CALI Futures

Overview

CALI Futures supports artists and cultural workers who are contributing to alternative efforts that hold promise for greater sustainability, sense of belonging, and self-determination than current conventional systems offer. Launched in 2026, CALI Futures (the “Fund”) supports artists and cultural workers across California–individually and in teams–who are meaningfully contributing to alternative efforts outside of conventional nonprofit and for-profit arts and culture systems that have not worked for everyone. This Fund encourages those working in alternative efforts focused on income, ownership, and care, and uplifts the role of artists and cultural workers in shaping and sustaining these efforts. By supporting alternative efforts operating at systemic levels to provide greater financial stability, strengthen creative ownership, and deepen connections to each other, CALI Futures supports the work that makes thriving conditions more possible for the broader arts ecosystem. Project-restricted grants of $5,000 will be awarded through a competitive grant application process. Competitive applicants will present (a) a clear project request; (b) proof of an active, current artistic or cultural practice; (c) a description of the applicant’s contribution to furthering an alternative effort that improves financial sustainability, creative ownership, or mutual support, and addresses challenges not sufficiently solved by conventional nonprofit or for-profit sectors; and (d) framing that ambitiously describes the larger implications that this alternative work can have on transforming artists’ lives and the artistic and cultural possibilities of the future. The Fund supports individuals and teams at every stage, from initial ideas and early concepts to research, implementation, experimentation, and reflection. A total of $100,000 in funding will be available each year across the 2026–2028 funding cycle. The Fund is administered by the Center for Cultural Innovation (CCI), an intermediary focused on strengthening the economic and social infrastructure for creatives, culture bearers, and creative entrepreneurs, with funding from the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation.

Deadlines

Applications openJune 9, 2026 9:00am PT Applications closeAugust 28, 2026, at 11:59 a.m. (morning) PT ReviewSeptember - November 2026 Award NotificationsNovember 17, 2026, by 5:00 p.m. PT Period of supportDecember 2026–December 2027

Eligibility

CALI Futures applicants can be individuals or teams of individuals. For those applying as a team, all team members must also meet the following criteria; this is to ensure that funding supports the intended population. To be eligible for funding consideration:
Applicants must be individual artists or cultural workers (e.g., cultural producers, culture bearers, creatives, cultural practitioners);
Artists (a person who practices any of the various creative arts, such as visual artists, craft, poets, musicians, dancers, media artists, sculptors, filmmakers, etc.); or
Cultural Workers (a person who is continuing to keep a cultural identity and/or tradition alive and thriving).
Applicants (including all team members) must reside full-time in California;
Applicants must be contributing to an alternative effort that improves the financial sustainability, creative ownership, fosters mutualistic social support, or other beneficial outcomes within the arts and culture sector; and
Applicants’ contribution to an alternative effort must have occurred or begun (i.e., the involvement is still in progress) on or after January 1, 2020.

Refer to the Program Guidelines and FAQ for further details on eligibility.

Image Courtesy of Aimee Lee, CCI Grantee. Photo Credit: Veronica Pham, 2023

Competitive applicants for CALI Futures will need to describe their role as important to these alternative efforts, as well as describe the ways in which these efforts transform possibilities for everyone, rather than operate as one-offs benefiting only a few participants.

Alternative efforts could include organizing barter exchanges of artwork for housing or healthcare; being a community connector in localized economies; participating in time-banking artistic or cultural services; leading a collectivized effort to purchase and permanently secure artist housing and working spaces; providing computer coding expertise to build a technology product for artists’ cooperative arrangements; participating in a group that pools intellectual properties in ways that income can be shared; offering artist services to support public options (from educating the public on community banking to researching publicly governed utilities); hosting teach-ins on community-based economies; as but a few examples.

What these examples have in common is that they rely on the power of mutualism, collectivity, and community rather than on maximizing profit for profit’s sake or depending on outsider capital as the sole indicator of success.

Applications will first be reviewed internally by a diverse team of CCI staff with nearly 10 years of varied cross-sector expertise in alternative efforts to financial stability, creative ownership, and mutual support. In particularly competitive rounds, applications will also be reviewed by solidarity, regenerative-economy, and living-systems practitioners.

Additionally, CCI will contact the references of top funding candidates and call on individuals in the field of a competitive applicant’s work to verify the applicant’s engagement with, contribution to, and impact on the success of an alternative effort to financial stability, creative ownership, and mutual support. We know people may define “alternative” in different ways. For this program, though, we’re using a definition grounded in a deep understanding of the root causes of harmful systems, and when a proposal falls into a gray area, we’ll look to trusted practitioners with strong experience building solutions outside the status quo. This peer-informed approach ensures the review process is guided by those with direct knowledge of the applicant’s work and with a perspective from the communities meant to benefit from the alternative effort. Final determinations are made by CCI based on both peer input and application materials.

Refer to the Program Guidelines and FAQ for further details on the review process and criteria.

CCI staff are here to help and listen. For assistance, please email us at grants@cciarts.org (include CALI Futures in the subject line) or call 415.288.0530. You may also schedule a time to speak here.

For Deaf applicants and those with hearing loss, contact CCI using the California Relay Service—our staff is trained in making and receiving these calls.

If you need technical assistance (e.g., password or upload issues), request support at: https://www.submittable.com/help/submitter/. Submittable’s business hours are 9 am – 5 pm MT. They aim to respond within 24 business hours.

Refer to this Submittable Quick Tips for additional support!