Houston artists and organizations can apply for City funding through five HAA grant programs. These are reviewed by community-based peer panels, each featuring its own timeline and criteria. Explore below to find the right grant opportunity for your creative work.
This Grant is available to: Organizations, Individual Artists and Creatives, Fiscally Sponsored Projects
CI Round 1 application period: March 24 – April 22, 2025.
Round 1 Grant Term: August 2025 – August 2026. Application Closed
CI Round 2 application period: May 26 – June 24, 2025.
Round 2 Grant Term: October 2025 – October 2026.Application Closed
CI Round 3 application period: August 29 – September 27, 2025.
Round 3 Grant Term: January 2026 – December 2026.
Round 3 Focus Area: Art + Conference Tourism
The City’s Initiative grant program provides funding between $5,000 and $10,000 funding to individual artists and nonprofits to develop strategic and creative projects that engage both visitors and residents, enhancing Houston’s cultural identity and tourism.
For Round 3, the focus area for applicants requesting above $10,000 is Art + Conference Tourism.
Requests over $10,000 require a preliminary meeting and are only considered for eligible projects in that round’s designated funding area.
The deadline to book a meeting to request above $10K is Friday, September 19.
Read the City’s Initiative 2025 Grant Guidelines before you apply.
This Grant is available to: Organizations, Individual Artists and Creatives, Fiscally Sponsored Projects
LCH 2025 – Round 2 application period: May 26 – June 24, 2025. Round 2 Grant Term: October 2025 – October 2026.
LCH 2025 – Round 3 application period: August 29 – September 27, 2025. Round 3 Grant Term: January 2026 – December 2026.
The Houston Mayor’s Office of Cultural Affairs (MOCA) has introduced a funding formula boost in the annual grants competitions, Support for Organizations (SO), Support for Artists and Creative Individuals (SACI), and Festival Grants (FG). This formula change provides support to organizations, artists, and creatives who have been awarded through the same peer panel process, but have historically been marginalized from opportunities, such as grants.
The boost is specifically designed for applicants who meet BIPOC qualification criteria for their respective grant programs and have been awarded funding through HAA’s peer community-based panels. Awardees under this initiative will receive a 45% increase in their awards with a cap of $20,000. For the year 2024, MOCA allocated an additional $800,000 to the grants programs to accommodate this formula change. This year, the boost funding will derive from the Hotel Occupancy Tax budget for the 2025 grant cycle. Learn more about how our funding works and the allocated percentages to all our grant programs.
Grant guidelines for Festival, Support for Organizations and Support for Artists & Creative Individuals will be published soon. Check back regularly or sign up for our newsletter to be alerted when guidelines are posted.
This Grant is available to: Organizations, Individual Artists and Creatives, Fiscally Sponsored Projects
Festival 2026 application period: June 16 – July 25, 2025.
Annual Grant Term: January 2026 – December 2026.
The Festival grant program (FG) provides support of up to $10,000 to fund arts festivals or arts components of cultural festivals to celebrate Houston’s diversity, and promote the city’s creative identity as a unique arts and culture destination.
Festivals allow communities to share artistic and cultural traditions, creating vibrant opportunities and experiences for residents and visitors. Festival is defined as an annual or biannual celebration or immersion around a unifying theme or programmatic focus, featuring varied and curated events.
Festival grants are funded by City of Houston via the Hotel Occupancy Tax (HOT), funded by cash-in-hand and available in one annual cycle.
This Grant is available to: Arts Organizations and Fiscally Sponsored Organizations
SO 2026 application period: June 16 – July 25, 2025.
Annual Grant Term: January 2026 – December 2026.
The Support for Organizations (SO) grant program accepts 501(c)(3) nonprofit and fiscally sponsored applications annually to support arts and cultural activities that are open to the public. There are three different categories within the Support for Organizations grant program:
Category 1: 501(c)(3) arts organizations operating for at least one year.
Category 2: Fiscally sponsored organizations; non-arts 501(c)(3) organizations with arts programs; or 501(c)(3) arts organizations but with under one year of operations.
Category 3: 501(c)(3) arts organizations in operation for at least five years, providing public programs year-round, with operating expenses over $10 million.
SO grants are funded by City of Houston via the Hotel Occupancy Tax (HOT), funded based on projected HOT revenue and available in one annual cycle.
This Grant is available to: Individual Artists and Creatives
SACI 2026 application period: June 16 – July 25, 2025.
Annual Grant Term: January 2026 – December 2026.
The Support for Artists and Creative Individuals (SACI) grant provides funds of up to $15,000 for specific projects that create and present new works of art or complete work already in progress throughout Houston. Applications are accepted from all artistic disciplines.
SACI grants are funded by City of Houston via the Hotel Occupancy Tax (HOT), funded by cash-in-hand and available in one annual cycle.
Please note that these workshops serve as samples only. Guidelines are subject to updates during grant cycles, as part of HAA’s annual review process.
Applicants to either the Support for Organizations or Festival grant must have a current SMU DataArts profile.
Click here to submit the SMU DataArts Funder Report. To generate a funder report, complete your Cultural Data Profile for the 2024 fiscal year.
Generate the City of Houston Funder Report by following these steps, or watch the orientation video for more help.
If you have any questions, check out these informational resources or contact HAA through our Support Desk.
