Grantmaking for Southern Arizonans
Since 2001, Arts Foundation has stewarded over $12M of public funds from City of Tucson and Pima County enriching the metropolitan region of Southern Arizona. In the last 20 years, our annual grant portfolio has seen an ↑11% overall increase and ↑50% growth in the last 3 years. Throughout the pandemic, we joined forces with local, county, state and national partners to provide rapid aid for our regional creative workforce. With a long history of championing public funds for public good, Arts Foundation was enlisted by the City of Tucson in 2020 to distribute $1.75M of Somos Uno/We Are One Federal CARES relief. An additional, $440k was granted through Project Creosote– a recovery grant portfolio aimed to catalyze the rebound of the arts sector throughout Southern Arizona, thanks to funding from the National Endowment for the Arts, City of Tucson and Pima County. These milestone investments in the region are restoring trust, solidarity and affirmation needed to rebuild together, in community, into the future.
In this landmark year, our grants attracted applications from 15 cities in our diverse service region including, Native Sovereign Nations, border communities and rural communities in Southern Arizona. We received bilingual applications from 103 Arts and Culture Organizations and 491 applications from working artists. Our $2.2M grant portfolio in FY21 awarded over 500 artists, collectives and organizations reaching 66% first time applicants, and 75% BIPOC grantees from all communities in our applicant pool. Critical seed funding reached 12 fiscally sponsored BIPOC grassroot arts and culture organizations with micro budgets under $50,000– investing in those who are innovating models for self-determination and community wealth.
Application Status:Open
Equitably rebuilding arts economies in the borderlands to strengthen civic participation
Application Status:Closed
Supporting individual artist projects that meet the highest standards of excellence across a diverse spectrum of artistic disciplines and cultural expressions.
Application Status:Closed
Designed to identify and reward high school seniors within Pima County who demonstrate excellence in dance, music, theater, visual arts, media arts, literary arts, poetry, spoken word, craft, or art related to cultural preservation.
Application Status:Closed
stART Grant provides individuals, collectives, and co-ops awards funds through two alternate tracks of support: Community Impact track and Artist Development track.
Application Status:Archived
The Project Creosote: Rebuilding Grant for those Organizing in the Arts provides unrestricted awards to non-profit arts and culture organizations servicing Tucson and Southern Arizona whose goals may include attending to their creative communities’ needs, saving jobs, funding operations, purchasing supplies, and reaching audiences for engagement and participation.
Application Status:Archived
The Arts Foundation for Tucson and Southern Arizona’s stART to Heal Grant for Creatives provides individuals, collectives, and co-ops awards funds through two alternate tracks of support: Community Impact track and Artist Development track.
Application Status:Open
The Project Creosote: New Works Artist Project Grant seeks to support the depth and breadth of innovative new artwork created and produced in the City of Tucson and Pima County. The grant program supports individual artist projects that meet the highest standards of excellence across a diverse spectrum of artistic disciplines and cultural expressions.
Application Status:Archived
The Youth Arts Scholarship is designed to identify and reward high school seniors within Pima County who demonstrate excellence in dance, music, theater, visual arts, media arts, literary arts, poetry, spoken word, craft, or art related to cultural preservation.
Application Status:Archived
Funded by the City of Tucson We Are One/Somos Uno Resiliency Fund, through the Federal CARES Act. Administered by the Arts Foundation for Tucson and Southern Arizona.
Equitably rebuilding arts economies in the borderlands to strengthen civic participation
Supporting individual artist projects that meet the highest standards of excellence across a diverse spectrum of artistic disciplines and cultural expressions.
Designed to identify and reward high school seniors within Pima County who demonstrate excellence in dance, music, theater, visual arts, media arts, literary arts, poetry, spoken word, craft, or art related to cultural preservation.
stART Grant provides individuals, collectives, and co-ops awards funds through two alternate tracks of support: Community Impact track and Artist Development track.
The Project Creosote: Rebuilding Grant for those Organizing in the Arts provides unrestricted awards to non-profit arts and culture organizations servicing Tucson and Southern Arizona whose goals may include attending to their creative communities’ needs, saving jobs, funding operations, purchasing supplies, and reaching audiences for engagement and participation.
The Arts Foundation for Tucson and Southern Arizona’s stART to Heal Grant for Creatives provides individuals, collectives, and co-ops awards funds through two alternate tracks of support: Community Impact track and Artist Development track.
The Project Creosote: New Works Artist Project Grant seeks to support the depth and breadth of innovative new artwork created and produced in the City of Tucson and Pima County. The grant program supports individual artist projects that meet the highest standards of excellence across a diverse spectrum of artistic disciplines and cultural expressions.
The Youth Arts Scholarship is designed to identify and reward high school seniors within Pima County who demonstrate excellence in dance, music, theater, visual arts, media arts, literary arts, poetry, spoken word, craft, or art related to cultural preservation.
Funded by the City of Tucson We Are One/Somos Uno Resiliency Fund, through the Federal CARES Act. Administered by the Arts Foundation for Tucson and Southern Arizona.
Meet the Arts Foundation Grantees
Read about the artists and cultural leaders making an impact on our communities’ arts landscape. Look through the profiles of current and past Arts Foundation grantees to connect with the thriving Tucson and Southern Arizona arts community.
Grants review process
Our grants review process relies on a panel of artists, arts administrators, community advocates, and cultural workers from varying geographies, disciplines, and backgrounds who review, deliberate, and score the materials submitted by each applicant. Materials are assessed based on eligibility, completeness, and clarity based on the published review criteria. Panel recommendations are then submitted to the Arts Foundation Board of Directors for formal approval and authorization.
Project Creosote Panelists
The Grants Team collaborates with community members who have expertise in the arts, arts management, and/or nonprofit administration functioning as an advisory group to Art Foundation’s Board of Directors. Panelists review grant applications and awards, as well as make allocation recommendations to the Board of Directors.
- Antonio Estrada
- Betty Villegas
- Bianca Finley Alper
- Christian Ruvalcaba
- Desiree Gonzales
- Diana Delgado
- Génesis Cubillas
- José Merino
- Khailill Knight-Papaioannou,
- Lourdes Pereira
- Marcos Ysmael
- Rameen Ahmed