Boston Cultural Council Organizational Grants

The 2023 application is now closed. Keep an eye out on this page for future grant cycles.

Boston Cultural Council (BCC) offers general operating grants to small and mid-sized nonprofit and fiscally sponsored organizations, as well as unincorporated entities and artist collectives, providing innovative arts, cultural, and creative programming that:

• Advances a vibrant, creative, and just Boston
• Enhances the quality of life in our city

The BCC Grant is for organizations with budgets under $2 million. Grant sizes are $5,000, $7,500, and $10,000. The specific amount organizations are eligible for depends on their budget size.

Who is Eligible to Apply?

• Non-profit organizations with budgets under $2 million whose mission and programming demonstrates a clear commitment to foster and sustain the arts and/or cultural creative expression in any arts discipline
• Boston-based organizations or organizations not based in the City of Boston but whose primary programming takes place in Boston and demonstrates strong community partnership.  Reviewers will be looking for specific examples of public benefit to the people of Boston
• Unincorporated groups can apply with a fiscal sponsor as long as they meet the rest of the eligibility criteria. This includes: artist collectives, volunteer groups, publications, and any other group jointly working toward common creative goals 
• Organizations can submit only one proposal per funding cycle
• Nonprofits with L3C designations are eligible to apply

Grant funding may not be used for the following items:

• To pay salaries or stipends for employees of the Boston school system, library, parks department, or municipality
• On capital expenditures for schools, libraries, and other municipal agencies
• On programming that discriminates or discourages participation on the basis of race, gender, religious creed, color, national origin, ancestry, disability, sexual orientation, or age
• To purchase food or beverages of any kind

The BCC does not award grants to: 

• Individuals (Individual artists seeking funding from the Mayor’s Office of Arts and Culture may be eligible for the Opportunity Fund and the Neighborhood and Downtown Activation Grant. Please see MOAC’s website for grant opportunities.) 
• K-12 schools or K-12 school foundations 
• Main Streets organizations
• Colleges or universities
• “Friends of…” organizations whose primary purpose is to support government entities
• Religious programs of any kind

You can find the complete outline and guidelines for the Boston Cultural Council Grant here. Please read through the full grant description prior to applying. A strong application will fit the full criteria outlined in this description. 

If you would like to review application questions, you can see a list of them here. The purpose of this list is to help you prepare to submit your application via submittable. This document does not replace the formal application.

We prefer to have all proposals submitted online. You can also pick up a hard copy at the Mayor's Office of Arts and Culture and drop off hand-written copies.