Cultural Grants Program | Department of Cultural Affairs

DCA’s Cultural Grants Program invests in free and low-cost, public cultural activities and presentations taking place in the City of Los Angeles. Projects may be proposed by the following types of vendors/applicants: A nonprofit arts organization may propose an Artistic Project in one primary art form or discipline. For 2026-27, DCA invites new Artistic Project proposals within the disciplines of Culture/History, Design-Visual Arts, Literary Arts, Media Arts, and Traditional-Folk Arts. Note there will be no “off-cycle” artistic category offered; applicants with Artistic Projects in dance, music, theatre, and trans-disciplinary arts should wait until the subsequent grant cycle in summer 2026 to apply for funding consideration. Please consult DCA staff if you are unclear which discipline is best for your proposal, rather than selecting an inaccurate artistic discipline, which can result in a disqualification or review by a panel with the wrong expertise. In the special case of multi-week youth-education projects utilizing in-school lesson plans within the eligible artistic disciplines listed above, an applicant may propose a SAIL-CAPE project -- Sequential Arts in-school learning Culminating in Afterschool Public Events. This category specifically supports youth-learning projects that begin within enrollment-only classrooms yet culminate in one or more presentations which are after-school and marketed to the general public. A partnership between a non-profit community-service organization (an organization whose mission and programs are not arts-exclusive but include cultural offerings) may ONLY propose to plan and present an outdoor festival or parade in partnership with a tribal elder, arts curator, or arts agency. For DCA’s Outdoor Festivals/Parades category, nonprofit organizations may request up to $40,000 for large outdoor festivals/parades (more than 2,000 attendees in the prior year), while producers of a small outdoor festival/parade (500 to 2,000 attendees from the prior year) may request $15,000. Outdoor festivals/parades that gather fewer than 500 in-person attendees may request up to $6,000. Outdoor festival/parade proposals are accepted each year, but it is best that outdoor performing-arts festivals be submitted in even-numbered calendar years, while outdoor craft fairs be submitted in odd-numbered calendar years. DCA’s Grants Program Office provides panel scores that can be held for two consecutive years (two one-year contracts), so applicants are encouraged to propose a project which can be repeated (in general or with a related theme) for a second year/term.