The Creative Confluence Fund is an arts-focused, transformative regranting initiative that seeks to honor and amplify the creative power alive in Kansas City. The Creative Confluence Fund supports an arts ecosystem where artists and organizations are visible and valued, and community members directly shape the creative work happening in their neighborhoods.

This opportunity focuses on three geographic areas where significant community, cultural, and neighborhood-based work is already taking place but where funding opportunities have not kept pace with other areas of the Kansas City metro region. Applicants are encouraged to build on local assets, relationships, histories, and community strengths. The intent is to support projects that contribute to vibrant, connected, and creative neighborhoods.

This opportunity reflects a growing interest in supporting arts and cultural activity that is rooted in community, expands participation, and creates meaningful connections between people and place. The intent is to invest in projects that build on existing creativity and strengthen the cultural life of Kansas City neighborhoods.

At this point, artists from all disciplines living or working in Northeast Kansas City, East Side Kansas City, and Northeastern Wyandotte County, Kansas are eligible to apply. Since this is a pilot program, changes to eligibility may occur in the future.

Yes, a recording of the info session will be made available on our website.

A public, community-based arts project should be designed to build relationships with your community audience and accessible to the public via process, production, presentation, or publication. The project in your neighborhood should be welcome, supported, and carefully integrated with residents. Potential projects include but are not limited to the creation of physical/digital artwork, art-centric events, performances, or community-driven activations that are informed and supported by the neighborhood in which the project will come to life.

No. We understand that you may be in the process fleshing out your project over a few years. If a collaborator is not confirmed, applicants should share where they are in the decision process, which collaborators they are waiting to hear from, and the criteria they are using for selecting them.

This is not a travel fund. Funds are intended to be used to carry out your project. Travel for research might be eligible if it is persuasively linked to necessary elements of your project, if the final result will directly benefit artists and audiences in your Kansas City neighborhood, and if the costs of travel do not make up an unreasonable portion of your budget. Funds can be used to bring artists from out of town to participate in the project, but the majority of the people involved should be from and benefit artists or audiences in your Kansas City neighborhood.

You, the lead artist, and the majority of any other key participants must be residents of at least one of the three defined neighborhoods at the time of the application. Funding should benefit the artists and audiences in these geographies. This means that a collaborating artist could be brought into the area to enhance the arts experience here (providing other eligibility criteria are met), but also that a final project funded by the grant should not happen outside of the Creative Confluence Fund’s key geographic areas.

The Creative Confluence Fund supports artist-centered, community-engaged projects. Grant funds cannot be used for capital expenses or improvements.

No. College graduates must have been out of school for at least one year before applying.

Yes. Your images should persuade the selection panel that you have the expertise, experience, and vision necessary to carry out the proposal that you are submitting. We suggest applicants submit clear sketches that tell a visual story about their proposal in addition to examples of past work. Properly credited inspirational materials made by others could even be appropriate. In other words, you could submit work that is not the same as the work you intend to make, but that has relevance and qualifies you as a good candidate. Please use high-quality work samples from the past five years that help reviewers imagine and understand what you’re proposing.

● Read the guidelines in full before beginning an application.

● Create a profile with Submittable early in your process.

● Give yourself plenty of time to prepare and submit an application.

● Be specific and be clear. Successful proposals address the grant program requirements and goals.

● Be authentic. Celebrate what makes your proposal unique. Avoid using too much jargon or vague, blanket statements in your narrative.

● Prepare your narrative in a word processing application (MS Word or Google Docs) before inputting your responses to Submittable.

● Check the application in Submittable for specific instructions about uploads (like work samples) and documentation (like budget templates) that are not detailed in the guidelines.

No, all your application materials must be submitted by the published deadline. The online application system at Submittable will not accept any material after 11:59 PM on the date of the deadline. You are advised to prepare your materials well ahead of the deadline to avoid any surprises. Materials can be submitted early, and we encourage you to do this!

Yes, everyone who submits an application will be notified by email.

Each individual artist grantee will receive $25,000 per year over the two-year grant period for a total of $50,000 per artist. Payments will be distributed once each artist has signed a contract and met with Creative Confluence Fund administrators for final approval.

Award income is taxable, and we make a single check out to the lead artist. We do offer an option to receive the first installment of award funds split over 2026 and 2027 calendar years if that is helpful. We encourage you to consult a tax professional. Kansas City Volunteer Lawyers and Accountants for the Arts offer a free consultation service. As a professional artist you should consider filing a Schedule C to write off project expenses against taxable income. Long-term artist collaborations can also form an entity such as an LLC to split income and tax liability between all members.

Depending on the results of the pilot program, the Creative Confluence Fund may be available again in the future. Applications are expected to open every two years.

If your project is selected, we ask you to take part in the following as part of the grant:

• Sign and submit the grant letter and agreement by the deadline
• Provide relevant information for public communications, marketing, and promotion of the initiative
• Participate in an onboarding conversation in February 2027
• Facilitated cohort sessions to develop your proposal
• Interim progress updates and project reflections.

Throughout the grant period, we’ll ask for your participation in data collection and reporting to help show impact and change over time. Program information, including data and any stories shared during the grant period, may be used by the Creative Confluence Fund for evaluation, reporting, and communication.