The Center for Cultural Innovation (CCI) has launched the CALI Catalyst Grant Program to support California changemakers who are shifting the arts and culture sector in ways that tangibly give underrepresented voices more power and influence.
The purpose is to help ensure that the momentum for field-wide change continues undeterred, CALI Catalyst will support artists and arts workers who are on the frontlines of effecting greater inclusion, access, diversity, and equity in the arts and culture sector.
Individuals who take bold actions do so with risks to their jobs, social standing, and reputations. But this is precisely the moment when the arts and culture sector can embrace and support people who are changing the field in ways that work better for marginalized people—BIPOC, LGBTQIA+, and those with disabilities. The arts and culture sector is better for it when strong voices and actions, for example, expose discriminatory hiring and employment practices that plague the arts and culture nonprofit and commercial industries; disrupt philanthropic practices that harm communities; and dismantle barriers to entry for artists and arts workers to be supported. The CALI Catalyst grant program is meant to give such leaders financial support, understanding that the fear of financial risk is, itself, a silencer and discourages changes to the status quo.
Priorities
CALI Catalyst will prioritize grant support to the following:
Applicants whose bold actions (2020 or later) are responding to the current moment’s fervent call for change in the arts and culture sector by tangibly helping underrepresented communities—including Black, Indigenous, people of color, LGBTQIA+, and people with disabilities—gain more influence and power at industry-wide levels.
Applicants who played a causal role in the change that occurred (i.e., they decidedly influenced change at an industry level).
Applicants who are of underrepresented communities; but if they are not, whose bold actions are in the interest of underrepresented communities and are visibly moving the needle for these communities to have more inclusion, influence, and power in the arts and culture sector.
Applicants who reside in a non-metropolitan region.
Applicants who have not previously received CALI Catalyst funding.
Funding Information
Unrestricted grants of up to $5,000 will be awarded.
Year Two (2022) of the CALI Catalyst grant program’s two-year cycle has $125,000 in available funding.
Eligibility Criteria
CALI Catalyst applicants can be individuals or teams of individuals.
To be eligible for CALI Catalyst consideration, applicants must:
Be an artist or arts worker (e.g., arts administrator, cultural producer, culture bearer, creative, cultural practitioner, teaching artist, or specialized technician); and
Be a full-time resident of California.
Only one application will be accepted per team.
The following are ineligible for funding consideration:
Organizations;
Individuals or teams of individuals who are requesting funding to support an organization; and
Individuals or teams of individuals who have a conflict of interest (family or financial relationship) with the board, staff, or directors of the Center for Cultural Innovation
