Apply for Hope Corps 2025: Downtown Seattle Activations

The Seattle Office of Arts & Culture (ARTS) invites individual artists, cultural producers, arts administrators, creative workers, community groups, and arts and cultural organizations to apply to Hope Corps.

You can apply by proposing projects that generate career opportunities for the local creative workforce, and contribute to the well-being of Seattle's downtown community with community-driven projects, events, performances, and more.

Envisioned as an economic recovery program for Seattle's creative workforce, Hope Corpsconnects under- and unemployed artists, creative workers, and culture keepers with career opportunities that benefit the public. The 2025 Hope Corps program is part of Mayor Bruce Harrell's Downtown Activation Plan, and funding will go towards projects that employ creative workers through activations in Seattle's downtown neighborhoods:

1. Belltown
2. Central Downtown
3. Chinatown-International District
4. Denny Triangle
5. Pioneer Square
6. Stadium District

Proposed projects should be unique events or activations, taking place in 2025 in street-level, accessible, outdoor, or otherwise publicly visible spaces that provide engaging experiences for the public and bring audiences downtown.

Grants range from $5,000 - $50,000 to support creative worker wages and project expenses.

Focus Areas

Projects should address one or more of the following focus areas:

• Seattle is THRIVING - Creating a New Narrative for Downtown Seattle: Why do you love Seattle? What helps you feel safe in your community? What is the history of this place? What has Seattle survived? How is Seattle changing? What makes you proud to be a Seattleite? What do you want to see in Seattle's future?
• Placemaking, Place-keeping, and Belonging - Who belongs in Seattle's Downtown? Who belongs on Indigenous land? How do we live in community with our unhoused neighbors? Who has been excluded from opportunity in Seattle's Downtown neighborhoods? How do the arts make our Downtown unique?
• Climate and Water Justice - How do water and the natural environment shape our city? How do Seattleites relate to nature? How do Seattle's residents steward the ecology around us? How can we create a healthy, resilient, and green Downtown? How can our city create a just, sustainable future?

Eligibility

You are eligible to apply for Hope Corps funding if you and your proposed activation project meet the following criteria:

• You are an individual artist, organization, or community-based group located in, or presenting work regularly in, Seattle.
  • Organizations and individual artists representing communities most impacted by systemic oppression including low-income, people with disabilities, immigrant and refugee communities, and communities of color are encouraged to apply.
• Your activation project must occur between January 2025 and December 2025.
• Your activation project and its associated public benefit must take place in Downtown Seattle within the identified Downtown Activation Plan boundary.
• Your activation project must address one or more of the three focus areas of this program.
• Your activation project must be promoted and made accessible to the general public - Seattle residents, workers, and visitors - to attend. This includes a free attendance option and accessibility for people who primarily speak languages other than English and people with disabilities. If you could use assistance to make your event more accessible, please contact [email protected]v.
• Your activation project must pay each creative worker* a living wage, whether through wages, stipends, or contract payments. We define a living wage as $32 per hour or more (this may vary for youth and students).
• Your activation project may have a virtual component, but it must be primarily an in-person experience.
• If your activation project is a temporary art installation, it must be displayed for at least 3 months.

Funding

Funding amounts range from $5,000 - $50,000.

Due Date

Tuesday, Sep. 3, 2024, 5 p.m. (Pacific)

Please allow ample time to complete your application. Applications submitted after the 5 p.m. (Pacific) deadline will not be accepted.

Information Workshops

Learn more about this grant and how to submit your best application. We highly encourage first-time applicants to attend one of these sessions:

Workshop 1 (Virtual)
Tuesday, July 30, 2024, 10:00 - 11:00 a.m.
RSVP to Workshop 1

Workshop 2 (In-person in Pioneer Square)
Monday, August 5, 2024, 6:00 - 7:30 p.m.
RSVP to Workshop 2

Workshop 3 (Virtual)
Thursday, August 15, 11:30 a.m. - 12:30 p.m.
RSVP to Workshop 3

Workshop 4 (In-person in Belltown)
Saturday, August 17, 11:00 a.m. - 12:30 p.m.
RSVP to Workshop 4

Application

Apply online through Submittable. If you don't have computer or internet access, or would like to discuss alternative ways of applying, contact Alex Rose, Hope Corps Program Manager, as soon as possible: [email protected].

If you have trouble, check the Submittable FAQ for step-by-step guides. You can also contact Submittable tech support at [email protected].

Contact

For information and assistance with the application, eligibility or online technical support contact Alex Rose, Hope Corps Program Manager, at 206-459-6517 or [email protected]. 

We have interpreters who can speak to you in your language, including American Sign Language (via video). Just call us and tell us what language you speak. Expect a short pause while we find an interpreter to join the call.

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