The City of Pasadena’s Cultural Affairs Division has released guidelines for the fiscal year 2022-2023 Annual Grants Program, which provides financial grants through a competitive application process in support of Pasadena-based arts and cultural organizations and individual artists to enrich the City’s cultural life.
Awards are made annually to eligible applicants in four grant categories – Art and Culture, Arts Education Partnership, Individual Artist, and Festivals and Parades – to fund diverse programming that benefits the greater Pasadena community.
Grants ranging from $5,000 for the Individual Artist category to over $500,000 for the Arts and Culture category are available through the annual opportunity, according to the guidelines.
The application period lasts until May 9, the announcement said.
To qualify for the program, any projects or program that seeks to be supported must take place between July 1 this year and June 30, 2023, must take place within the geographic boundaries of Pasadena and be accessible to the general public, and must be accompanied by efforts “to conduct suitable and appropriate outreach to the broad Pasadena community,” the guidelines said.
For the Art and Culture Grant category, organizations must a Pasadena-based, non-profit arts or culture organization; a social service organization that offers arts and cultural programs to Pasadena residents, presented by a majority of Pasadena artists and or managed by a majority of Pasadena arts professionals; or a non-profit social service (or other non-Arts/Cultural) organization partnering with a Pasadena-based arts organization or artist. These organizations must have a tax-exempt status.
Any Pasadena-based arts group or arts organization without a tax-exempt status may qualify if it has obtained a fiscal sponsor/receiver for an ongoing project or one-time-only art and culture project; the fiscally sponsored organizations must be physically located within the City of Pasadena without exception.
For the Individual Artist Grant category, any individual artist living or working in Pasadena may apply for up to $5,000 to support exhibitions, performances or special projects. The individual artist may not receive more than one grant in a three-year period, which means any artist who has received a grant from the program between fiscal year 2019-2020 and 2021-2022 would be disqualified.
The Arts Education Partnership Grant Category is open to Pasadena-based arts or culture organizations or non-arts/culture organizations partnering with a Pasadena-based arts or culture Organization, individual artist educators, and artist teams that offer arts and culture education to schools in the Pasadena Unified School District (PUSD).
Applicants – both organizations, schools, and individuals – are required to attend free Technical Assistance Workshops so City staff can help potential applicants improve their grant-writing skills and further inform them on the Program’s application process.
According to the guidelines, two Technical Assistance Workshops will be held – one on April 6 and another on May 4.
This year, a Cultural Equity and Inclusion (CEI) workshop will be provided for small-budget organizations so they could examine their individual progress and set future milestones. The workshop will be held on March 8.
Interested applicants can download a copy of the complete guidelines and the application forms from the Cultural Affairs Division webpage, www.cityofpasadena.net/arts, or the Annual Grants Program page, www.cityofpasadena.net/