Whippoorwill Arts receives maximum grant from the California Arts Council to support musician-centered mission!
December 1, 2023 | Sacramento, CA
“We could not be more delighted and grateful to the California Arts Council. Whippoorwill Arts is a relative newcomer on the arts scene and this $51,000 grant from the CAC gives us both essential funding to continue with our high-impact, low-cost programs - it also gives us a badge of credibility so needed in today’s extremely competitive arts grant ecosystem,” says Hilary Perkins, Co-Founder and Board President. “We have more need and demand than we can currently fulfill among underserved communities in need of healing, high quality live music and for the working musicians whose livelihoods depend on guaranteed pay for live performance. This grant helps us get closer! We are proud to be based in California and leading the way in program models that center artist support here and nationally.”
Today, the California Arts Council (CAC) announced 856 grant awards totaling more than $32.75 million in overall projected investments for operational and project support to nonprofit organizations and units of government throughout the state of California.
Organizations were awarded grants across six different program areas designed to benefit the whole of California’s arts and culture ecosystem, with focused considerations for first-time applicants, small and mid-size arts and organizations, folk and traditional art forms, county local arts agencies and arts service organizations, and opportunities with deep investment for both general operating and project-based support.
The nearly $33 million in grant awards for the 2023 grant cycle, which includes projections for two-year programs, sets a new record for the state arts agency’s investment in California’s arts and culture workforce via permanent state and federal allocations for local assistance funds, upwards of $2.8 million more than its last record-setting year in 2020.
“In this last year, the California Arts Council has been working diligently to listen to our field, to be responsive to the moment, and to do our best to make our investments strategic and equitable,” said California Arts Council Executive Director Jonathan Moscone. “I am proud that we are able to disperse more than 850 grants throughout the state so that the arts can continue to have a deep and positive impact on the vast and diverse communities of California.”
The California Arts Council is a state agency with a mission of strengthening arts, culture, and creative expression as the tools to cultivate a better California for all. The Arts Council is California’s only public arts grants provider with funding that is accessible to all 58 California counties.
CAC grant programs are administered through a multistep, public process. Following an open call for applications, submissions are adjudicated by peer review panels made up of experts from the arts and cultural fields and representative of California’s diverse geography; racial, ethnic, and gender identities; perspectives and knowledge. Based on panel recommendations and availability of funds, the Council voted on grant awards at a public meeting on August 30 in Hanford. At a second meeting on October 25, the Council voted to fund 20 additional organizations through the use of an additional $400,000 in federal funding from the National Endowment of the Arts made available early to the CAC via the Department of Finance.
Interested members of the public, artists, arts organizations, and community leaders are encouraged to visit the CAC website to learn about future grant opportunities as details become available. Notification of grant program guidelines, applications, and technical assistance opportunities will be also published in the California Arts Council’s weekly e-newsletter, ArtBeat. Subscribe at https://arts.ca.gov/news/artbeat.