Funding is a constant challenge for M/A partnerships to reach their potential and be sustained over time. Partnership funding is typically pieced together from multiple sources including existing municipal budgets; state, federal, and other government funding; foundation grants; and targeted support for the arts or for civic areas such as public safety, public health, community engagement, and economic development. The more we make the case for M/A partnerships, the more resources will become available. Consider these strategies when seeking funding:
Each partner brings connections to different funding sources. The key is effective translation of the partnership that demonstrates how it adds value to each sector. The themes and nature of the project itself can also open up resources.
M/A partnerships offer different angles that align with funders’ interests. Some funders may respond to the potential for the partnership to address a social issue, how it offers creative approaches to municipal government work and goals, or how it engages specific communities.
Grants to artists can support an M/A partnership. These might be modest in proportion to other funding sources, but can be critical in supporting people and activities that government funding cannot.
When a project gets to “we,” the resources are easier to find. As a project develops, excitement about it grows, and it becomes relevant to stakeholders, it can stimulate new funding prospects.
Example
Creative CityMaking is supported by the City of Minneapolis General Fund, matching funds from participating city departments, and NEA and foundation grants. Each of these sources contributes to a different dimension of the work; CCM sees foundation and NEA funding as a way to “buy artists some freedom to experiment.”
Minneapolis, MN
Creative CityMaking
Office of Arts, Culture, and the Creative Economy; other City departments & local artists
The Equity Pulpit, part of a project by D.A. Bullock and Ariah Fine, in collaboration with the Neighborhood and Community Relations Department.
Photo: Alizarin Meninnga, Office of Arts, Culture, and the Creative Economy, City of Minneapolis
Part of a creative asset mapping of the Cedar-Riverside neighborhood by artists E.G. Bailey and Shá Cage.
Photo: Justin Sengly, Office of Arts, Culture, and the Creative Economy, City of Minneapolis
Part of a creative asset mapping of the Cedar-Riverside neighborhood by artists E.G. Bailey and Shá Cage.
Photo: Justin Sengly, Office of Arts, Culture, and the Creative Economy, City of Minneapolis
Tenants participating in a “Hearing Tenant Voices” workshop with artists Mankwe Ndosi and Reggie Prim, in collaboration with the Regulatory Services Department.
Photo: Rebecca Crisanta de Ybarra, Office of Arts, Culture, and the Creative Economy, City of Minneapolis
Housing inspectors participating in a “Hearing Tenant Voices” workshop with artists Mankwe Ndosi and Reggie Prim, in collaboration with the Regulatory Services Department.
Photo: Rebecca Crisanta de Ybarra, Office of Arts, Culture, and the Creative Economy, City of Minneapolis
Minneapolis’ Office of Arts, Culture, and the Creative Economy (ACCE) leads the Creative CityMaking (CCM) program since 2013. CCM advances the City’s goal of improving economic and racial disparities through systems change, and by creating better engagement and services for communities. CCM places experienced community artists into collaboration with staff in City departments which have included Community Planning and Economic Development, Regulatory Services, Information Technology, Neighborhood and Community Relations, City Clerk’s Office, Public Works, and the Office of Sustainability. Projects have focused both on internal concerns, such as transforming agency culture, and on agency work within communities.
CCM is grounded in ideas of equity. Teams have participated in dialogue that included deep personal reflection and often emotional conversations about the City’s and departments’ historical and current patterns of inequity. They have worked to understand the specific contexts of the department and the community that they engage. Artists have been particularly adept at identifying disconnects between the departments’ intentions for community engagement, and the reality of their practices. These conversations, though difficult at times, created a space for both team and project growth.
Three structural aspects of CCM were key to its continued success:
A strong third-party partner was critical to establishing CCM. Nonprofit Intermedia Arts (now defunct) partnered with ACCE to initiate the program, which was funded by an Art Place grant. Intermedia Arts (IA) was the grant recipient in order to have outside control of resources and safeguard against any potential political interference with the program. IA and ACCE collaboratively designed and launched the program with the intention that ACCE would assume administration of the project. IA served as intermediary between artists and City departments.
ACCE engaged an outside evaluator, Rainbow Research, to produce a Developmental Evaluation of CCM. The evaluators were “embedded” early on and provided ongoing feedback and reflection to teams so that projects could adjust in real time to get the best results. For more on this, see the Evaluation in Action profile.
ACCE developed a plan to sustain the program. While the Art Place grant stretched over the three year pilot phase, ACCE contributed departmental matching funds for the second and third years. They then secured an NEA grant to match those funds. ACCE also hired a program manager to support the partnerships and ensure future capacity for CCM.
Important sources of funding for M/A partnerships include:
Local Government
Local government dollars should always be a part of the funding mix. Yet, even in some of the most long-standing and impactful M/A partnership programs, municipal investment represents only a modest percentage of overall costs. The reasons are not surprising. Municipal and agency budgets are perpetually stretched. Government agencies are sensitive to public perception of how taxpayer dollars are used. Even when evidence shows the positive effects of artists’ work toward municipal goals, M/A partnership coordinators have been challenged to win support over other “essential” services. This may limit initial cash investments and/or default to primarily in-kind support such as space, equipment, services, etc.
Some strategies to consider:
Repurpose resources within existing agency or department budgets. Look for standard budget allocations that could support an artist instead of another contractor. Allocations could include: capital design, community engagement, professional development, and space rental.
Special allocations or earmarks for municipal priorities can sometimes be applied to M/A partnerships.
Example
The City of Fargo, ND eventually created an earmarked line item in the city budget to support Jackie Brookner's Fargo Project. Other funding came from the Parks District, state conservation funding, the NEA’s Our Town grant, ArtPlace America, the Kresge Foundation and others.
Nashville, TN supported the
Restorative Arts program through its Public Investment Plan. The program received $88,000 for each of two years to launch and continue the program.
Nashville, TN
Restorative Arts
Metro Arts, Juvenile Court, Oasis Center & local artists
The Restorative Arts program is a partnership between Nashville’s Office of Arts and Culture (Metro Arts), the Juvenile Court, and the Oasis Center to create an arts-based intervention system for court-involved youth. Research shows that youth engagement with the arts results in more investment in education, greater community engagement, and better self esteem and social skills. The program provides arts workshops, performances, and other arts experiences for youth in juvenile detention, and for families and youth who are otherwise court-involved.
Metro Arts and the Oasis Center trains teaching artists and partner organization staff in restorative practices, understanding systemic racism, trauma-informed care, positive youth development, non-violent communication and storytelling. This equips artists to be effective front-line service providers for youth. Teaching artists introduce participants to art forms including spoken word, storytelling, theater, creative writing, beat making, music production, dance, visual art, yoga, and drumming.
Restorative Arts is intentional in its commitment to equity because social, structural, and systemic inequities are at the core of trauma experienced by many young people who end up in the juvenile justice system. Before creating the program, Metro Arts staff worked to understand the oppressive structures that exist in its own agency work, in the systems in which it interacts, and in its partnership with Juvenile Justice Center. Only by analyzing inequity, could it devise the program that could help break down barriers.
Government mandates on a city or county level can be a good funding source for M/A partnerships that align with the mandate's goals.
Example
Minneapolis’
Creative CityMaking and Los Angeles County’s Creative Strategist programs both support their city’s racial and cultural equity goals. The
Boston AIR program aligns with a Mayoral initiative on resiliency.
Minneapolis, MN
Creative CityMaking
Office of Arts, Culture, and the Creative Economy; other City departments & local artists
The Equity Pulpit, part of a project by D.A. Bullock and Ariah Fine, in collaboration with the Neighborhood and Community Relations Department.
Photo: Alizarin Meninnga, Office of Arts, Culture, and the Creative Economy, City of Minneapolis
Part of a creative asset mapping of the Cedar-Riverside neighborhood by artists E.G. Bailey and Shá Cage.
Photo: Justin Sengly, Office of Arts, Culture, and the Creative Economy, City of Minneapolis
Part of a creative asset mapping of the Cedar-Riverside neighborhood by artists E.G. Bailey and Shá Cage.
Photo: Justin Sengly, Office of Arts, Culture, and the Creative Economy, City of Minneapolis
Tenants participating in a “Hearing Tenant Voices” workshop with artists Mankwe Ndosi and Reggie Prim, in collaboration with the Regulatory Services Department.
Photo: Rebecca Crisanta de Ybarra, Office of Arts, Culture, and the Creative Economy, City of Minneapolis
Housing inspectors participating in a “Hearing Tenant Voices” workshop with artists Mankwe Ndosi and Reggie Prim, in collaboration with the Regulatory Services Department.
Photo: Rebecca Crisanta de Ybarra, Office of Arts, Culture, and the Creative Economy, City of Minneapolis
Minneapolis’ Office of Arts, Culture, and the Creative Economy (ACCE) leads the Creative CityMaking (CCM) program since 2013. CCM advances the City’s goal of improving economic and racial disparities through systems change, and by creating better engagement and services for communities. CCM places experienced community artists into collaboration with staff in City departments which have included Community Planning and Economic Development, Regulatory Services, Information Technology, Neighborhood and Community Relations, City Clerk’s Office, Public Works, and the Office of Sustainability. Projects have focused both on internal concerns, such as transforming agency culture, and on agency work within communities.
CCM is grounded in ideas of equity. Teams have participated in dialogue that included deep personal reflection and often emotional conversations about the City’s and departments’ historical and current patterns of inequity. They have worked to understand the specific contexts of the department and the community that they engage. Artists have been particularly adept at identifying disconnects between the departments’ intentions for community engagement, and the reality of their practices. These conversations, though difficult at times, created a space for both team and project growth.
Three structural aspects of CCM were key to its continued success:
A strong third-party partner was critical to establishing CCM. Nonprofit Intermedia Arts (now defunct) partnered with ACCE to initiate the program, which was funded by an Art Place grant. Intermedia Arts (IA) was the grant recipient in order to have outside control of resources and safeguard against any potential political interference with the program. IA and ACCE collaboratively designed and launched the program with the intention that ACCE would assume administration of the project. IA served as intermediary between artists and City departments.
ACCE engaged an outside evaluator, Rainbow Research, to produce a Developmental Evaluation of CCM. The evaluators were “embedded” early on and provided ongoing feedback and reflection to teams so that projects could adjust in real time to get the best results. For more on this, see the Evaluation in Action profile.
ACCE developed a plan to sustain the program. While the Art Place grant stretched over the three year pilot phase, ACCE contributed departmental matching funds for the second and third years. They then secured an NEA grant to match those funds. ACCE also hired a program manager to support the partnerships and ensure future capacity for CCM.
Created by the LA County Board of Supervisors in 2017, the Creative Strategist program embeds artists who represent diverse communities in year-long, paid positions within county departments. The goal of the program is to develop and implement artist-driven solutions to civic challenges, and in the process improve how participating county agencies do their work.
The artist works alongside staff, project partners, community stakeholders, and other artists in a collaborative process to strategize, promote, implement, document and evaluate artist-driven solutions. Participating county departments include Mental Health, Parks and Recreation, Public Health, Library, and Registrar-Recorder.
Artist Karen Young and artwork for her project Older and Bolder at the Boston AIR showcase, 2018. Photo: Ryan McMahon.
The Oral History Phone Booth, part of Daniel Johnson's project We Are Boston: Stories of Hope, Struggle, and Resilience, at the Boston AIR showcase, 2018.
Photo: Ryan McMahon
AIR Nakia Hill leading a writing workshop. Photo: City of Boston
Karen Young performing with Older and Bolder at National Night Out in Dorchester. Photo: City of Boston.
Steve Locke's Love Letter to a Library, at Central Branch of Boston Public Library. Photo: City of Boston
Nakia Hill leading a writing workshop with senior women, whose stories were featured in her intergenerational anthology I Still Did It: Stories of Resilience.Photo: City of Boston
The Boston Artists-in-Residence Program (Boston AIR) began in 2015, and was developed alongside the the City’s ten-year cultural strategic plan, Boston Creates. The AIR program positions social practice as an important part of government work and community engagement. Artists can help the city approach challenges in new ways, and lift up voices that are less often heard. The program aims to provide communities with more pathways to become active in shaping and understanding the policies that influence them.
Artists work with specific departments, neighborhoods, and/or within city programs such as after-school programs. As of 2019, 20 artists have participated. The AIR program uses a cohort model, in which multiple artists are working in the same year, and also convene for workshops, lectures, and to learn from each other. Cohorts may work with themes—for example the seven 2018 AIR projects were framed through a lens of Resilience and Racial Equity. For the first four months, the artists researched related City policies and practices such as climate change and aging. They then spent a year collaborating with community members and City officials on art projects that reframed public conversations around the issues. You can see some examples of the AIR cohort’s work in this video.
Alternative revenue streams. Municipalities have found creative ways such as special taxes or public-private agreements to support the arts.
Example
The City of Detroit allocated revenue from PEG funding—a tax on cable and internet services that goes towards public, educational, and government programs— to support the Chief Storyteller staff position. The stories appear on the project website and the city’s cable channel.
Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan created the Chief Storyteller position because he wanted to “remodel the narrative” of a city that suffers from persistent negative mainstream media portrayals. Detroit is 83% African-American but many black residents feel left out of media coverage. The Mayor chose journalist Aaron Foley as Chief Storyteller to bring balance to how Detroit is portrayed, and to highlight positive stories centered in communities of color. Foley is a full-time employee of the City, and reports to the Mayor’s Chief of Staff. However the Chief Storyteller intentionally works independently from the Mayor’s Office, in order to create a new narrative of self-determination for the city.
Foley hired a small team of journalists and videographers that work independently from the city, to create media pieces for The Neighborhoods website and local cable news channel. There are currently over 200 stories on the site, fulfilling the intent to present a more diverse and nuanced portrait of Detroit and its people than is available through the popular media. The website also includes events and happenings, resources for families, information about block clubs, neighborhood organizations and volunteer opportunities, and information about the people and businesses that make Detroit home.
Ongoing programs with their own budgets. When M/A partnership programs become integral to municipal systems, they deserve a budget of their own. This doesn’t necessarily eliminate the need for outside funds, but helps ensure the work can continue without overburdening partners with fundraising.
Example
After a successful pilot for Philadelphia’s Porch Light Initiative, the Department of Behavioral Health and Intellectual disAbilities Services created an ongoing budget line for the program.
In-kind funding. A municipality or agency can support some operational and project related costs by providing in-kind resources and services.
Example
The City of St. Paul, MN gives the City Artist program operational support valued at $40,000 per year, including office space, computer equipment, and phone. The City of Austin, TX provided free use of city venues, vehicles, and marketing services for the
My Park, My Pool, My City project. They also covered city workers’ time in assisting and participating in the project during regular work hours.
Saint Paul, MN
City Artist
Public Art Saint Paul, City of Saint Paul & local artists
Amanda Lovelee’s Urban Flower Field transformed a vacant lot with a spiral plot of flowers that remove contaminants from the soil.
Christine Baeumler’s project Bee Real Bee Everywhere created “high rise” sculptural homes for bees; and gives out pollinator seeds and education at local parks.
Christine Baeumler’s project Bee Real Bee Everywhere created “high rise” sculptural homes for bees; and gives out pollinator seeds and education at local parks.Credit: Carrie Thompson
Amanda Lovelee’s Pop-up Meeting offers popsicles in exchange for thoughts and feedback about the City.
Photo: Colleen Sheehy
Amanda Lovelee’s Pop-up Meeting offers popsicles in exchange for thoughts and feedback about the City.
Created in 2005, the City Artist integrates artists into the daily and long-term workings of the city. Program goals are to shape public spaces, improve city systems, and deepen civic engagement. Artists advise on major city initiatives and lead their own artistic and curatorial projects.
City Artist is a partnership between the City of Saint Paul and non-profit organization Public Art Saint Paul (PASP), which oversees public art programs for the city. Artists are part-time employees of PASP, and receive health and retirement benefits. This also allows for a more open-ended tenure for the artist rather than one that is restricted by the City’s time-limited contracts. This has proven valuable in terms of artists having extended time to build relationships, gain understanding of department opportunities and systems, and to develop projects with sufficient time to ensure impact.
Artists are embedded in City Hall and have dedicated work space within the Department of Public Works. In this way they can collaborate across city agencies. In addition to their own creative work, they advise on everything from city initiatives, planning studies, and capital project design, to ongoing street and sidewalk maintenance. Projects have included poetry stamped into concrete sidewalks, a vacant lot transformed by spiraling plots of flowers, and a civic choir.
Austin-based Forklift Danceworks activates communities through a collaborative creative process. Forklift’s performances are typically large-scale, site-specific civic spectacles that create deeper understandings of the jobs essential to urban life, more informed civic dialogue, and greater connection between citizens and across communities. My Park, My Pool, My City is a three-year artistic residency in partnership with the Austin’s Parks and Recreation Aquatics Division which began in 2017, activating and amplifying civic engagement around the future of Austin’s city pools. It was conceived of after a successful collaboration between Forklift and Austin’s Urban Forestry Program.
From 2015-17, Forklift Co-Directors Alison Orr and Krissie Marty participated in conversations and planning meetings with the Director and staff of the Parks & Recreation Department and neighborhood leaders. They came to more fully understand the importance of pools as public gathering spaces and the challenges Austin’s pools face. Austin’s 45 aquatics facilities are on average 50 years old, and many need more repairs than the city can afford. Conditions are particularly acute in the historically marginalized neighborhoods of East Austin.
As these neighborhoods expand and their demographics shift, My Park, My Pool, My City is, in part, an opportunity to celebrate and maintain the vibrant histories of these communities, and to bring Austinites together at the pool. For each of the three years, My Park, My Pool, My City centered on a different East Austin pool, creating summer performances in collaboration with aquatics maintenance staff, lifeguards, and neighborhood residents. Forklift also hosted and participated in community meetings and pool parties leading up to and following each show. The Aquatics Division provided access to city facilities, paid performing employees for their time, and informed the issues the project addresses. Through a process of deep listening and collaborative creation, Forklift artists invited staff and pool users to share their stories, and invited audiences to bear witness to the people whose labor supports life in Austin.
The Porch Light program is a collaboration between non-profit Mural Arts Philadelphia and the City of Philadelphia’s Department of Behavioral Health and Intellectual disAbility Services. It is a dedicated program at Mural Arts with its own staff and outreach strategy. The program revolves around a community-created mural that illustrate themes around wellness and mental and behavioural health issues. These include issues that have had visible effects on the community, such as mental health, substance use, spirituality, homelessness, trauma, immigration, war, and neighborhood safety. Porch Light programs occur in lower-income communities in which transforming a public space will have a significant impact.
Each mural is created during a months-long program in partnership with a neighborhood public health organization and local artists. The partner organization hosts the project at a community site, and Porch Light works with staff (such as therapists) to refer clients to the program. Mural projects start with weekly artist-led creative workshops and dialogues about health for a core group of participants. Monthly open studios invite the entire community in. The lead artist creates a mural image from the output of the workshops, and the larger community helps to paint it during “Community Paint Days.”
Porch Light’s work promotes both community resiliency and recovery and public health. Their goals for the program include to: increase awareness about mental health; promote social inclusion; increase access to mental health resources; and develop cognitive skills related to art-making (i.e. abstract thinking, problem-solving, esteem-building). Outcomes include improving the physical environment, new opportunities for social connections, and greater understanding between neighbors.
Many local arts agencies (including councils and commissions) are critical third-party partners in M/A projects. They may assist in fundraising, make grants of their own, administer grant programs that support partnerships, and/or serve as fiscal sponsors. Similarly, state arts agencies make grants that may be applicable to partnerships. Also, local and state arts agencies sometimes manage public art programs that could be potential sources of partnership support.
Example
The Los Angeles County Department of Arts and Culture has leveraged its strong relations with county officials and departments such as Public Health, Public Works, and Parks & Recreation to gain their fiscal support.
Percent for Art. Municipalities with Percent for Art ordinances may be able to support M/A partnerships with mandated budget allocations for public art as a regular part of public construction and renovation projects. Percent for Art funds are typically tied to infrastructure projects and therefore to physical artworks. However, as the field of public art expands to include projects that are more relational and process-oriented, some Percent for Art programs are also funding embedded artists residencies. However, because Percent funds are linked to specific construction projects, they are not a source for ongoing programs.
Example
In Portland OR, the Regional Arts & Culture Council’s (RACC) intersections artist in residence program uses Percent for Art funds for socially engaged projects that support specific municipal agencies’ goals, and that aren’t restricted to the development site that generated the funds. RACC negotiated with the Portland Archives and Records Center to use around $100,000 of its Percent for Art allocation to support multiple artists in residence who, over time, would work collaboratively with Archives staff to define projects serving agency and community concerns.
Grant Programs. Check with your Local, State, and Regional Arts Agencies to identify grant programs that have potential to provide support for M/A partnerships. These could be focused on community-based art, arts and civic engagement, arts and community development, place-based projects, socially engaged art, and individual grants to artists. Examples include Colorado’s Arts in Society grant program; the Mid America Arts Alliance’s Interchange pilot program; and the New England Foundation for the Arts’ Creative City Boston.
State & Federal Non-arts Funding
Funding for M/A partnerships can be built into larger municipal budget proposals to state or federal agencies for transportation, environment, housing, or public health projects, when they are linked to the outcomes those agencies support. Federal mandates for public participation in programs such as Community Development Block Grants create additional opportunities.
Example
The City of Minneapolis secured a $5 million multi-year grant from the US Department of Health and Human Services' Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration to support communities affected by police violence. $100,000 of this grant was used to hire two teams of artists to work with the city’s Equity and Inclusion Division.
Place-based Funding
Creative placemaking, community development, and place-based funders may be sources of support for M/A partnerships. Some of these funders can also support training or coaching that help partners build skills and capacity, as well as communication and evaluation resources. Some funders with a deep commitment to place may want to be actively involved or even engage as a partner—so make sure to have clarity about the funder’s role at the start.
Creative Placemaking has been gaining ground for more than a decade. Public and private partners employ the arts and culture to strategically shape the physical and social character of a place in order to spur economic development, promote enduring social change, and improve the physical environment. Creative placemaking advocates believe that community development and planning projects benefit from the participation of artists from the beginning.
The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) has been a steady supporter of M/A partnership projects. Its support has been significant in legitimizing a project and leveraging other funding. The Our Town program supports arts engagement, cultural planning, and design projects. Grant for Art Projects, NEA’s principle grant program, is also a potential source of funding for public engagement with art, and the integration of the arts into the fabric of community life.
“Getting national recognition [through an NEA Our Town grant] was great! It opened a lot of doors.”
Nicole Crutchfield, planner, City of Fargo
National placemaking funders like ArtPlace America and the Kresge Foundation have catalyzed interest and focused resources to enhance creative placemaking and community development. In addition to NEA, they have led the way in supporting creative placemaking nationally, and have supported many of the projects profiled in this guide. However, foundation-driven initiatives often don’t last forever. For example, ArtPlace, which was a 10-year initiative by federal agencies, foundations, and financial institutions, and closed its open grantmaking program in 2017. Private foundations can also change direction based on current needs, so research their current funding priorities or speak to a program officer to make sure your request is within their guidelines.
Other place-based sources include Community Development Corporations, Main Street programs, Designated Cultural Districts, Tourism and Heritage organizations, and Regional Planning Agencies.
National Intermediary Support
National organizations in community development, creative placemaking, and other sectors are stepping up to guide their fields in areas like M/A partnerships and creative placemaking. Although most don’t provide funding, they do support professional development and technical assistance to build capacity for partnerships. Examples include:
NeighborWorks America which provides grants and technical assistance to its network of national nonprofit organizations
Transportation For America, an alliance of elected, business, and civic leaders, which supports creative placemaking within transportation planning and development
Trust for Public Land which uses a community-based process to create parks and open spaces that reflect local identity through arts and culture.
Community Foundations
Community foundations provide a unique platform to generate new local opportunities. They can be a source of funding as well as allies in identifying and/or securing funds.
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