Mayor Lurie Continues Support For Arts Organizations With New Grant Opportunities

SAN FRANCISCO – Mayor Daniel Lurie today announced new grant opportunities for San Francisco arts and culture organizations, including two new funding programs to support small organizations impacted by federal funding cuts and groups undertaking capital improvement projects. Alongside the new grants, Grants for the Arts (GFTA) launched its request for proposals for Fiscal Years 2027 and 2028 today, inviting arts and culture organizations to apply for general operating support grants. Funded through the city’s hotel tax, Grants for the Arts supports more than 250 organizations every year that energize neighborhoods, bring communities together, attract visitors, and help drive San Francisco’s economic recovery.

The new funding continues Mayor Lurie’s work to support San Francisco’s the arts and culture ecosystem that is driving the city’s comeback. Late last month, the mayor appointed the city’s first executive director of arts and culture, Matthew Goudeau, who will oversee work to strengthen the city’s support for the arts. The mayor recently returned from his first international trip, where he signed eight memorandums of understanding strengthening connections between arts and culture organizations in San Francisco and their counterparts in Shanghai and Seoul. To continue to support the arts community, in his first year in office, Mayor Lurie launched SF LIVE, a citywide show guide and online events calendar designed to boost ticket sales for live arts venues, and brought back SF Music Week, which returned this year, further strengthening San Francisco’s position as a vital music hub. The mayor has also taken steps to strengthen local arts and culture institutions, build partnerships with the private and philanthropic sectors, and advance a plan to accelerate downtown San Francisco’s comeback.

“San Francisco’s arts and culture ecosystem is the most vibrant in the country, and under my administration, we are working to do a better job supporting the artists and arts organizations who are driving our city’s economic recovery,” said Mayor Lurie. “In a moment when it’s more difficult than ever for our small arts organizations to thrive, we are stepping in to support our community groups and add two more grant opportunities.”

“Every year, hundreds of arts organizations receive valued funding to sustain day-to-day operations through Grants for the Arts. During my time as City Administrator, we have focused on making concrete changes that increase transparency and make the process easier. From shorter applications, to enacting multi-year grant cycles, to dedicating resources to get grantees into contract faster, we know our arts organizations depend on every dollar to keep the lights on and to make payroll,” said City Administrator Carmen Chu. “The inclusion of a new grant to address recent significant losses in federal funds and a one-time support grant for equipment acquisition, facilities maintenance, and capital improvements is a reflection of GFTA's thoughtful and engaged approach towards meeting the emerging needs of our arts community. I thank the GFTA team for their dedication and the hand they lend towards stabilizing arts funding at this critical juncture.”

In addition to the standard grants this cycle, the two new one-time supplemental grant opportunities will be available to current grantee partners in response to community needs. These new funding opportunities will provide additional support for smaller organizations who have been impacted by recent federal funding cuts and who are undertaking capital improvements. To qualify for supplemental grants, organizations must be current grantees receiving a general operating support grant through GFTA for the 2026-2028 cycle and have an annual budget of under $5 million.

The one-time awards include:

• The Arts Sector Response Grant, offering targeted assistance to organizations that have experienced a significant loss of federal funding within the past two fiscal years due to shifts in agency priorities, policy direction, or program realignments
• The Voluntary Arts Contribution Fund, providing one-time support for equipment acquisition, facilities maintenance, and capital improvements that strengthen organizational stability and protect creative spaces

This year’s request for proposals, as well as the two new grant opportunities, have been shaped with extensive community feedback and grantee engagement. Following a year-long collaboration effort with more than 150 arts leaders from GFTA’s grantee portfolio, the program launched a new strategic framework to align community needs and agency priorities to guide more responsive, sustainable investments in the arts sector.

“San Francisco has long led the way in meaningful cultural investment—from Grants for the Arts to programs across our city agencies. At a moment of transition, I am proud to launch these vital funding opportunities that provide stability and financial continuity for our arts community,” said Kristen Jacobson, Director of Grants for the Arts. “GFTA strengthens long‑term sustainability while offering responsive supplemental grants designed to meet the moment and support organizations facing increasing pressures. Once again, we affirm that arts and culture are central to our civic life and remain a defining part of who we are as San Franciscans.”

Established in 1961, Grants for the Arts has provided more than $400 million in support for San Francisco’s nonprofit arts and cultural community, supporting organizations that sustain the City’s cultural vitality, economic activity, and global identity.

Building on recent program improvements, GFTA continues to prioritize stable and reliable funding for the arts in San Francisco. In 2024, the program introduced a new two-year funding model, extending the term length of general operating support grants to provide greater consistency and sustainability for grantees. Last year, the program made improvements to its grantmaking system to enable grantees to get paid faster, strengthening transparency and accountability and delivering resources that organizations depend on without delay.  Through comprehensive community outreach and a more streamlined application process, GFTA has increased access for first-time applicants and broadened funding opportunities for arts and culture organizations across the city.

“These grant opportunities provide urgently needed resources—helping keep roofs from leaking and many artists and arts workers employed. They also signal that San Francisco understands arts and culture as part of the city’s civic and creative infrastructure, not an afterthought,” said Masha Berek, Executive Director of the Museum of Craft and Design. “Organizations like ours are contortionists, operating with extraordinary ingenuity and very little margin for error. Continued investment in the arts is ultimately an investment in the kind of city we all want San Francisco to be—imaginative, experimental, humane, and connected.”

"These new grants are welcome for arts and culture organizations that serve our city’s vulnerable communities—especially the transgender and queer people of color communities that we serve,” said T. Kebo Drew, CFRE, Managing Director of the Queer Women of Color Media Arts Project. “These grants are a necessary stop gap to hold our communities together in a time when we are most in need. We hope that this is a sign that vulnerable communities are being heard and that there are more positive changes on the way that will continue to support our wellbeing.”

“For 15 years, Skywatchers has created paid artistic opportunities and mentorship for Tenderloin residents whose voices, talents, and leadership are excluded from mainstream funding and visibility. We build trust, belonging, and mutual aid through deeply relational art-making, providing a vital lifeline for many in our Tenderloin community,” said Sarah Morrisette, Lead Artist and Director of Operations at Skywatchers. “Skywatchers is now at both an exciting and precarious turning point as we, the next generation of community-based arts leaders, step forward. Meaningful investment in the arts is what sustains this vital work. If we truly believe the arts are essential to healing, recovery, and the future of our city, then we must fund the organizations doing this essential work, by providing living wages to artists and arts administrators and consistent operational support.”