City’s Initiative Grant Program

The City’s Initiative grant program, administered by the Houston Arts Alliance (HAA), is a municipally funded opportunity that supports creative projects by artists, creatives, and nonprofit organizations throughout the City of Houston. The funding is sourced entirely from the City of Houston’s Hotel Occupancy Tax and is allocated specifically for this initiative. By contractual requirement, these funds must remain separate from other Hotel Occupancy Tax-funded programs like SACI or Let Creativity Happen. The City’s Initiative is designed to foster cultural programming that enhances the public’s access to the arts while simultaneously promoting tourism and reinforcing Houston’s identity as a thriving cultural hub. The program offers funding through three thematic areas: Art + Disaster Resilience Awareness, Art + Neighborhood Cultural Destinations, and Art + Conference Tourism. Each theme has its own strategic goals. For Round 3 of the 2025 cycle, only applicants under the Art + Conference Tourism area are eligible to request more than $10,000, contingent on a required preliminary meeting with HAA prior to submission. Eligible projects must introduce creative, public-facing activities that are not part of the applicant’s regular programming. Grants typically range from $5,000 to $10,000 and can be used to fund project-related costs, including artist fees and marketing. Awards exceeding $10,000 are subject to additional review and are only available within specific funding areas and rounds. Eligible applicants include individual artists, collectives, and nonprofit organizations. Applicants must reside or be headquartered within Houston city limits and must provide supporting documentation to verify residency or organizational location. Fiscal sponsorship is allowed for individuals or groups lacking nonprofit status, and sponsors are required to be based in Houston and meet strict fiduciary criteria. Each application must include work samples, a public presentation plan, and a detailed proposal clearly aligning with one of the three eligible funding areas. Public events may be live or virtual but must be open and accessible to the general public within Houston. The grant application process is carried out through the HAA Online Grants Portal. For Round 3, the application opens on August 29, 2025, and closes on September 27, 2025, at 11:59 PM CDT. Only projects taking place between January 1 and December 31, 2026, will be considered. No late submissions are accepted, and once submitted, applications cannot be revised. Applicants are advised to schedule preliminary meetings with HAA to review their proposal, especially if requesting amounts above the typical $10,000 ceiling. The evaluation process includes staff eligibility review, peer panel scoring, and final approval by the Mayor’s Office of Cultural Affairs. Applications are scored based on artistic programming (30 points), community engagement (25 points), promotion and accessibility (15 points), and budget stewardship (10 points), with additional points allocated for the overall project timeline and artist compensation. Required documents include proof of residency, identification, work samples, budget tables, and (where applicable) fiscal sponsorship agreements. Final grant decisions are issued via email, and awardees must sign their contracts within 120 days. All funded projects must submit a final report within 30 days of project completion and publicly acknowledge funding from the City of Houston and HAA.

Attend HAA's informational workshops and schedule a preliminary meeting if requesting above $10,000.