Cultural Districts

Purpose

This initiative will designate up to 10 new state-designated cultural districts. The Cultural Districts program offers grants up to $10,000 over a two-year period, official state certification, technical assistance, and access to joint marketing and branding resources. The 2025 cohort designation period will run from January 1, 2026 to December 31, 2030, with grant activities taking place from January 1, 2026 to December 31, 2027.

Description

The California Cultural Districts program was established through Assembly Bill 189, authored by Assemblymember Richard Bloom and signed into law in 2015. The legislation grants the CAC the authority to identify, designate, and promote areas of concentrated cultural activity. “California’s cultural districts reflect the extraordinary diversity and creativity that define our state,” said Danielle Brazell, Executive Director of the California Arts Council. “This program is about more than just geography—it’s about creating sustainable ecosystems where artists and cultural workers can thrive, where history and heritage are honored, and where the arts serve as a catalyst for connection and community transformation.” The Cultural Districts program helps communities harness their unique cultural assets to stimulate local economies, attract tourism, preserve historic sites, and support vibrant, inclusive creative economies. Districts are selected through a rigorous, equity-centered application process that emphasizes authentic community partnerships, vision clarity, and demonstrated cultural depth. With applications due by August 7, 2025, the Cultural Districts program offers grants up to $10,000 over a two-year period, official state certification, technical assistance, and access to joint marketing and branding resources. The 2025 cohort designation period will run from January 1, 2026 to December 31, 2030, with grant activities taking place from January 1, 2026 to December 31, 2027. Eligible applicants must be a partnership of at least three organizations—an arts and/or cultural nonprofit or collective, a local business or business association, and a local government entity. Applications and full guidelines are available now at calartscouncil.smartsimple.com. Only partnerships are eligible to apply, ones that include, at a minimum, a cultural non-profit or artist collective, a local business/business association or a community development corporation, and a branch of local government. Ensuring that all interested parties have a good understanding of the full array of cultural assets present in the district will be critical to its long-term success. A comprehensive approach to cultural assets helps to ensure authenticity and the preservation of homegrown assets, a key priority of the California Arts Council. The application and review process will have three steps, including an open call for applications, site visits for semi-finalists, and finalist selection. A multi-disciplinary and multi-sector selection panel will review applications and provide ranks for districts to proceed as semi-finalists. Those semi-finalists will receive invitations for site visits by CAC staff. After the site visits, the panel will reconvene to discuss all the ranks and site visit notes and recommend up to 10 districts for designation.