Given the massive reduction of support for the arts by the federal government — impacting the National Endowment for the Arts, the National Endowment for the Humanities, public broadcasting, and much else — it's difficult to find stable arts hubs, but San Francisco appears to be one.
Federal and state support here are minor, but the city and county’s Arts Commission and Grants for the Arts (GFTA) continue as usual.
Current figures are impressive: As part of the Commission’s 2025-2026 grant cycle, more than $10.4 million in grant funding has been awarded to 145 individual artists and nonprofit organizations, and to six cultural centers.
Angela Yip, from the Office of the City Administrator, told SF Classical Voice that Grants for the Arts operates on a two-year grant cycle, and applications for fiscal year 26-27 and 27-28 will open in Spring 2026. More information will be posted soon on the city’s website.
Besides GFTA, the city also supports SFA Grants, Artistic Legacy Grants, Arts Impact Endowment, Cultural Center Grants, and Cultural Equity Initiatives.
The need for arts support is, of course, far greater than the available funds. GTFA received 533 applications this year alone — a record number — notwithstanding the many organizations and individual artists that did not apply.
Still, Mayor Daniel Lurie emphasizes the positive: “Our arts community brings people from across the world to San Francisco — keeping our arts and cultural institutions strong and vibrant is critical to our economic recovery... [reaffirming] our commitment to the organizations that help San Francisco thrive and represent the soul of our city.”
Lurie’s recent budget proposal calls for uniting the three city teams that serve arts and cultural institutions — SF Arts Commission, Grants for the Arts, and the Film Commission —under one umbrella “to improve coordination and effectiveness.”
The city and the region continue to emphasize diversity, equity, and inclusion in the arts, despite the Trump Administration’s hostility to DEI programs. Many grant recipients emphasize DEI — not long ago a matter of controversy locally — and have made statements supporting the principle.
For example, Acción Latina Executive Director Imelda Carrasco, whose group received a 2025 Cultural Equity Initiatives grant, welcomed San Francisco’s help.
“[The city is] enabling us to produce community-engaged arts initiatives that preserve cultural traditions while stimulating our local creative economy through exhibitions, art walks, and concerts. By investing in these efforts, the grant directly advances CEI’s vision of equitable access to cultural resources for San Francisco's Latino communities,” Carrasco said.
Allan Samson Manalo, 2025 SFA recipient, said: “In 2016, my wife Joyce, along with Lorna Velasco, launched the ‘TAGALOG Festival of Plays,’ a powerful celebration of our mother tongue at Bindlestiff Studio. Funded by the Arts Commission, it rekindled pride and connection across the Filipino diaspora. Its impact carried us through three more years, produced on our own.
“Joyce was excited about planning a fifth year, but in July 2023, cancer took her life. I’m deeply grateful that the SFAC is now helping us carry forward her vision and honoring her memory by giving us this opportunity to continue celebrating the lyrical beauty of our language. Maraming salamat.”
Arts Commission communications acknowledge that “we are on the unceded ancestral homeland of the Ramaytush Ohlone. We affirm the sovereign rights of their community as First Peoples and are committed to supporting the traditional and contemporary evolution of the American Indian community and uplifting contemporary indigenous voices and culture.”
These are organizations that redistribute grants they receive from the city:
Alliance for California Traditional Arts Living Cultures Grant
Asian Pacific Islander Cultural Center United States of Asian America Festival Grant
Center for Cultural Innovation Quick Grant
Dance Brigade
Dancers’ Group CA$H Grant
InterMusic SF Musical Grant Program
Intersection for the Arts
Queer Cultural Center Creating Queer Community Grant
Queer Women of Color Media Arts Project – QWOCMAP
Sakura Matsuri Inc
Southern Exposure Alternative Exposure Grant
Theatre Bay Area
