- FY 2026 Grant Notifications
- Juried Exhibition Grant RFA Launch
- Words on Fire 2025
- Commission Meetings
- Hispanic Heritage Month Wikipedia Edit-a-thon
- DC Art Now 2025 Exhibition
- DC Art Bank 2025 Collection
- The Best of the DMV
- Opportunities
- Resources
- Update Your Profile
| | FY 2026 Grant Notifications | | |
Funding recommendations were presented by staff at Monday’s Full Commission Regular Meeting, on Monday, September 29, 2025. Those recommendations were discussed and approved by CAH Commissioners.
A friendly reminder regarding award notices, which was shared in each grant programs' Request for Applications. We will be notifying applicants of the results of their application and the applicable award disbursement process with a:
- letter of intention to award
- letter of ineligibility, or
- letter of denial
These notifications will be sent via the applicant’s email as it appears in the CAH Grants Portal. For organizations: PLEASE DOUBLE CHECK your profile if that point of contact has changed since your application was/applications were submitted.
Notifications for the majority of grant programs will be sent by close of business on Friday, October 10, 2025, except for the following:
- FY 2026 Capital Projects: Small applicants will be notified later in November 2025.
CAH grants are awarded on a competitive basis. Grant applications are reviewed and scored by independent advisory panels with final award determinations made by the CAH Commissioners. Additional grant awards and grant opportunities may be announced later in FY 2025.
| | Juried Exhibition Grant RFA Launch | | |
The DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities (CAH) will request applications from qualified artists for its Fiscal Year 2026 Juried Exhibition Grant (JEG). JEG provides support for District-based artists to exhibit their work in a juried, themed visual art exhibition through grant awards and the use of CAH’s exhibition space located in the lobby of 200 I Street, SE.
The summer 2026 exhibition titled Rip! Tear! Collage as Critique will call on DC area artists who use collage not only as a visual technique, but also as a metaphor for cultural, political, ecological, and personal investigation and critique. Artists are invited to interpret collage broadly—as direct practice, conceptual tool, or material metaphor—and are encouraged to explore how fragmentating, remixing, and juxtaposing images, materials, and methods can reflect the complexity of our shared condition.
Applications will open October 20th and close December 1, 2025.
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Words on Fire is an afternoon of creativity and collaboration as we explore the art of poetry. The workshops are geared towards 8th thru 12th graders from the District of Columbia.
Words on Fire 2025 is happening Saturday, October 25th, 2025, from 11 am to 4 pm at The Commission on the Arts and Humanities located at 200 I Street SE Washington, DC 20003
Students should register before Monday, October 20th.
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Our next Full Commission regular meeting is scheduled to begin at 5:30 ET on Monday, October 20. Members of the public are invited to observe the meeting live online on CAH’s YouTube channel.
Members of the public may request three minutes to speak during the public comment period held at this meeting. Requests must be submitted by no later than Noon ET on Thursday, October 16. Written comments may also be submitted by no later than Noon ET on Thursday, October 16, as an alternative or in addition to spoken comments. Public comments, both spoken and written, will be included in the public record of the meeting.
This meeting is governed by the Open Meetings Act. Please address any questions or complaints arising under this meeting to the Office of Open Government at opengovoffice@dc.gov.
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Hispanic Heritage Month
Wikipedia Edit-a-thon
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Join us for CAH's Hispanic Heritage Month Wikipedia edit-a-thon and help to close the Wikipedia racial gap by creating and editing biographies about Hispanic artists and performers with connections to the arts and humanities in DC.
All are welcome and training will be provided for new Wikipedia editors. This event is presented with support from Wikimedia DC. And we invite you to submit a nomination to add to our working list.
| | DC Art Now 2025 Exhibition | | |
DC Art Now 2025 is an annual exhibition of selected work by finalists for the FY26 Art Bank Program grant. It features many of the most exciting emerging and established artists working in the DC metropolitan region today.
Stop by our 200 I (Eye) Street, SE Gallery and see DC come to life through photography, sculpture, painting, printmaking, textiles, and more! The gallery is free and open to the public Monday to Friday, 9 am to 6 pm.
| | DC Art Bank 2025 Collection | | As we counted down to the opening of our DC Art Now 2025 Exhibition, we shared acquisitions from our most recent application cycle to our Art Bank Collection. | | |
Power room #4
Tim Davis (he/him), 2020
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Xangó e a Dança dos Leões
Werllayne Nunes (he/him), 2016
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The other girls
Xenia Gray (she/her), 2024
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Festive Sash
Yoshiko Ratliff (she/her), 2024
| | If you haven't yet, please check out the collection in full on our Facebook and Instagram pages. | | |
The Best of the DMV 2025 voting round is here, and we’re inviting members of the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities community to take part!
Cast your vote for your favorite artists, cultural organizations, and creative businesses before voting ends on October 3. This is your chance to make sure the arts and culture community is celebrated and recognized across the region.
| | Stories and Strategies for Int'l Dance Touring | | |
Curious about what it takes to tour internationally as a U.S.-based dance artist? Join USArtists International's second Professional Development session on Tuesday, October 7 at 4pm ET designed specifically for early- to mid-career dance makers looking to take their work abroad.
They’ll kick things off with personal stories and lessons learned from Gaspard Louis of Gaspard&Dancers (NC) and Ariel Grossman of Ariel Rivka Dance (NY), two companies that have recently made international touring a regular part of their work. If you can't make it, no worries! The webinar will be recorded and will be available on YouTube after.
| | Rauschenberg Dancer Emergency Grants | | |
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 Closes on Tuesday, October 7 at 5 pm ET.
| | Next Generation Commission | | |
A $20,000 commission to support the creation and development of a new musical theatre project by a creative team that includes women artists and/or artists of color.
Theater Latté Da’s NEXT Generation Commission is designed to support the early, generative stages of creation. Applications are welcomed from creative teams as well as individual artists. Creative teams must be made of at least 50% women artists or artists of color to be eligible. Applicants may pitch a specific idea for a new musical or play with music as part of their application, but a pre-existing idea is not required. Artists will be selected based primarily on their extant body of work.
To apply, Please submit the materials by October 15, 2025:
| | Hidden in Plain Sight: An NEA Report | | |
Since their inception, Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) have created vital spaces for artistic expression. A new research report released today by the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) examines the current state of arts and cultural assets at HBCUs and how these assets prepare students for careers.
Hidden in Plain Sight: Activating the Arts and Creative Workforce Development at HBCUs also offers findings and recommendations for HBCUs and funders to enhance their support of the arts and better support students in pursuing arts and cultural careers.
| | Making the Maryland Apprenticeship Training Program Work for Your Creative Business | | |
This session covers how to make the Maryland Apprenticeship and Training Program (MATP) work for your artistic or creative business.
It includes an overview of grant, tax credit, and training resources available to MATP participants, as well as a real-world case study from CreativeWorks, a Prince George’s County–based apprenticeship program designed for the creative industries.
Arts and creative organizations interested in building their workforce capacity are encouraged to review.
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Mayor’s Arts Awards Reaches Four Decades of Distinction
By James Wright Jr. | September 22, 2025
In a milestone celebration, the 40th annual Mayor’s Arts Awards, held Sept. 25 at the National Theatre in Northwest D.C., not only highlights the achievements of this year’s nominees, but emphasizes the District’s longtime efforts to uplift local arts, artists and creative culture.
Read More
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Volunteer Data That Tell a Compelling Story
By Sue Carter Kahl and Betsy McFarland, CVA, CAWA | April 25, 2025
Just having volunteers is not enough to produce positive results, though: volunteers need to be engaged well. Like anything that advances a nonprofit’s mission, engaging volunteers takes time, expertise, planning, and funding. In short, it demands strategy.
Read More
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Annual performance reviews suck. Here's how to make them better.
By Vu | 02 Sep 2025In my several decades as a nonprofit professional, there are a couple of harrowing occasions that have seared themselves into my soul, causing me to wake up in the middle of the night, filled with rage. One of these occasions involved cryptocurrency, some sock puppets, and 12 gallons of bleach, but that’s a story for another time. The more relevant occasion for this topic was when I sat facing several grim-looking board members as they chewed me out during my annual review.
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Pivoting from Reliance on Federal Funds to Mission-Aligned Private Donors
By Rochelle Jerry | September 25, 2025
Welcome back to Ask a Nonprofit Expert, NPQ’s advice column for nonprofit readers, by civic leaders who have built thriving, equitable organizations...In today’s issue, Rochelle Jerry, CFRM, answers a reader’s question about pivoting from relying on federal funding to mission-aligned private donors.
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How Cities Are Rediscovering Their Downtowns After the Pandemic
By Kriston Capps and Linda Poon
September 28, 2025 at 8:01 AM EDT
As cities tried to revive the vibrancy of their urban cores, leaders were forced to rethink the purpose they serve, and for whom. “This isn't just about resurrecting a commercial office market,” Brandes said. “Yes, we have to do that, but we have to do a lot more than that.”
Read More
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What we know about Latinx nonprofit leadership, staff, and fundraising
By Kyoko Uchida | September 23, 2025
Discover what the data says about Latinx nonprofits in the sector, including these organizations’ relative leadership and staff representation as well as the share of philanthropic funding that they receive from their fundraising efforts.
Read More
| | | The Power of Board Advocacy | |
Public policy impacts the work of nonprofits. The most effective boards recognize this and leverage advocacy as a way to stand up for the mission and people they serve.
Stand for Your Mission is designed to unleash the power of the nonprofit sector through advocacy. It flows from a deep belief in the role of nonprofit organizations in identifying solutions and finding common ground and an unwavering commitment to the communities and people they serve.
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Candid’s live and on-demand trainings, webinars, and other resources are designed to improve your fundraising, overall sustainability, grantmaking, and transparency.
Check out just some of these free trainings they're providing the month of [Month] which are generally from 2 to 3:30 pm ET on weekdays:
- Build the Board You Need
- Get Your Board Fundraising
- Introduction to Individual Giving
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