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Boston Cultural Council

To apply for an FY2026 Boston Cultural Council arts organization grant, please visit the below links and follow the instructions :

https://www.boston.gov/departments/arts-and-culture/boston-cultural-council

http://cityofbostonartsandculture.submittable.com/submit/68aeb97f-fb83-49bb-9f18-05420a753d77/fy27-boston-cultural-council-organizational-grant-application

Applications will NOT be accepted through this MCC portal, so please click through the link above to apply!

About the Boston Cultural Council Organizational Grant:
The Boston Cultural Council (BCC) distributes general operating grants annually to small and mid-sized arts and cultural organizations whose work strengthens Boston and its communities.

The grant supports nonprofit organizations and fiscally sponsored groups, including artist collectives, with annual operating budgets under $2 million. General operating funding provides flexible support for an organization’s overall mission, operations, and capacity building.

The BCC Organizational Grant works alongside other programs within the Mayor’s Office of Arts and Culture (MOAC) to help ensure that all Boston residents have access to and can participate in arts and culture as a part of daily life, regardless of background, income, or neighborhood.

Grant Goals
The BCC Organizational Grant aims to build a more just, inclusive, and accessible arts sector. To advance this vision, BCC supports small and mid-sized arts and cultural organizations that:
Strengthen Boston’s Cultural Life: Foster meaningful and innovative arts and cultural work that helps make arts and culture part of everyday life.
Center Community-rooted Arts Organizations: Are rooted in their communities and expand opportunities for communities to create, sustain, and shape Boston’s cultural life.
Advance Arts and Culture for the Common Good: Harness the power of arts and culture to address social and economic inequities and strengthen Boston’s communities.

Equity-Centered Strategy
BCC seeks to address inequities in arts funding across the city. A 2016 study published by The Boston Foundation found that while small to mid-sized organizations make up 86% of Boston’s arts sector, they receive disproportionately less funding compared to larger institutions.

To address this imbalance, the BCC Organizational grant is limited to arts organizations in the Boston arts ecosystem with annual budgets under $2 million. BCC directs the majority of grant funds to organizations with the smallest budgets.

Equity is embedded throughout the grant strategy and process. It shapes how BCC allocates public funding, designs the application and review process, reduces barriers to participation, and expands access to opportunities for communities that have historically been excluded from arts funding and cultural resources.

FY27 Focus Areas
Within this broader strategy, BCC has identified the following three focus areas in response to current needs within Boston’s cultural ecosystem. These focus areas will help inform funding decisions among qualified applicants.
Expanding Access: Organizations expanding access to arts and cultural opportunities for all Boston neighborhoods, especially communities that have historically experienced barriers to arts resources, experiences, and participation.
Creative Career Pathways: Organizations providing paid learning and employment opportunities that support people entering creative careers, such as apprenticeships, internships, fellowships, mentorships, youth employment, and other paid professional development opportunities.
Organizational Instability: Organizations navigating significant financial, operational, or space-related challenges that affect their ability to continue their work. These challenges may result from systemic underinvestment, displacement, rising costs, loss of funding, or other external circumstances. Applicants will have an opportunity to describe these circumstances and their potential impact on the organization and its community.

All applications will be considered based on their alignment with the grant’s goals. Applicants do not need to align with a focus area to be considered for funding. Importantly, organizational instability is not a requirement or expectation; organizations will not receive less consideration for being financially or operationally stable.

About the Boston Cultural Council
The BCC is a 7+ member volunteer council of Boston residents and is facilitated by the Mayor’s Office of Arts and Culture (MOAC). Working in partnership with MOAC, the Council helps shape the strategic direction of the grant program and provides final approval of grant recommendations. Council members are selected based on their lived experience within Boston’s arts, cultural, and creative communities and their demonstrated commitment to cultural equity.