City of Carlsbad opens the 2024-25 community arts grants period

Since 1986, the City of Carlsbad Cultural Arts office has been dedicated to cultivating a vibrant and enduring arts community within Carlsbad. A key strategy employed by the office to advance this mission is through providing community art grants to qualified applicants. Theses grants provide financial assistance to both arts-focused nonprofits organizations and other art-related initiatives. Additionally, Carlsbad schools are eligible to receive grants for projects that demonstrate a diverse and unique use of all art mediums.

Financial support for the Community Arts Grants program was identified as a priority in the 2018 Arts and Culture Master Plan. City Council has consistently supported continued and increased funding, recognizing the value of grant funds that encourage, develop and facilitate an enriched environment of artistic, creative and cultural activity in the City of Carlsbad.

Funding the arts is not just good for the culture of a community, it is good for business. According to the Americans for the Arts, a national nonprofit, in 2022 nonprofit arts and culture organizations and their audiences generated $151.7 billion in economic activity. $29.1 billion in tax revenue, and 2.6 million jobs. 

Importantly, by fostering the work of local and regional arts organizations, the city continues to promote the arts as an integral component of both the economy and the quality of life in Carlsbad and North County San Diego.

Organizations with arts projects who don’t hold a 501c3 designation, can still apply through a nonprofit Fiscal Sponsor. By supporting an organization’s application for Carlsbad based arts project, you’ll help to build organizational strength and capacity for Carlsbad’s thriving and emerging arts and artists. In other words, be the “wind beneath the sails” of an artist or arts project that will be viewed by hundreds of Carlsbad residents and year-round visitors.

Applications are now being accepted through March 18, 2024 at 11:59 p.m. For more information or help with the application process, visit www.carlsbadca.gov/departments/cultural-arts/artist-opportunities-grants/community-arts-grants or contact the Cultural Arts Office at
[email protected].