Support Grants
Support Grants
General operating support for Santa Cruz County nonprofit or fiscally-sponsored arts organizations of all budget sizes. Applications accepted once per year for grants up to $7,000.
Apply online in the grants portal September 9-30, 2026.
Sign up for our Grants newsletter at the bottom of this page to get notified about all of our grant offerings.
Please read the guidelines before beginning your application. Guidelines include important information about eligibility and review criteria.
Watch the video recording from the September 9 info session, covering both Support Grants and Develop Quick Grants.
Download the slides from the September 9 info session, covering both Support Grants and Develop Quick Grants.
Download a list of the application questions as a Microsoft Word doc.
Key Dates
The application for Support Grants (and Develop Quick Grants) opens September 9. Our grants info session will cover everything you need to know in order to apply for both grants. There will be time for questions after each part of the session. You encouraged to attend the entire session (join at 4pm):
- 4-4:30pm: Support Grants - for arts organizations only
- 4:30-5pm: Online grants portal walkthrough
- 5-5:30pm: Develop Quick Grants - for artists & arts organizations
¿Desea solicitar un servicio de interpretación al español? Email grantsprogram@artscouncilsc.org.
September 14, 21, and 28 from 4-5pm on Zoom
Join Zoom Meeting (no registration)
Office hours are informal times when you can get grant application support from Grants Program Manager Tamara Liu. You can drop in during any of the scheduled times, and since there isn’t a presentation, you don’t have to be there at the beginning or stay til the end. If lots of folks show up at once, we’ll use a learning circle approach, with each person sharing questions or ideas. If you’re the only one, you will get direct one-on-one support! No questions or situations are too simple or too complicated. Hope to see you there!
Can’t attend at this time, or want to request an in-person meeting? Click here to book a time or email grantsprogram@artscouncilsc.org.
¿Desea solicitar un servicio de interpretación al español? Email grantsprogram@artscouncilsc.org.
Please plan to submit well before the deadline in case of technical difficulties or other issues. The grants portal is often slower to load as the deadline approaches. Staff will not be available for support after 5pm.
You will receive a confirmation email after you submit your application. Communication about this fellowship will be sent from: administrator@grantinterface.com. Please add this email to your safe sender list.
If you do not receive this email or have any other questions, please contact our team at grantsprogram@artscouncilsc.org.
Look for an email on this date, sent to the email you used to log into the grants portal. The email will be sent by administrator@grantinterface.com, so please make sure to add this address to your safe sender list.
Support Grant FAQs
- Budget Changes: $6,000 has been cut from our Support Grant budget due County of Santa Cruz funding cuts. However, our Support Grant budget is still larger than usual! We have $30,000 in additional funding available this year, thanks to increases from Hewlett Foundation and the City of Santa Cruz (a renewal of increases from last year, which will not continue in the future). Some of this additional funding will be allocated to renewed Support Grants from the previous year.
- Professional Development Funding: Support grantees continue to be eligible to apply for Develop Quick Grants as well! We made this change a couple years ago.
The video recording, slides, and transcript from the grant orientation will be posted on this webpage (above). If you’d like to meet with Grants Program Manager Tamara Liu, book an appointment or email grantsprogram@artscouncilsc.org.
Yes! Download this document to see some examples of responses that have received high scores in past grant cycles.
General FAQs are available at the bottom of our Apply for a Grant webpage.