Creative West Artist Fund Grant

The Creative West Artist Fund supports artists and cultural practitioners across 16 states, providing essential funding and resources to enhance their emotional and financial well-being. Rooted in values of Democracy, Wellness, and Belonging, this initiative offers no-strings-attached funding alongside coaching and community care. It aims to empower artists as vital contributors to the creative economy, while promoting equitable and trust-based grantmaking practices. The fund serves to foster a rich creative community through collaboration and support.

About Creative West
At Creative West, supporting creativity is what we do. We build equitable technology, funding, advocacy, and policy systems to generate creative capacity in the West and beyond.
Regional Arts Organization (USRAO), Creative West was founded on the belief that place matters to the creative process.
We serve a broad and diverse region that stretches from the Arctic Coast to the Desert Southwest and from the Great Plains to the Pacific Islands. This is where we focus our efforts supporting artists, arts agencies, and arts organizations to build healthy, creative communities.
The Creative West Artist Fund celebrates and supports the creative, emotional, and financial well-being of artists and cultural practitioners across the 16 states and jurisdictions in the Creative West region.
Rooted in Creative West’s values of Democracy, Wellness, and Belonging, this program provides no-strings-attached funding and a four-month coaching and community care series to help artists strengthen their practice, deepen networks, and nurture abundance.
Building upon the earlier BIPOC Artist Fund, this new iteration centers artists as essential workers in the creative and civic economy. It reflects our commitment to responsive, equitable, and trust-based grantmaking—where accessibility, care, and creative autonomy define success.
Funds May Be Used For:

• Salary or income support
• Technology or software
• Materials and resources
• Holistic health and wellness
• Time for rest, planning, or research
• Program Goals
• Invest directly in artists’ financial and emotional well-being.
• Strengthen a regional network of creative care and collaboration.
• Model liberatory grantmaking rooted in trust, rest, and equity.
• Create space for reflection, storytelling, and sustainability.

Eligibility

Applicants must be artists, cultural practitioners, or artist collaboratives based in the Creative West region (16 states and jurisdictions);Be at least 18 years old at the time of application.; Be in good standing with Creative West (no overdue reports or pending documentation); Engage in creative or cultural work that contributes to community connection, cultural preservation, or creative innovation; Have not received funding from this or past iterations of Creative West Artist Fund.

Ineligibility

Previous Creative West Artist and BIPOC Artist Fund awardees are not eligible.