How We Fund

BAC Community Arts Grants

All funding decisions are made by process of peer review by panelists selected by BAC. Funding decisions are determined based on selection criteria such as: artistic merit, clarity and feasibility of proposal, uniqueness, locations served, and community benefit. 

APPLICATION REVIEW

BAC staff reviews each application for eligibility prior to sending the applications to panel. Applicants will have an opportunity to fix any issues that arise with the application.

Applications are considered within the following artistic disciplines, as identified by the applicant: 

  • Dance
  • Film/Video/Media
  • Folk Arts
  • Interdisciplinary Art
  • Literary Arts
  • Music/Opera
  • Multi-Discipline
  • Theater/Musical Theater
  • Visual Arts/Photography/Crafts

PANEL REVIEW

Once applications are complete and determined able to go to panel, panelists review and pre-evaluate each application prior to their deliberation meeting.

Panel meetings occur from Mid-November – December. BAC hosts between 13 – 15 panel meetings a year, and can recruit up to 120 volunteer panelists, depending on number of applications. 

PANEL COMPOSITION

All funding decisions are made by panels selected and trained by BAC.  To create a fair and impartial panel environment, BAC seeks panelists that represent a range of ethnicity, gender, age, neighborhood, artistic medium and artistic style. Follow the link below for more information on nominating yourself or a colleague for panel service. 

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CRITERIA

Panels are asked to deliberate on applications based on the funding criteria in the Eligibility Guidelines. Applicants are expected to address each criterion across their proposal as a whole. 

RATES OF FUNDING

In recent years, BAC has made a commitment to funding fewer projects at higher amounts. On average, 25% of our applicants are funded on some level. In 2017, our average grant size was $3,500.