Sustained Support Midstream Grant

Sustained Support Midstream Grant

Status: ACTIVE
Funder: 4Culture
Last Updated: September 26, 2025

Summary

The Sustained Support Midstream Grant provides crucial operational funding for arts organizations and Local Arts Agencies in King County. This grant enhances the capacity for creativity and accessibility, fostering community impact through consistent programming. Additionally, it addresses geographic equity by offering increased awards to organizations outside Seattle or in designated Communities of Opportunity. By leveraging lodging tax revenue, this initiative aims to enrich cultural experiences for all residents and visitors of King County.

Overview

NOTE: This opportunity runs on a biennial cycle. The next deadline will be in 2024. Arts Sustained Support Sustained Support assists with the day-to-day needs of arts organizations over two-year cycles—this reliable, consistent support lets creativity flourish in the places that make King County a cultural hub. What Sustained Support Funds Arts organizations and Local Arts Agencies all over King County use Sustained Support funding as a modest but dependable building block in their annual budgets. Sustained Support provides operational funding that organizations and agencies receive for the robustness, creativity, and quality of the overall artistic services they provide to King County residents and visitors. For arts organizations: Clarity and achievement of your organization’s mission and goals.Community impact and support, achieved through a consistent level of programming and accessibility for audiences.Active role of artists in your organization’s mission and activities, and the continuity of artistic, management, and board personnel.Financial accountability as demonstrated through board oversight, audience revenue, and contributed income. For local arts agencies (LAAs): Quality, scope, diversity, and impact of your annual programming.Commitment of local government through dedicated staff, commission structure, and annual financial investment in cultural programming.Responsiveness to community needs—including diverse populations—through strategic planning, programming, funding, collaboration, technical assistance, convening, and communications.Growth and development of resources, scope, impact, and community participation. Geographic Equity Enhancement 4Culture recognizes that where an organization is based or provides its services can affect access to funding and other resources. Many cultural organizations in greater King County have less access to public and private support than those located in Seattle. To take a step towards balancing these disparities, 4Culture will give a modest award increase to the 2021 Sustained Support awards for organizations located outside the City of Seattle, and for organizations located in Seattle in a 2010 US Census tract area with a Communities of Opportunity index percentile of 60% or greater. Communities of Opportunity (COO) is a partnership and initiative of the Seattle Foundation and King County, whose purpose is to direct resources where they can have the greatest impact while overcome ongoing patterns of underfunding. Annual measures of life and health indicators by census tract are averaged over multiple years and combined to create a single index. 4Culture will use this index for the 2021 Sustained Support cycle to guide award increases toward applicants located in Communities of Opportunity. Public Benefit: Why It Matters Every time a visitor to Washington State stays in a hotel, they pay a Lodging Tax—this is where our funding comes from, and our mission is to put it back into the community. As you work through your application, tell us exactly how your fellow King County residents will be able to enjoy and learn from your work. Here are some ways you can provide public benefit: Free performances, exhibitions, workshops, screenings, or readings.Events in the often under-served areas of suburban or rural King County, to low-income, youth and senior groups, individuals with limited physical abilities, recent immigrants, or residents from minority races or ethnicities.Free, electronically accessible materials, including literary publications, audio, or video recordings.

Eligibility

You can learn more about this opportunity by visiting the funder's website. For 2021 Sustained Support awards, Geographic Equity Enhancements will be provided to:Organizations, or the historic resources they steward, that are located within King County but outside the City of Seattle.Organizations, or the historic resources they steward, located in Seattle, but within a Community of Opportunity.The following types of organizations may apply:Local arts agencies (LAAs) and arts organizations with a 3-year minimum operating history and a record of artistic or cultural accomplishment.LAAs are designated municipal agencies or nonprofit organizations that provide a range of arts services for a specific King County community (for example, the Kent Arts Commission or the Maple Valley Creative Arts Council).Arts organizations that do not have 501(c)(3) non-profit status may apply, but if they are selected for funding they will need the fiscal sponsorship of another 501(c)(3) “umbrella” organization in order to claim their awards. If your organization is not a non-profit, please contact 4Culture staff for advice or recommendations for fiscal sponsorship.Arts organizations are nonprofit entities that provide arts programming to the public and/or that provide services—training, administrative support, technical assistance, and more—to arts professionals (for example, Seattle Art Museum, Annex Theatre, or Washington Lawyers for the Arts).

Ineligibility

Organizations with an annual budget over $3.5 million do not qualify for this enhancement.