Sunday, October 4, 2026

Arts Programming by Non-Arts Nonprofits Have Until Oct. 5 to Apply for Los Angeles County Grants

Pasadena arts nonprofits and other local groups running arts programs have until 11:59 p.m. Monday, Oct. 5, to apply for two Los Angeles County arts grant programs, with internship-hosting deadlines Oct. 7 and 8.

Pasadena groups have drawn on the county’s Department of Arts and Culture before: in an earlier two-year round, 14 Pasadena arts organizations shared $307,000.

The Organizational Grant Program gives Los Angeles County nonprofit arts organizations two-year grants to address priority needs, and this round’s grants cover July 1, 2027, through June 30, 2029. Applicants may seek money to sustain existing work, build organizational or artistic capacity, or expand public access, and large-budget organizations must request accessibility projects. New applicants and organizations that were not funded the last time they applied must attend or review a program workshop.

The Community Impact Arts Grant is aimed at groups whose main work is actually not the arts but that operate arts programming. Recipients may include social service and social justice nonprofits, city departments, tribal governments and fiscally sponsored projects that operate arts programming.

Nonprofit applicants need 501(c)(3) status, a budget of at least $25,000, principal offices in the county and two years of offering at least four arts workshops, classes, performances or presentations a year.

Arts-focused nonprofits and current Organizational Grant Program recipients are not eligible.

The one-year grants run July 1, 2027, to June 30, 2028, and the department recommends applying at least five days before the deadline.

On July 14, the department announced $5.6 million in grants to 353 nonprofits through the current cycles of both programs, including Organizational Grant Program awards to 266 groups, 44 of them first-time applicants.

“Behind every organization are artists and cultural workers creating new ways to reach and empower the people they serve, and we’re proud to help make that possible,” department Director Kristin Sakoda said.

The Bloomberg Arts Internship, launched by Bloomberg Philanthropies in 2012, places rising public high school seniors in eight-week paid summer internships, and host applications close at 11:59 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 7. Hosts will learn of decisions by Dec. 2, and the internships run June 14 through Aug. 6, 2027.

The county’s Arts Internship Program, created by the Board of Supervisors in 2000, funds nonprofit performing, presenting, literary and municipal arts organizations to host college students in paid internships. Host applications are due at 11:59 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 8, and students apply directly to host organizations once positions are posted starting April 1, 2027. For the 2026 program, the department planned to invest more than $800,000 to fund 128 intern positions.

All applications are submitted through the department’s online grant system. Grant applications go to peer panels in early 2027, and the Board of Supervisors is scheduled to approve awards in July 2027.

NEED TO KNOW

Event: Los Angeles County Department of Arts and Culture Organizational Grant Program and Community Impact Arts Grant application deadline. When: Monday, Oct. 5. Time: 11:59 p.m. Where: Online at https://apply-lacdac.smapply.io. For more, call (213) 202-5858 or visit https://www.lacountyarts.org/funding.