2024-2025 Creative Baltimore Fund (General Operating Support)

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The Baltimore Office of Promotion & The Arts (BOPA), on behalf of the Mayor and the City of Baltimore, is excited to announce the Creative Baltimore Grant for FY 2025. Through this grant opportunity, BOPA grants funds to qualified artists and arts and cultural organizations based in Baltimore City. The Creative Baltimore Fund is a grant made annually by the City of Baltimore. The annual allocation from the City’s general fund is administered by the Baltimore City Arts Council. The Creative Baltimore has two primary grant programs:  
 

  • General Operating Support (GOS) provides core support for established arts or cultural organizations that benefit the public and are artistically or culturally vibrant. 
  • Mayor’s Individual Artist Award – Project/Practice Support (PS) provides support for artists individual practice or program that promote public access and encourage the breadth of arts and/or cultural programming in our community. 


This application form is for General Operation Support (GOS).

Key Dates
    Application Opens: Wednesday, October 23, 2024
    Applicant Office Hours:  Sundays 12pm-1pm and Tuesdays from 6pm-7pm via Zoom (details below)
    Application Deadline: Monday, December 2, 2024 at 11:59pm
    Panel Review: Tuesday, December 3, 2024 – Monday, December 9, 2024 

(NOTE: there may be a "due diligence" process where a BOPA team member reaches out to applicants during this period to clarify any information in the application that may not be clear or needs verification before making a final scoring decision).
    Award Notifications: Tuesday, December 10, 2024
    Mandatory Site Visit: To be scheduled between February 2025 – June 2025
    Mid-Year Report: Monday, June 2, 2025
    Final Report: Monday, December 1, 2025

GENERAL OPERATING SUPPORT program for FY25  
General Operating Support (GOS) grants provide unrestricted, core support for Baltimore City-based nonprofit organizations that have:  
    • A primary mission to create, produce, present or provide arts or cultural services for the public; • A history of vibrant artistic or cultural programming; and •a strong organizational capacity.  

 
Grant Award
    Grants to organizations will be made in amounts ranging from $3,000 - $10,000. In previous fiscal years, BOPA has awarded 41 – 86 grantees per year, with the average grant amount being $4,000. BOPA may award grant amounts lower than what the applicant requests in their application. Grant award will be paid 100% at time of contract signing & processing. Award amount will be calculated on factors including but not limited to: 

  • Merit of application, previous programming, and proposal of future programming 
  • Annual operating budget 
  • Staff size 
  • Availability of other funding sources  


Eligibility Criteria - Who May Apply
    To be eligible for the GOS grant program, applicants must meet each of the following criteria:  

  • Have a primary mission to provide programs or activities in areas directly concerned with arts or cultural heritage for the general public.  
  • BOPA defines arts and culture as including, but not limited to, literature, theater, music, dance, fashion, comedy, the emergence of food and culture, visual art (such as painting, sculpture, photography, film), placemaking (architecture, murals), as well as history and natural sciences (archaeology, folk art, natural history).  
  • Have a permanent and viable base in Baltimore City for a minimum of two years prior to the submission deadline for the FY25 General Operating Support application.  
  • Be and have been a 501(c)(3) organization for at least two years or be a successor to an arts or cultural organization that had been a 501(c)(3) tax exempt organization for at least three years prior to the submission deadline.  
  • Organizations that utilize fiduciary organizations are eligible. 
  • Provide Independently Certified Audited Financial Statements for FY24 and FY23 if its annual budget is $500,000 or more; or provide either Independently Certified Audited or Reviewed Financial Statements for FY24 and FY23 if its annual budget is less than $500,000.  
  • Have a Certificate of Good Standing certifying that the applicant is a registered nonprofit corporation, in good standing, in the State of Maryland.  


 

Who May NOT Apply
    The following types of organizations are not eligible to apply to the GOS Program (this list is not meant to be exhaustive):  

  • Units of government, including K‐12 school districts; public colleges and universities; libraries; individuals; organizations that are the primary responsibility of a government agency; private K‐12 schools; private libraries;
  • Organizations that are not in good standing with BOPA and/or not in compliance with previous grants. 
  • Additionally, organizational partners to artists receiving Individual Artist/Project Support are not eligible for GOS funding in the same grant cycle.  


 

Funding Restrictions 

Creative Baltimore funds cannot be used for:  

· Religious ceremonies or events advancing or inhibiting a particular religious ideology 

· Fundraising or advocacy of specific political causes or candidates 

· Capital improvements (facilities and equipment) 

· Agent’s fees for programs contracted through commercial agencies.  

· Travel outside of the United States.  

 

How to Apply 

Applications must be submitted via Submittable, which is a free platform. The application form consists of questions related to: contact information, programming experience, mission/vision, artistic discipline and pedagogy, and use of grant funds. There are also attachment fields, such as previous years programming budget and work samples/portfolio. 

 

Panel Review

All BOPA grant programs are adjudicated using panels of arts and culture professionals from the region who evaluate and score applications. Panelists are not BOPA employees or board members and are recruited through an application process or volunteer database.   

 

Rubric 

A panel review team will consider the following factors when scoring applications:  

  • Artistic and/or cultural and programmatic merit 
  • Accessibility to under-served communities and a wide range of audiences 
  • Programmatic quality 
  • Budget 


Office Hours Sessions
 Office hours are free, and open to any member of the public who is interested in applying for the grant. Office hours are structured to serve as application help or question-and-answer opportunities. All sessions are held via Zoom and hosted by Twi McCallum, Community Engagement Manager. 


 Tuesday, October 29 from 6pm - 7pm 

Sunday, November 3 from 12pm-1pm 

Tuesday, November 5 from 6pm-7pm 

Sunday, November 10 from 12pm-1pm 

Tuesday, November 12 from 6pm-7pm 

Sunday, November 17 from 12pm-1pm 

Tuesday, November 19 from 6pm-7pm 

Sunday, November 24 from 12pm-1pm 

Tuesday, November 25 from 6pm-7pm 

Sunday, December 1 from 12pm-1pm 


 

ZOOM LINK FOR SUNDAY SESSIONS: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/81747158864

ZOOM LINK FOR TUESDAY SESSIONS: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/84554597560

 

Mandatory Site Visits & Reporting
 Community engagement, data collection, and reporting are a core component to BOPA’s overall mission and our grantmaking efforts. All awarded grantees will be required to schedule an in-person site visit and/or virtual meeting prior to the mid-year reporting deadline. The site visit is meant to be an opportunity to give BOPA staff an opportunity to learn about your work firsthand. Site visits can include a tour of a facility, and invite to an event, or an invite to a staff meeting, just as an example, for any tasks or work that was funded by the grant. Site visit information will be communicated upon contract signing.  


 Mid-year reports will be provided via Submittable or another digital platform. This report should document any work done between January 2025 – June 2025, including program information, expenses, and an opportunity to share a timeline for programming through December 2025.
 


Staff 

BOPA grant programs are administered by professional staff responsible for ensuring an objective, equitable and transparent grant-making process that meets BOPA’s mission and core values. BOPA staff members provide pertinent and uniform information to the public regarding the grant application process and ensure that program guidelines and requirements are applied consistently. Employees of BOPA are not eligible to apply for this grant.  

 

Ownership of Intellectual Property 

BOPA does not own, collect royalties on or hold copyrights to artistic products resulting from its grants, nor will it take any action on behalf of the grantee (cultural partner) to protect the grantee’s intellectual property rights. BOPA does, however, have legal authority to reproduce and use submitted documentation (electronically and in print) of such artistic products for educational, promotional, official, or noncommercial purposes.  

 

Questions 

For additional information on the General Operating Support FY25 application please contact: Twi McCallum, Community Engagement Manager, tmccallum@promotionandarts.org. News, updates, and technical assistance workshops will be posted on the BOPA website, Facebook page, Instagram page, and distributed through BOPA’s email distribution list. Interested applicants are encouraged to sign up at www.promotionandarts.org to receive notifications. 

We use Submittable to accept and review our submissions.