SLFRF-Funded Program Overview

The Seattle Office of Arts & Culture directed ARPA funding to five (5) programs:

• Cultural Organization Reopening Grants
• Cultural Districts Recovery Projects
• Created Commons
• Hope Corps: Beloved, and
• Technical Assistance for rehiring of cultural workers.

Arts and cultural organizations played a special role as both grantees and agents in the pandemic recovery. The Office of Arts & Culture contracted with a variety of community partners to support its ARPA-funded programs. These programs supported creative workers and organizations in a variety of ways, including providing millions in financial assistance for organizations to reopen safely and sustainably, working with neighborhoods to provide cultural activations, offering employment opportunities for creative workers who experienced job loss due to the pandemic, and hosting technical assistance webinars to help build equity into organizational practices. See Program Descriptions

 For example, the Cultural Organization Reopening grants were made to Seattle-based arts and cultural organizations with a pre-pandemic budget size of $1 million or below, that demonstrated reductions in revenue due to COVID-19. The Seattle Office of Arts & Culture collaborated with 4Culture, a King County public development authority, on a joint selection process to distribute the funding. Funding could be used toward rehiring staff, rent/utilities, costs associated with COVID-19 safety protocols, and restarting public programming.

Advocacy

Through community partnerships at the city and county levels, the Seattle Office of Arts & Culture submitted proposals to local government appropriators and council members laying out plans for supporting the arts and culture sector. One of the primary justifications for providing financial support to the sector was that arts and culture organizations were some of the first entities to close and the last to reopen during the pandemic.

Process

To streamline the application process as much as possible, the Office of Arts & Culture partnered with 4Culture to use a single application that made organizations eligible for all potential ARPA grant programs from the agencies.

Equity

For the Cultural Organization Reopening funding, the City of Seattle Office of Arts & Culture prioritized organization applicants that were centered on and with a history of serving communities that were disproportionately impacted by COVID-19. Additionally, priority was given to organizations that had not yet received any federal COVID relief funding from other sources. 

Of the organizations funded through the Cultural Organization Reopening program, nearly one third of the funds went to BIPOC-focused cultural organizations that had an explicit focus on diverse cultural or ethnic communities. Of the other programs supported by ARPA funding, focus went to supporting creative workers most impacted by the pandemic, and communities and neighborhoods which were higher priority areas on the Race and Social Equity Index. See 2023 Seattle Rescue Plan Report

Moving Forward

Looking ahead, Seattle’s Office of Arts & Culture is evaluating its programs including current programs, recovery programs, and programs that were put on hold due to the pandemic seeking to align grant funding levels to better account for rising costs and inflation, as well as aligning programs within the city’s priorities for the agency going forward.

The Seattle Office of Arts & Culture manages the city's public art program, grant programs, ARTS at King Street Station, the Langston Hughes Performing Arts Institute, and The Creative Advantage initiative in the effort to foster a city driven by creativity that provides the opportunity for everyone to engage in diverse arts and cultural experiences. The Office is supported by the 16-member Seattle Arts Commission, citizen volunteers appointed by the mayor and City Council. Visit the Seattle Office of Arts and Culture Website