Oakland CARES Act: Fund for Artists and Arts Nonprofits

The Oakland Oakland CARES Fund for Artists and Arts Nonprofits provided $1.425 million in grants to support individual artists and arts nonprofit organizations.

Posted: February 4th, 2021 2:20 PM

Last Updated: March 31st, 2021 6:30 PM

Grant Program Overview

Through a $1.5 million grant agreement with the Center for Cultural Innovation, the Oakland CARES Fund for Artists and Arts Nonprofits provided grants to support individual artists and arts nonprofit organizations that have been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Grants of up to $20,000 for arts nonprofits, and up to $3,000 for individual artists, helped prevent displacement among artists and closures of arts nonprofits. Artists and public-benefiting arts organizations are the backbone of the City’s diversity and vibrancy of cultural identity and expression.

51 nonprofit organizations and 349 individual artists received grants through the program.

Recipient Demographics

Graph showing the race of individual grant recipients

Of the individual artists who received grants, more than 70% went to artists of color and 18% went to non-binary or transgender artists.

See the full demographic chart of grant recipients.

Pie chart showing ZIP Codes for Individual Artists that received a grant

The grants to Individual Artists were distributed fairly evenly throughout Oakland's ZIP Codes.

Pie chart showing the ZIP Codes for the Arts Nonprofit Organizations that received a grant

While many of the locations of the arts nonprofits are located downtown in ZIP Codes 94607 and 94612, please note the location of the nonprofit's offices may not reflect the geographic audiences that they serve.

Testimonials

“THANK YOU from all of us at BANDALOOP for securing funding for the arts and helping keep the stage lights on in Oakland while we wait for our audiences to return,” shared Thomas Cavanaugh, Executive Director of Bandaloop.

"I finally started to receive unemployment benefits after months and months of difficulty," shared an individual artist. "Between that and this grant, I am feeling very grateful and more sure of my ability to care for myself and my child. Thank you!"

Related Documents and Web Pages