Funding on the way

The city’s Cultural Arts Division is in the process of a monthlong evaluation of 427 applicants seeking varying levels of cultural arts funding. The presentation panels began May 31 and feature organizations and individual artists making presentations to compete for funding across 15 artistic disciplines, with judges’ scores plugging into a larger matrix to later determine funding amounts. Funds are available at four levels, with up to $250,000 available at the full organizational support level and individual artist projects in the running for $20,000, or $10,000 for first-time applicants. Applicants are eligible every two years, with awards in Fiscal Year 2018 totaling just over $11 million. Recipients and award amounts will be announced in September with a vote decided by City Council, which will also decide how much total funding will be available for the 2019 fiscal year.