Throughout the City of Portland, artists and arts organizations make extraordinary contributions to our culture, economy and quality of life. Demonstrating a commitment to the arts, the City funds more than $4 million per year in grants to artists, arts organizations and arts education programs. Approximately $2.7 million of those funds are distributed to the general operating support of 76 established arts organizations, and $1.4 million is awarded in small grants to approximately 250 individual artists and 100 arts organizations each year.
In 2023, the City announced it would seek competitive bids for grants administration and other arts-related services. A Request for Proposals (RFP) for public art grant management was issued Dec. 18, 2023, seeking proposals from entities with grantmaking experience for the administration of up to $1.4 million annually in small grants to individual artists and arts organizations, each ranging from $500 to $5,000.
Grants administration responsibilities include managing the grant application process, evaluating applications, selecting grant recipients, distributing funds, and collecting reports from grantees.
The City of Portland is especially interested in proposals that help distribute funds to artists and arts activities in under-represented populations, including communities of color, Immigrants and/or refugees, Lesbian, gay bisexual, transgender and/or sexual/gender identities, people living on low incomes, people with disabilities, youth and neighborhoods in East Portland.
Up to six contracts may be awarded for these services, and the City invites proposals from small-scale providers (distributing up to $50,000 per year), medium-scale providers (distributing between $50,000 and $100,000 per year) and large-scale providers (distributing up to $1 million per year).
The RFP is available online in BuySpeed, the City’s procurement portal.
A non-mandatory pre-proposal meeting will be held at 9 a.m. Jan. 9, 2024.
Add meeting details to your calendar.
Proposals are due by 4 p.m. Feb. 1, 2024.
For questions related to the RFP, contact Tristan Sakamoto by phone at 503-823-8867 or email at Tristan.Sakamoto@portlandoregon.gov, reference RFP No. 00002224.