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| | Quick Grant - Apply by November 15 | | |
The Quick Grant program provides up to $600 in professional development funds to staff members of nonprofit arts organizations based in San Francisco or San José, as well as to California-based artists, creatives, cultural practitioners, and cultural producers. This program supports artists and arts workers with funding to enroll in workshops, attend conferences, and work with consultants, coaches, and mentors in order to build their administrative capacity, hone business skills, and strengthen the financial resilience of an organization, artistic practice, or area of cultural production.
Apply by November 15 at 11:59 a.m. (morning) PT for activities starting on or after December 16, 2026.
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| Announcing Our 2026 Vallejo Artists Mutual Fund and Zoo Labs: FUND Grantees! | CCI is proud to celebrate the 2026 recipients of the Vallejo Artists Mutual Fund and Zoo Labs: FUND. Both programs provide unrestricted funding to Bay Area artists whose artistic work and cultural contributions meaningfully shape the local creative ecosystem. We’re inspired by what our grantees are making possible locally and excited to continue our work to support artists’ economic self-determination across the region. | |
The Vallejo Artists Mutual Fund, administered by CCI, provides direct financial support to Vallejo-based individual artists and cultural leaders, as well as organizations, whose work meaningfully contributes to keeping the local creative community active, connected, and thriving. From May to October 2026, artists across the City of Vallejo were invited to participate in a Pay-It-Forward program designed to empower artists through a local redistribution process where they named who and what artistic work and cultural organizations were valuable in their community. Through this process of local resource redistribution and mutual support, $1,000,000 in unrestricted funding was awarded to individual artists, cultural leaders, and organizations across the city. You can learn more about the program's design here.
Learn more about the 2026 grantees here.
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The Zoo Labs: FUND, a partnership with Zoo Labs and administered by CCI, is a grant and investment program that provides mentorship, educational resources, and up to $50,000 in unrestricted funding to Bay Area music creators and entrepreneurs, helping them begin or scale their ventures in ways that contribute to cultural enrichment, economic empowerment, and community benefit.
For the sixth and final year, this cohort highlights the incredible vision, creativity, and cultural expression in the Bay Area music scene. This year's grantees are pursuing a range of music-related ventures, including producing new exhibition series, scaling chamber performances, organizing educational and community events, working on their first EP recordings, and much more!
Learn more about the 2026 grantees here.
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A Better Future Is Possible Recap
On July 30, CCI brought together artists, cultural workers, students, funders, organizers, allies, and systems changemakers for A Better Future Is Possible, a one-day convening in Berkeley, CA, exploring successor economic, social, labor, and creative models.
Held during CCI’s 25th anniversary year, the gathering invited participants to look beyond systems that too often leave artists and communities without the resources, agency, and support they need to thrive—and to learn from people who are already building different systems.
Watch our video recap here.
Read our article, Re-envisioning the Game of Life on the AmbitioUS Medium page here.
Read the article Freelancemaxxing: Building a future that supports autonomous work by Leo Aquino, writer and editor at Queer & Trans Wealth, on the Cookie Jar Collective Substack here.
| | Family Feud at Grantmakers in the Arts | | Systems Change Family Feud Teams Facing Off. October 2026. Grant Makers in the Arts. Memphis, Tennessee. Photo by Center for Cultural Innovation. | |
AmbitioUS and the Research to Impact Lab jointly hosted a session for funders called Family Feud: The Steps to Unlearning in Systems Change at the 2026 Grantmakers in the Arts Conference in Memphis, Tennessee, which featured AmbitioUS grantees Jessica Norwood (RUNWAY) and Nia Umoja (Cooperative New West Jackson). Family Feud is a television game show in which two families compete to guess the most popular answers to questions, as measured by survey results. We polled our pre-registered attendees on two questions:
- Name an assumption funders make about how to fund systems change: (Hint: grants, money, time, scale)
- Name an assumption funders make about the role of artists, arts and creativity in systems change work (Hint: “Artists are special because…”)
The session took place in a beautiful, mirrored dance studio at Ballet Memphis. We had about fifty attendees. After Cate Fox (AmbitioUS) framed the session with a definition of systems change and the importance of the moment, two “families” of volunteer attendees competed using our pre-planned "survey" questions. Then, Andrea Yarbrough (AmbitioUS) and Leah Reisman (Research to Impact Lab) facilitated an interview with Jessica and Nia about what systems change has looked like on the ground in their organizations. We had some great questions from the audience and ended with a pitch to funders to devote as much money to systems change as they do to surviving the current moment. The session was fun and serious, and helped sharpen funders’ understanding of and attention to the importance of building relational infrastructure between community leaders working deeply to shift systems in their local places.
| | The following workshops are provided by our peers in the field, and are not affiliated with CCI. Please contact their respective presenters with any questions. | | |
Contracts for Artists
SPRINGBOARD FOR THE ARTS
11/7
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Work of Art: Time Management
SPRINGBOARD FOR THE ARTS
11/17
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Patent Legal Clinic
CA LAWYERS FOR THE ARTS
11/19
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Legal Basics for Artists
CREATIVE CAPITAL
Ongoing
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| | Do you have an upcoming professional development workshop/training for artists or arts workers? We may be able to share it in our monthly e-newsletter. Contact info@cciarts.org with details. | | | | Emergency Resources for Artists and Freelancers | |
Find a running list of resources and opportunities to support emergency needs.
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Rauschenberg Dancer Emergency Grants
NATIONAL
The Rauschenberg Dancer Emergency Grants program provides one-time grants of up to $3,000 to professional dancers facing dire financial emergencies, due to the loss or lack of recent/current live performance work, because of circumstances outside of their control. Application opens November 10.
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Rauschenberg Medical Emergency Grants
NATIONAL
The Rauschenberg Medical Emergency Grants program provides one-time grants of up to $5,000 for recent unexpected medical, dental, and mental health emergencies to artists in financial need who are creating work in the visual arts, digital/electronic arts, video/film, and choreography. Applicants must be 21 years or older on the cycle’s deadline, and reside in the United States, the District of Columbia, a Tribal Nation, or a U.S. Territory. It is administered by New York Foundation for the Arts (NYFA), and made possible through the support of the Robert Rauschenberg Foundation. Apply by November 17.
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2027 Filmmaker Grant
GLOBAL
The Jewish Film Institute's Grants provide finishing funds to original, independent films and media projects that explore Jewish history, life, culture, and identity with nuance and complexity. Projects eligible for consideration include narratives, documentaries, shorts, episodic programs, or web series in all genres. JFI's Grants are highly competitive, and provide meaningful funding support to projects that have the potential to reframe understanding of Jewish cultures and identities. The Grants have awarded $580,000 to 44 projects since 2020. Grantee films have premiered at leading domestic and international film festivals worldwide before expanding their reach to theatrical and streaming audiences. Application open now.
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Emergency Aid Grant Program
NATIONAL
The Musicians Foundation provides $500-$3,000 grants to U.S. musicians in any genre in a time of acute need due to personal, medical, dental, or family crisis, natural disaster, or other emergency situation. Application open now.
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You Can't Self-Care Away Trauma
GLOBAL
Your own wellness may be the last thing on your mind. But, what would it look like to have mental health support before and after a disaster or emergency?
In this webinar, therapist, Ginger Klee (LMFT, LPCC), will help you:
- Navigate healing pre- and post-disaster;
- Learn the difference between “big T” and ”little t” trauma;
- Discover how to strengthen yourself to prepare for disaster;
- Identify what you are healing from; and
Join the webinar on November 4.
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Investing in Artists After Disaster
GLOBAL
Following Hurricane Helene, the Craft Emergency Relief Fund (CERF+), in collaboration with Center for Craft, Mountain BizWorks, River Arts District Foundation, Kenan Institute for the Arts, Penland, and ArtsAVL, launched the Extended Relief pilot to explore what longer-term investment in craft artists after a disaster could look like. The New York Foundation for the Arts provided additional administrative and evaluation support. The pilot provided 150 North Carolina craft artists with $6,000 in unrestricted funding, distributed in monthly installments of $500 from January through December 2025.
In this webinar, Ruby Lopez Harper, Executive Director of CERF+, and Mollie Quinlan-Hayes, Program Officer for NYFA Grants, will share what we learned from the pilot and, importantly, what participating artists told us about their experiences. Join the webinar on November 16.
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Solidarity Economy Arts Directory
GLOBAL
The Solidarity Economy Arts Directory brings together a growing network of collectives, cooperatives, cultural organizations, and other creative efforts practicing economic self-determination. Explore the directory to discover artists and organizations across disciplines and regions, learn about the models they are building, and connect with a growing field of solidarity economy work in the arts.
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Tailored Listings from NYFA Classifieds
GLOBAL
NYFA Classifieds, the largest national online opportunity board in the arts and culture industry, has launched a significant upgrade to better help users locate, apply for, and connect with jobs, opportunities, and spaces, as well as receive personalized recommendations for NYFA professional development programs, including 1-on-1 coaching, workshops, and on-demand courses. Users can sign up for a free account to access these features, which are consolidated in a convenient location.
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