ArtsKC, Charlotte Street, and the Hall Family Foundation are requesting proposals for capacity-building support for art-focused, small organizations (annual budget at or below $500,000) located or serving key geographic areas that represent a broad swath of art forms, offering accessible programming to our community. 

Selected organizations will represent diverse artistic disciplines and forms of social engagement and must provide accessible programming for communities in the geographic areas of the Historic Northeast, Eastside Kansas City, and Northeast Wyandotte County.

• Fifteen arts-engaged organizations will receive $15,000 in unrestricted funding per year for two years.
• ArtsKC will provide capacity-building assessments, subject matter experts, and project implementation support (value of up to $10,000 per year per organization).
• Grantees will be expected to work with ArtsKC to carry out their capacity-building initiatives as well as share learnings with other awardees in a cohort model, which may include artist awardees as well.
• Documentation, evaluation, and/or presentations on projects will be required.

This project seeks to build organizations’ long-term viability, including growing community engagement, stabilizing finances and personnel, identifying and resolving organizational needs, strategic planning, developing evaluation metrics and competencies, or other identified priorities. 

Timeline:

• Application Deadline: November 24, 2026
• Jury will meet in December, 2026 and January, 2027
• Grant decisions announcements will be in late January 2027

Eligibility 

• Be a registered not-for-profit art-focused organization (or fiscally sponsored)
• Have an annual budget at or below $500,000
• Be principally located in or serving one of the following geographic areas: Historic Northeast Kansas City, Eastside of Downtown Kansas City, Northeast Corner of Wyandotte County
• Have a governing body with bylaws
• Have at least one year of financial records and established history of programming

The Crossroads Artboards were launched in Fall 2008 as a partnership between Charlotte Street and Missouri Bank (now BOK Financial), and is currently supported in part by the Crossroads Community Association. The Artboards are exterior, double-sided billboards located at 125 Southwest Boulevard featuring new, commissioned works by Kansas City-area artists approximately every three months.  From April 2027 through March 2028, new, commissioned images by Kansas City area artists will be presented and rotated approximately every three months. 

Selected artists are chosen through a competitive process, and receive artist stipends of $1,000 each for completing and delivering print-ready images for one set of side-by-side billboards. Over 100 artists have been featured on the Artboards to date. For a complete listing and more information, go to bit.ly/crossroads-artboards.

Content of the Artboards/Selection Criteria:

The Artboards exist in public space, to be a platform for artists’ voices and work in the center of the Crossroads, a neighborhood whose character has been very influenced by and connected to the arts community.  Jurors will select artworks that are dynamic, engaging, and inspiring to the public; striking and aesthetically strong; and authentic to the creative spirit of the Crossroads neighborhood for display on the billboards.

Primary Proposal Components:

1. At least 2 JPEG images or PDFs documenting your proposed Artboards. Note: Artists choosing to submit multiple options for the Artboards may do so, but should include description of all options/variables in the narrative portion of the proposal. If submitting sketches rather than finished images, sketches should be as specific as possible, and the narrative proposal and additional support materials should provide a strong indication of the appearance of the final work proposed.
2. A short narrative proposal describing your concept for the Artboards (no more than 300 words)
3. Resume, CV, and artist bio, including history of exhibitions, contact information, and website address if applicable. 

The selection process will be conducted as follows: 

• 3 jurors are selected to review Artboards applications. The jurors are professional artists in a variety of media, curators, educators, critical art writers and cultural activists – all from the Kansas City region with at least one juror who lives or works in the Crossroads district. The process for the Artboards selections takes place in two stages:
• First, jurors score each application based on submission images.
• Second, jurors review first round application scores. The top scored applications receive a more in-depth review of their materials and a group evaluation. At this stage the jurors vote again and make final selections.
• After the jury has selected finalists, artists will be notified of the status of their proposal. A public announcement of winning proposals will be posted via Charlotte Street's newsletter and social media channels.
• If selected, artists will be responsible for producing two images. These will be printed on Eco-flex vinyl and displayed side by side. Each Artboard is 27 feet long and 12.4 feet high. Selected artists will be responsible for preparing digital images for print, sized 27″ x 12.4″ at 600 dpi resolution. The printing and installation of the Artboards will be the responsibility of Charlotte Street. Selected artists will receive the commission fee of $1,000 following the submission of final images to the printer. 

Terms of Agreement:

In submitting this proposal, Artist testifies that the images proposed are solely the result of the artistic effort of the Artist; that the Work is unique and original and does not infringe upon any copyright; and that the Artist has secured all permission and/or releases necessary to use the work for display. Note, the Artist shall retain ownership of copyrights in and to the Work, plans, drawings, schematics, design studies, and models prepared by the Artist in connection with this commission. 

Important Dates

October 13, 2026: Applications open on Submittable

November 3, 2026: Info Session @ Charlotte Street (3333 Wyoming St., KCMO 64111)

December 4, 2026: Applications close at 11:59 PM (Central Time Zone)

January 11, 2027: Status of application shared with applicants 

January 19, 2027: Announcement of the 2027-2028 Crossroads Artboards Recipients 

Questions? Email info@charlottestreet.org 

ABOUT CHARLOTTE STREET

Charlotte Street centers Kansas City’s most forward-thinking visual artists, writers, and performers—acting as the primary incubator, provocateur, and connector for the region’s contemporary arts community, and its leading advocate on the national stage. Since 1997, Charlotte Street has distributed ​over $3 million​ in awards and grants to artists and their innovative projects, and has hosted countless exhibitions, performances, convenings, and conversations connecting and challenging Kansas City’s contemporary art ecosystem.  For more information about Charlotte Street, its awards, programs, and initiatives, visit ​www.charlottestreet.org.