Founded in 1969, ArtsFund supports a resilient and robust arts sector that contributes to the health and well-being of our communities. More than $115 million has been distributed to more than 1,000 ArtsFund arts organization grantees since our founding.
ARTSFUND’S MISSION
ArtsFund supports the arts through leadership, advocacy, and grantmaking in order to build a healthy, equitable, and creative Washington.
ARTSFUND’S VALUES
• We believe that arts and culture are a tool for social change.
• We believe in arts and culture as an economic driver that creates jobs and revitalizes communities through its interconnectedness with the entire Washington economy.
• We believe in promoting equity by centering those most impacted by systemic oppression, including Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC), LGBTQ+, and people with disabilities.
• We believe that communities benefit when youth and families are engaged in the arts.
• We believe that strong data, both quantitative and qualitative, can drive meaningful advocacy and change narratives.
• We believe that the arts bring people together with different experiences and that convening is essential for healthy communities.
STRATEGIC PLAN
In 2024 ArtsFund adopted a five-year strategic plan (2024-2028) to buttress our mission to support the arts through leadership, advocacy, and grantmaking in order to build a healthy, equitable, and creative Washington. The strategic plan was developed between 2023-2024 along with key stakeholders and outlines objectives for increased alignment with ArtsFund’s mission, vision, and values. Deliverables include more resources to support our mission, more transparency, more adoption of the value and critical nature of arts and culture in a healthy society, and more inclusion. Among the deliverables of the strategic plan, specific actions include:
Increasing ArtsFund’s internal capacity by three (3) FTE
Increasing grants to awardees by 20%
Increasing transparency with ArtsFund stakeholders across programmatic initiatives
Through this work over the next five years, ArtsFund’s goal is to provide outcomes that bring us closer to achieving on our vision of a community with a dynamic, equitable, and robust cultural sector where the arts are accessible to all and valued as central and critical to a healthy society.
Read the FY2024 – 2028 Strategic Plan.
STRATEGIC FRAMEWORK
In fall 2020, the ArtsFund Board of Trustees approved a new Theory of Change.
GRANT ALLOCATIONS
Since its founding in 1969, ArtsFund has endeavored to build a healthy, equitable, and creative Washington by raising funds from individuals and businesses to support the region’s nonprofit arts sector through grants and other organizational assistance. Through its widely respected allocations process, ArtsFund has distributed more than $100 million in grants to more than 650 large and small arts groups that span a variety of disciplines throughout King and Pierce counties. In 2022, thanks to our generous corporate and individual donors, ArtsFund awarded over $2.1 million in grants to arts and cultural nonprofits throughout the region. These grants provide general operating support—typically the most difficult yet crucial funding for arts groups to access.
Programs and Initiatives
ArtsFund is a respected voice and central advocate for the arts on the local, regional, state and national levels, and serves as the fiscal agent for several sector wide initiatives. ArtsFund is committed to helping develop the next generation of community and civic leaders and offers a nonprofit board leadership training course as well as ongoing convenings for the cultural sector. ArtsFund’s cash grants, capacity building, and other services make arts groups stronger so they can serve this region and make it a great place to live, work, raise a family and run a business.
Learn More
ArtsFund is a 501 (c)3 nonprofit, federal tax ID# 91-0839644
Read the ArtsFund 2023 Annual Report.