cross-curricular arts education program, Sowing Creativity, and offer it to elementary school students in Santa Clara County Title I schools for free in 2022-2023. Teaching Artists will work closely with the classroom teacher to create a customized curriculum drawing from a large repository of cross-curricular lessons.

San Jose Taiko
Share the Beat includes acclaimed school assembly programs for Title I schools; TaikoTown virtual education programs with videos and classroom activities; and free hands-on taiko workshops for youth in foster care, in partnership with Kinship, Adoptive, and Foster Parent Association (KAFPA).

School of Arts and Culture at Mexican Heritage Plaza
Through participatory workshops and classes, the Arts Education 2022 Summer Camp Program will offer families an opportunity to experience arts engagement together as a means of positively connecting to each other and their community as they continue to face the economic and health challenges of the pandemic.

Starting Arts
San Jose Elementary School Outreach Theatre will allow students from six Title 1 elementary schools to create a production of Aladdin Jr. Students will practice after school two days a week for twelve weeks, learning how to perform with sets, costumes, props, body mics, lighting and sound, all culminating in four performances held at the Olinder Community Center Black Box Theatre.

The Audacity Performing Arts Project
Literacy, Art and Technology is a series of weekly one hour classroom visits designed to serve elementary and middle schools in East Side San Jose to build English-language skills for native Spanish speakers. This initial version of the program will focus on a close reading and discussion of Belinda Hernandez Arriaga’s 2020 book, “Love and Monsters in Sofia’s Life.”

The New Ballet
New Ballet Kids and First Step Programs are interrelated dance programs that take students from elementary through high school. New Ballet Kids will bring ballet to local Title 1 elementary schools, providing access and participation to new students. First Step students who show enthusiasm for ballet training are invited to continue their dance education on full scholarship through high school.

Tshaka Campbell and Poetry Center San Jose
Bring the Light is composed of a series of events and initiatives that will work with youth of all ages to be open about their feelings and emotions over the last three years and provide them a vehicle to voice these challenges, triumphs and our loss through poetry. Youth will submit poems to be included in an anthology and featured as public art in collaboration with local libraries, the VTA, and community leaders.

Chopsticks Alley Art
Adventures in Contemporary Art provides opportunities for Vietnamese-American seniors to engage with contemporary art through hands-on art classes, take-home art kits and field trips to area galleries and museums.

MACLA/Movimiento de Arte y Cultura Latino Americana
MACLA’s Digital Media and Culture (DMC) Studio is a free arts education, skills-building program designed to mentor underserved youth in professional multimedia production. DMC Studio serves as a second home where youth can engage in a culture of creativity and learning, build positive relationships with peers and mentors, and experience acceptance and a sense of belonging.

Opera Cultura
Rap Opera 2.0 will engage youth from San Jose Juvenile Hall and the HUB, a resource center for foster youth in San Jose, in the creation of a rap-infused opera that tells their stories. The narrative of the work will center around their experiences living in San Jose, and we will provide opportunities for the youth to be involved throughout the development and performance of the rap opera.

San Jose Children’s Discovery Museum
Educare Stories & Art (ESA) advances CDM’s partnership with Educare, located in one of the most high need communities in San Jose, through a program of literary and arts activities designed for preschool children and their families.

San Jose Institute of Contemporary Art
Sense of Self exhibition features Bay Area photographers who explore identity and selfhood through portraiture with a focus on the representation of marginalized communities. the ICA will work with the LGBTQ Youth Space to organize small group tours and talks, where the LGBTQ+ community can engage with the artists in Sense of Self to have meaningful conversations in a safe space.

San Jose Museum of Art
Free Premiere Museum Field Trips for Title One Students. SJMA’s premiere field trip offering, “Two-Part Art” engages students with an hour-long inquiry-based guided tour followed by a related hands-on art-making activity led by an SJMA teaching artist. Professional development support will assure that SJMA instructors are prepared to make impactful adjustments to their teaching strategies to assure that this approach to Museum visits is as effective for English Language Learners as it is for native English speakers.

San Jose Museum of Quilts and Textiles
San Jose Museum of Quilts & Textiles (Museum) will partner with the Social Justice Sewing Academy (SJSA), a nonprofit art program that bridges artistic expression with activism, Santa Clara Valley Quilt Association (SCVQA), and other local quilt makers to develop and pilot a year-round program for high school aged youth. The workshops, Sewing for Social Change, will provide willing and eager young leaders an opportunity to use textile art to advocate for social justice issues and topics they care about.

Silicon Valley African Film Festival (SVAFF)
The Silicon Valley African Film Festival (SVAFF) will present “Sankofa: looking back, going forward,” a two-week interactive culture preservation project that uses visual storytelling as a vehicle for connecting with and affirming heritage pride in our marginalized immigrant African youth in Santa Clara County.

The Audacity Performing Arts Project
Participatory Stagecraft and Theatre Education in Alum Rock Schools based in Alum Rocks Visual and Performing Arts (VAPA) Cluster. The creation of a 30-50 seat black box theatre and tech theatre learning space at George Middle School. The formal creation of a theatre craft after school program for elementary school students at Cureton Elementary.

The Choral Project
The Choral Project, in collaboration with the Choraliers, a collegiate ensemble from San Jose State University, will present the San Jose premiere of “Considering Matthew Shepard.” Through workshops, discussions, thematic programs and seminars produced in collaboration with local LGBTQ organizations, this project will support individuals who are navigating questions about gender identity and sexuality.

Applications are now closed.
Learn about the 2025 Arts Access Grant Projects >>

Questions?
Contact SVCREATES' Program Director, Sinjin Jones.
[email protected]
(408) 998-2787 x204