Center for Cultural Innovation: East Bay/Oakland Relief Fund for Individuals in the Arts

About

This Fund is in response to the economic crisis, and ensuing financial needs of individuals, that has resulted from the coronavirus pandemic. The large-scale shutdown that was needed to stem the spread of COVID-19 has put the entire arts sector on hold, effectively disrupting artists and arts workers’ ability to earn income. Individuals are the backbone of arts and culture--exhibitions and performances, educational arts programming, community-anchoring cultural enterprises, and services by nonprofit arts organizations--and they need financial help to remain in our communities and contribute to making them meaningful and vibrant.

Together, the East Bay/Oakland Relief Fund for Individuals in the Arts is distributing $625,000 to help the region’s artists, teaching artists, culture bearers, and nonprofit arts workers who comprise the various and diverse cultural communities of Alameda and Contra Costa Counties, with dedicated support for those in the City of Oakland.

About the Host

The Center for Cultural Innovation (CCI) was founded in 2001 as a California 501(c)3 nonprofit corporation. Its mission is to promote knowledge sharing, networking, and financial independence for individuals in the arts by providing business training, grants, and incubating innovative projects that create new program knowledge, tools and practices for artists in the field, and conditions that contribute to realizing financial self determination.