San Francisco Arts Commission and Grants for the Arts Announce Combined Award of 465 Grants Totaling $25.3 Million To Support Local Artists, Nonprofits, Cultural Organizations

(Image: Alonzo King LINES Ballet, GFTA General Operating Support grantee. Photo by Chris Hardy, 2024)

SAN FRANCISCO, October 5, 2026 – The San Francisco Arts Commission (SFAC) today announced the award of 465 grants totaling $25.26 million in funding administered by the newly unified Arts Commission and Grants for the Arts (GFTA) to 393 grantees comprised of local individual artists, arts organizations, nonprofits, cultural institutions, and cultural centers.

As part of the 2026-2027 grant cycle that began starting July 1, SFAC is awarding more than $7.3 million in grant funding to 61 individual artists and 49 arts nonprofit organizations, and $2.5 million in funding support has been awarded to support 6 cultural centers.

GFTA is awarding more than $15.45 million in general operating support, Arts Sector Response (ASRG), and Voluntary Arts Contribution Fund (VACF) grants to 297 grantees as part of its 2027-2028 grant cycle.

Combined, approximately 24.2% of grantees are first-time grant recipients with SFAC and GFTA.

The support for San Francisco’s artists, arts organizations, and cultural centers builds on Mayor Lurie’s work to support the city’s arts and cultural landscape.

"Arts and culture have long defined who we are as a city, and they are central to our economic future," said Mayor Daniel Lurie. "The organizations we're recognizing today fill our neighborhoods with beauty, music, performances, and creativity, and that energy is helping drive San Francisco's comeback. Today's announcement reaffirms our commitment to the artists and organizations who keep arts and culture accessible and vibrant in every corner of the city. Congratulations to all of today's grant recipients and thank you for bringing so much life back to our communities."

As part of Mayor Lurie’s Fiscal Year 2027 budget, three city entities serving arts and cultural institutions, SFAC, Grants for the Arts (GFTA), and the Film SF | San Francisco Film Commission, were unified under the Arts Commission beginning July 1, 2026.

“San Francisco’s artists and cultural organizations are essential to the beauty, vitality, and economic strength of our city,” said Matthew Goudeau, Executive Director of Arts & Culture. “The more than $25 million in funding support announced today represents a significant investment in the creative people and organizations that make San Francisco such a unique cultural destination and a place where communities come together to share their stories. This investment is made possible in large part through dedicated hotel tax revenue, which recognizes the important role arts and culture play in welcoming visitors and strengthening our local economy.”

SFAC and GFTA grants are partially funded by Proposition E Hotel Tax funds. In November 2018, 75% of San Francisco voters passed Proposition E, restoring dedicated hotel tax revenue for arts and culture purposes. Proposition E ensured that 1.5% of San Francisco’s 14% hotel tax be directed to arts and culture initiatives that include allocations for Grants for the Arts, Cultural Equity Endowment, Cultural Centers, Cultural Districts, and Arts Impact Endowment.

Grant categories in the Fiscal Year 2027 cycle include Arts Impact Endowment (AIE) grants for Artists and Organizations, and Cultural Equity Grants (CEG) for the Artistic Legacy Grant (ALG), General Operating Support (GOS) grants, Arts Sector Response grants (ASRG), and Voluntary Arts Contribution Fund grants (VACF). Grant awards span approximately 12 to 24 months, depending on the funding category and range in amounts from $10,000 to over $450,000.

The Arts Commission continues to maintain investments in four physical neighborhood cultural centers: African American Art and Culture Complex, Ruth Williams Bayview Opera House, Mission Cultural Center for Latino Arts, SOMArts, and three virtual cultural centers: Asian Pacific Islander Cultural Center, American Indian Cultural Center, and Queer Cultural Center.

“Despite the current economic challenges facing our nation and San Francisco, the Arts Commission remains able to offer robust grant awards of $50,000 to $100,000 to our artists and small- to mid-sized arts organizations. Their work is essential to the cultural and economic vitality of San Francisco and helps ensure that our city continues to thrive as a major arts hub in the United States,” said Denise Pate, SFAC Director of Community Investments. “San Francisco’s artist communities continue to create and innovate despite today’s challenging economic, political, and social climate. The San Francisco Arts Commission is proud to champion their work by providing meaningful support that helps sustain their creative paths.”

“As our first grant announcement as part of the San Francisco Arts Commission, I’m thrilled to see Grants for the Arts deliver more than $15 million in funding that strengthens San Francisco as a diverse and vibrant cultural hub,” said Kristen Jacobson, Director of Grants for the Arts. “This investment not only supports the organizations that inspire visits, enhance our cultural identity, and nurture our arts ecosystem - it also directly responds to urgent needs stemming from recent funding cuts and helps address critical space and facility improvements. This round of community centered funding marks an important step into a new chapter for the Arts Commission - one where, as a unified agency, we are better equipped to support, respond to, and uplift the creative community that defines San Francisco.”

Details for the next opportunity to apply for Arts Commission funding for the 2028 grant cycle will be announced and released in late 2026.

View the full list of SFAC Grantees and GFTA Grantees.

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Quotes from SFAC and GFTA Fiscal Year 2027 Grantees:

"I am profoundly moved and deeply honored to receive the Artistic Legacy Award. For me, it is a truly meaningful acknowledgment of my life's work," said Madeleine Lim, SFAC Artistic Legacy Grant recipient.

"The Movement Immigrant Orchestra is grateful for the SFAC’s Arts Impact Endowment, a vital resource for local artists, supporting us to activate San Francisco through public performances, jam sessions, and community gatherings," shared Movement, SFAC Arts Impact Endowment organization grantee. "As San Francisco continues to grapple with an affordability crisis, the SFAC’s Arts Impact Endowment amplifies our ability to continue uplifting the cultural power of San Francisco's immigrant communities through song, stories and collective cultural practice."

“Thanks to the San Francisco Arts Commission, MenoPower will bring people from around the “Gray Area” together at the San Francisco Public Library for creativity, connection, and a few much-needed laughs,” said Keli Dailey, Founder, MenoPower, SFAC Arts Impact Endowment individual artist grantee. “These events are for anyone navigating the long transition of perimenopause, menopause, or post-menopause—because when the ovaries retire, the stories are just getting started."

"The interdisciplinary dance performance and intercultural work of Tableau Stations stems from a lived precarity, often at the peripheries, in terms of industry, economics, and a sense of place in San Francisco,” said Isak Immanuel of Tableau Stations, SFAC Arts Impact Endowment organization grantee. “Receiving an Arts Impact Endowment grant from SFAC will support the local presence of Tableau Stations to actively cultivate the intergenerational project “Landscapes of Youth”. This multi-year support will directly counteract the threat of displacement and enable first person perspectives to embodied experiences of parenting, childhood, economic and cultural precarity, and communal renewal."

"For the Manilatown Heritage Foundation, sustained public investment means that we can continue to keep the International Hotel Manilatown Center alive as a place where San Francisco’s history, arts, and living cultures are not only preserved, but practiced, shared, and carried forward. Grants for the Arts support allows us to keep our programs accessible to the community, while the Voluntary Arts Contribution Fund helps us care for the physical space that makes those programs possible,” said Caroline Cabading, Executive Director, Manilatown Heritage Foundation, GFTA General Operating Support grantee. “At a time when arts organizations are being asked to do more with fewer resources, this investment tells us that San Francisco still recognizes arts and culture as essential to the life of our city. For a small community-based organization like ours, that commitment means stability, possibility, and the ability to keep welcoming artists, elders, young people, and families into a space where they can see their histories honored and help shape what comes next.”

“The San Francisco Arts Commission and San Francisco Grants for the Arts, separately and now merged, have consistently proven that they are true allies of the San Francisco Arts Community. At a time when support for the arts is undermined, SFAC/SFGFTA stands by our city’s core values: diversity, acceptance, independent thought and civic action. Artists are essential to the retelling of history as they reflect and record the emotional impact of the events of the time,” said Ellen Callas, Managing Director San Francisco Mime Troupe, GFTA General Operating Support and Voluntary Arts Contribution Fund grantee. “Without SFAC/SFGFTA, the survival of the San Francisco Mime Troupe and its peers would be even more tenuous than it already is. The funds received from them will cover the rapidly growing costs of offering SF residents professionally created and performed plays free in their neighborhoods. It also helps us to expand our 30-year-old Youth Theater Project (YTP) which gives free workshops for underserved San Francisco youth providing them with both theater and transferable life skills.”

“The Voluntary Arts Contribution Fund (VACF) grant could not have come at a better time for the San Francisco Mime Troupe. The VACF is a critical step in realizing our long-term goal of relieving SF artists’ lack of space crisis. Not only will these upgrades enhance our own programming, but they will also allow us to better share our studio space with other artists and community groups with their own artistic vision, workshops, and community meetings. Our long-term vision is to upgrade our studio so it serves as a state-of-the-art performance venue in the heart of the Mission District, for SFMT and community partners. VACF will be a key step in this long-term goal.”

“We were in a staff meeting when our GFTA award email arrived. You should have heard the collective sigh of relief!” said Masha Berek, Executive Director of the Museum of Craft and Design, GFTA General Operating Support grantee. “For small and mid-sized arts organizations like ours, this funding is a step towards stability in a deeply uncertain moment. Too often, we have to cut where it hurts most – in work hours for our staff and the artists we employ. These grants help MCD sustain jobs and paid opportunities for Bay Area artists, makers, and designers; meet growing public interest in hands-on making, especially among young people; and encourage visitors to see themselves as makers of the culture and the city we share. It is meaningful to feel the city investing in us and recognizing the arts ecosystem as essential infrastructure for public life and creative innovation. Thank you for the much-needed breathing space, GFTA.”

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About the San Francisco Arts Commission
The San Francisco Arts Commission is the City agency that champions the arts as essential to daily life by investing in a vibrant arts community, enlivening the urban environment and shaping innovative cultural policy. Our programs include: Civic Art Collection, Civic Design Review, Community Investments, Film SF, Grants for the Arts, Public Art, SFAC Galleries, and Art Vendor Licensing. To learn more, visit sf.gov/artscommission.

About Grants for the Arts
Grants for the Arts promote San Francisco's diverse and unique communities by supporting the arts through equitable grantmaking. We strive to be a stable, dependable resource for nonprofit arts and culture organizations who successfully meet funding criteria and are committed to supporting the full spectrum of art and culture in San Francisco. To learn more, visit sf.gov/gfta