CALL TO ARTISTS

CHARLOTTE STREET CULTURAL PRODUCER GRANT PROGRAM
APPLICATION DEADLINE: APRIL 18, 2025 

Charlotte Street is excited to announce the 5th year of the Cultural Producer Grant Program, with $30,000 in total funds for low-budget grassroots arts organizations and artist-run projects in Kansas City. 

Kansas City has long enjoyed a thriving and diverse ecology of small artist-run spaces, collectives, groups and organizations, which have sometimes suffered from lack of support needed to establish sustainability. While each may be small, the collective impact both to our arts community and to our city have been enormous. Whether permanent or temporary, these groups nurture and grow artists creatively and become powerful engines of community. Financial backing for these organizations often goes “under the radar” for larger institutional support. These new Cultural Producer Grants aim to both draw attention to these critical elements of our arts ecosystem as well as direct some much needed support their way.

GOALS: 

• To encourage a rich, flourishing, and diverse ecosystem of arts and culture in Kansas City 
• To contribute to the sustainability of low-budget artist-run organizations, collectives, groups, projects, and initiatives 
• To provide support for small arts and culture grassroots organizations and artist-organizers building larger scale projects that have an important impact on Kansas City’s arts and culture scene, despite smaller budgets and less access to capital 

CRITERIA: 

For applicants applying as an organization:

• This opportunity is open to: Artist-run initiatives and arts and culture operations, or fiscally sponsored artist collaboratives, collectives, or companies (can include art spaces, festivals, LLCs, nonprofits, ongoing operations, or one-off events) 
• Applicants must have at least 24 months of operating history if applying as a collective, organization, or company. 
• Organization cannot have an annual operating budget over $50K or own assets worth over $50K

For applicants applying as an individual with a proposed project:

• Unaffiliated artist-organizers may be eligible if pitching projects that have been in operation for at least 24 months and provide opportunities for a number of artists beyond the primary organizers of the project. 
• The budget for the project cannot be over $50k annually

For ALL applicants:

• Primary contacts must be an artist of any discipline and over 21 years of age as of the application deadline (April 18, 2025).
• Primary contacts cannot be currently enrolled in a degree-seeking program, and must have completed their studies at least 1 year prior to application deadline (on or before April 18, 2024).

This opportunity is open to: 

1. Applicants located in the 5-county region of the Kansas City metro (Jackson, Platte, and Clay counties in Missouri and Johnson and Wyandotte counties in Kansas)
2. The following disciplines: visual art, film, dance, theatre, spoken word/performative poetry, multidisciplinary, new media, new/experimental music, social practice, arts publications/arts writing, conceptual or social design projects 
3. This opportunity is not open to current Charlotte Street Startup Residents, Rocket Grantees who have not completed final report, or to directly support programming on Charlotte Street’s campus.
4. Funding requests are annual. Applicants can be funded for up to 2 years in a row but then must sit out a year before applying again. 

PROCESS: 

All applicants should prepare a concise, multipage PDF (up to 3 pages) to be uploaded to Submittable (https://charlottestreet.submittable.com/submit) that addresses the following areas:

Project narrative 

Mission  

Project or program history (size, how long, employed or volunteer staff/contributors) 

Attach CV demonstrating prior history if individual artist-organizer 

DEI&A (Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, & Accessibility) 

Partners and collaborators

Participating artists 

Logistics 

Calendar

Operating budget (if organization) OR Project Budget (if individual)

Portfolio documentation/project images 

SELECTION PROCESS 

• Eligible applications assessed by RISK/COLLABORATION/OPENNESS/EXCELLENCE 
• Jurors review and rank priority for funding via Submittable jury review process
• 100% of funds will be awarded in support of organizations whose mission and leadership will positively impact the advancement of BIPOC, LGBTQIA, or Disabled communities, in recognition of the oppression of those communities in the art sector and the gap that has created particularly in the Kansas City art scene. 
• 5-10 grant recipients will receive grants of $5 or $10k as established by the jury. A total of $30,000 in grants is available in the granting pool for 2025.
• Submittable ranks applications automatically once jury review complete, and jury meets for one call to discuss applications and create a list of finalists for interviews.
• Finalists are given the opportunity to present in 20-minute interview/question-answer sessions with the jury panel on May 16.
• Jurors make final decisions about chosen applications and funding amounts. 
• Applicants are notified of status by end of day on Monday, May 19, 2025.

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 $2.5 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.