Philadelphia Cultural Fund to distribute $13 million to arts organizations next year

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The Philadelphia Cultural Fund is launching a historic cycle in 2026, distributing $13 million in grants to arts and cultural organizations throughout the city.

“This is one of the biggest shifts in our 30-year history, and it’s designed to make our funding more equitable and accessible,” said Gabriela Sanchez, executive director of PCF.

Here’s what to know about why this round of funding stands out, who can apply and how everyday Philadelphians can help make decisions about where the dollars go.

What is the Philadelphia Cultural Fund?

PCF was established by the city of Philadelphia in 1991 to ensure that neighborhoods across the city have access to art. The nonprofit provides grants to arts and cultural organizations, including everything from community theaters and neighborhood art centers to dance groups and heritage organizations.

“Our mission is all about equity, access and sustainability, making sure that artists and cultural organizations can keep doing what they do best, which is to strengthen community through creativity,” Sanchez said.

In next year’s grant cycle, PCF is offering a total of $13 million in public and private funding to local arts organizations.

What are the grants available and who can apply?

The new Community Impact Grant, powered by an $8 million grant from the William Penn Foundation, is open to organizations with annual budgets under $500,000.

There are 140 grants available, each $10,000. The deadline to apply is Jan. 16.

The Art & Culture Grant, Sanchez said, is PCF’s longtime annual grant of $12,500. This year, it’s open to Philadelphia-based art-and-culture nonprofits or fiscally-sponsored groups with budgets under $3 million. The deadline to apply is Jan. 9.

Sanchez said she has seen firsthand the impact of PCF grants. Funding from the nonprofit helped her grow Power Street Theatre, the community arts organization she started in 2012.

“The first grant I ever wrote was for the Philadelphia Cultural Fund. I never saw myself as a grant writer. I never imagined myself even in this space that I’m in now,” she said. “But being on the ground and still being on the ground in the work that I do has really made me become an even deeper champion of equity and access.”

Sanchez said the Community Impact Grant, in particular, bridges the gap between large philanthropic institutions and smaller organizations that wouldn’t otherwise be able to qualify for funding.

In her experience as a grantee, Sanchez said, going through the PCF grant process helped prepare Power Street Theatre for applying to other opportunities for financial support. The organization went on to receive funding from William Penn.

“PCF had a huge influence on that,” Sanchez said. “It’s a pipeline to bigger funders, if folks choose to take that route.”

The grants are general operating dollars, which allows organizations to direct funding to what they think is most needed. It’s all a part of “trust-based philanthropy,” Sanchez said.

“We understand that success is not linear, and that the folks working in and with the community, they know best the needs of the community.”

Community arts powered by the people

PCF offers information sessions during the grant cycle and has posted videos from those sessions online for anyone who wants to learn more about applying. The goal is to make a rigorous and competitive process as accessible as possible, Sanchez said.

“We’re really trying to meet the community where they are as well to set them up for success,” she said. “And that feels really exciting to me, because I think that’s where philanthropy needs to head, is to be able to look people in the eye a little bit more and get the word out around these dollars that folks may not even know about.”

PCF is also inviting everyday Philadelphians who have an interest in expanding access to the arts to serve on the peer panel that decides which organizations receive Community Impact Grants.

The panel will consist of 30-35 people who will be paid a stipend to spend time reviewing applications and making recommendations. Panelists do not have to be arts-and-culture experts, Sanchez said; they just have to care about expanding access and be willing to make decisions informed by their lived experiences.

“PCF is opening up our doors to say, ‘We want you to be a part of our community, too,’” Sanchez said. “We’re not interested in being a philanthropic organization that has its doors closed, and I think … we’re modeling that.”

Artists as ‘co-conspirators of change’

During the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, PCF was almost eliminated from the city’s budget, even though that crisis showed how essential the arts are, Sanchez said.

“When crisis hits, we often turn to art and culture for survival, for joy, for community care, for collective action,” she said. “And so I always want to interrogate the why: What prevents us from valuing art and culture and investing in art and culture to the level that it deserves, to the level of what the data tells us and the testimonies tell us and history tells us.”

The organization now finds itself in a “position of abundance,” she said, despite a funding landscape that has been hit hard by federal funding cuts. Sanchez said that’s due in part to a refusal to “lead with fear” since she assumed leadership in April 2023.

“I do think a part of that is because of my active choice of … the ways I want to see the world and troubleshoot and not perpetuate the scarcity mindset that has always existed and that keeps us actually stagnant and not working together and fighting against each other,” she said.

For Sanchez, artists are “the co-conspirators of change,” and their work is important because it fosters empathy and connection.

“It allows us to ask questions and not always have the answers, but to be in dialogue with each other,” she said. “To look each other in the eye, even in discomfort, to laugh, to exist.”

Editor’s Note: The William Penn Foundation is among WHYY’s financial supporters.