The Arts Work Fund (AWF) is a funding collaborative designed to help strengthen the management and operations of small arts organizations in Chicago and Cook County. Since 2006, these funders have collaborated toward a common goal – enabling arts organizations to focus on their artistic missions by helping them become more operationally efficient and effective.

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Submit to Arts Capacity Grant Program

Adapt to Change. Address Challenges. Focus on Equity.

AWF's responsive grants support individual arts organizations—or collaborations among them—as they adopt or improve new operational or artistic practices. Grants aim to:

  • Strengthen organizational resilience
  • Advance strategy
  • Improve community engagement and communication
  • Address other key capacity-building needs

Examples of Eligible Projects: Note: These examples are not exhaustive. We welcome other approaches tailored to your organization's needs.

Operational Resilience: Improving financial systems (e.g., budgeting, cash flow, forecasting), Developing new revenue strategies (contributed and earned), Enhancing human resources practices and staff well-being, Creating crisis response or continuity plans, Strengthening digital security practices, Organizational risk assessments.

Organizational Strategy: Strategic planning or organizational visioning, Reimagining or planning for sunsetting organizations or programs, Scenario or crisis management planning, Mergers, shared resources models, and strategic partnerships.

Community Engagement & Communications: Strengthening communications strategies, Developing models for audience engagement, Building digital storytelling capacity, Creating community feedback systems.

Eligible Organizations

All applicants must:

  1. Have an arts-based mission where artistic work is the primary purpose and budget focus
  2. Be a 501(c)(3) public charity or have a fiscal sponsor with this status. Organizations with fiscal sponsors should have an independent budget and a board of directors or other formal, organized oversight team that serves a governance function and otherwise complements staff leadership. 
  3. Operate with an annual budget under $2 million, based on the most recently completed audit or I.R.S. Form 990
  4. Be based in and serve Chicago and Cook County

All eligible organizations are welcome to apply. The AWF prioritizes organizations that:

1. Are Community-Rooted 

  • Deeply reflect and respond to their community's cultural needs
  • Are led by and for people of color, LGBTQ+, women, people with disabilities, and those at intersections of these identities
  • Define their community or communities either geographically (e.g., Pilsen residents, South Side neighborhoods) or demographically (e.g., Latine families, LGBTQ+ youth), or through shared experiences and interests that may cross traditional boundaries (e.g., immigrant communities, artists with disabilities, formerly incarcerated artists.

2. Are Artist-Centered and Community-Represented

  • Honor the leadership and lived experiences of artists 
  • Ensure leadership reflects and responds to the communities served

3. Have Clearly Defined and Timely Capacity-Building Needs

  • Organizations with clearly defined operational capacity-building challenges or opportunities will receive priority consideration.

Funding Restrictions: AWF does not fund: General operating support, Creative program development or production, Ongoing staffing or program costs, Projects based at universities and schools or involving religious proselytization, Reimbursement, debt reduction, or endowment campaigns, Purchase of software, except when integral to the larger capacity-building project being proposed, Equipment or furniture, Regular website/database maintenance, Annual audits

Grant Amounts: Grant sizes depend on the project's scope but will not exceed $40,000.