Each year, HOT funds are divided and allocated for three purposes:
HAA administers five grant programs: City’s Initiative (CI), Let Creativity Happen (LCH), Support for Organizations (SO), Festival (FG), and Support for Artists and Creative Individuals (SACI). These HOT-funded grants are awarded to individual artists and art organizations through a competitive application process.
The number of grants awarded, as well as the amount of funds each grantee receives, is calculated based on HOT revenue projections for the following year. This is known as a projected funding model, which is used to award SO grants. Organizations that are approved for City of Houston grant funding are informed of their projected grant amounts, and of the possibility that those amounts may change depending on realized HOT revenue, prior to signing their grant contracts with HAA.
SO is the only program funded by projected income. CI, LCH, Festival, and SACI are funded from cash on hand. Find further details below.
1. HOT tax revenues are collected quarterly by Houston First Corporation on behalf of the City of Houston.
2. Upon receipt by the City of Houston, the Mayor’s Office of Cultural Affairs promptly distributes payments to HAA.
3. Grantees are in receipt of payments within two weeks.
Since HOT revenues are projected when grant agreements are made, each grant contract and each grantee orientation session includes language and instruction about the projection and timing of payments, as applicable.
Prior to 2021, the annual grants SO, Festival, and SACI were funded based on projections.
Based on community input requesting greater stability, the Festival and SACI grant programs were updated to become awarded based on cash in hand rather than from projected income. This practice guaranteed grant amounts with greater certainty.
SO grants continue to be funded based on projected revenue.
2020 grants were reduced to half of their projected amounts due to the pandemic’s impact on HOT revenue. In response, HAA worked closely with the arts community and MOCA to create a one-time change to the 2021 grant process to address the financial, professional, and social effects this global event had on 2020 grantees.
2021 Grantmaking Process Change
Each year, 74.5% of HOT revenue is dedicated to competitive grants. Exclusively for 2021, those funds were available to both 2020 grantees and new 2021 grantees, and divided as follows:
