2027 Grant Opportunities

Eligibility

This application for the City of Wichita’s Operational Grant Opportunity is open to all arts and cultural organizations that meet the eligibility criteria listed below. If you are not certain whether your organization qualifies, or if you have any other questions, you can reach out to Jesse Koza, Cultural Arts Administrator, at 316.350.3241 or jkoza@wichita.gov. 

An information session about the Operational Grant Opportunity has been scheduled for Tuesday, May 26th at 1:00pm on Microsoft Teams (Click here to join). The virtual meeting will be recorded and uploaded to the City’s YouTube channel.

Organizations must meet the following criteria to receive operational funding:

• The organization must be a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization.
• The organization has as its primary purpose the production, presentation, advancement, or preservation of arts or culture in the City of Wichita.
• The organization must serve the residents of the City of Wichita.
• The organization, or any related support organization (“Friends of”, etc.), must receive less than 25% percent of its funding from the City of Wichita. Organizations that do not meet this requirement may still apply to a new grant program to be announced later this year.
• The organization has a minimum of two (2) years of operational history serving the residents of Wichita.
• The organization has full-time professional management and/or cultural/artistic staff. This service may be in-kind of volunteer in nature.
• The organization presents a full season of performances/exhibitions or other year-round programming (including general admission where applicable).
• The organization is ADA compliant. If the organization operates its own facility, that facility is ADA compliant. If the organization utilizes other venues/facilities, they only use ADA compliant facilities.
• The organization is an equal opportunity employer and complies with all applicable requirements of the City of Wichita Revised Non-Discrimination and Equal Employment/Affirmative Action Program Requirements Statement for Contracts or Agreements.
• The following organizations are ineligible for the Operational Grant Opportunity due to their status as Legacy Cultural Institutions: Arts Council, Botanica, Century II, CityArts, Kansas Aviation Museum, Mid-America All-Indian Museum, Museum of World Treasures, Old Cowtown Museum, Wichita Sedgwick County Historical Museum, Wichita Art Museum.

The Structure of the Cultural Funding Program

On April 3, 2025, the Cultural Funding Committee approved a new structure for the Cultural Funding Operational Grants. This new structure divides the Operational Grants into three tiers:

• Cultural Institutions are organizations that have served the residents of Wichita for at least 20 years, have received Cultural Funding from the City of Wichita for at least 15 years, and have budgets of at least $500,000. Once accepted into the Cultural Institution program, organizations do not need to reapply for funding so long as annual performance measures are met. New Cultural Institutions will receive a set percentage of the total available cultural funding. Organizations that already receive significant public funding will be assigned a slightly smaller percentage of the total. Funding for Legacy Cultural Institutions - those organizations with the Cultural Institution title at the beginning of 2025 - will be unaffected by this change.
• Cultural Anchors are organizations that have served the residents of Wichita for at least 10 years and have received funding from the City of Wichita for at least 5 of the last 10 years (relative to the current date). Anchors will receive three-year funding contracts from the City, with consistent funding amounts for those three years, so long as annual performance measures are met. Anchors will reapply for funding after every three-year contract ends. After their third contract (9 years total), the Anchor will be evaluated for inclusion as a Cultural Institution. If accepted, the Anchor’s final contract will receive a 1-year extension, and they will move up to Institution status after that 10th year. Cultural Anchor funding is currently capped at $35,000 per year.
• Cultural Partners are organizations that have served the residents of Wichita for at least 2 years. This tier works in a similar way to the previous iteration of the Operational Grant Opportunity. Partners will apply for funding annually and meet annual performance measures. After reaching ten years of history serving the residents of Wichita and receiving funding for at least five of those ten years, Partners may apply for Anchor status. Cultural Partner funding is currently capped at $15,000 per year.

Organizations will indicate on their applications whether they are applying for Partner, Anchor, or Institution status. Funding amounts for Cultural Anchors and Cultural Partners will be based on the previous fiscal year’s total expenses, subject to each tier’s cap.

Q&A Sessions

Not everything about an organization can be captured in an application. To make sure they have all the necessary information about your organization, the Cultural Funding Committee requires applicants to attend an in-person meeting so they can ask additional and clarifying questions. These questions follow-up on things written in the application and are not intended to put you in an uncomfortable or adversarial position. You will begin the process of scheduling your time (15-minute slots) when you submit your application.

Please do not bring anything other than yourselves or any notes you need when attending. We cannot accept additional documents, and media presentations – videos, PowerPoint, etc. – are not allowed. Q&A sessions are open to the public for observation only. Meetings over Zoom, etc., can be accommodated, but those decisions are made on a case-by-case basis and permitted only in certain circumstances.

Lobbying

Applicants may not lobby Cultural Funding Committee or City Council members prior to, during, or following the application process. 

Review Process

The Division of Arts and Cultural Services will review each application submitted by the deadline. The purpose of this review is to make sure your organization is eligible and that you have submitted everything needed. It is not an evaluation of the content or quality of the application. A Division staff member will reach out if clarification or additional information is needed. Each application that passes this review will be submitted to the Cultural Funding Committee for evaluation.

New This Year: The Fiscal Year End Report

Every iteration of the Operational Grant Opportunity has attempted to ease burden on our applicants and grant recipients in some way, and the FY27 Opportunity is no different. 

For 2027 funding, the Division and the Cultural Funding Committee would like to shift away from requiring an Annual Report, the timing of which was based on the City's fiscal year (based on the calendar year). Instead, we plan to require a Fiscal Year End Report, due one month after the end of each recipient's fiscal year. So, if your organization's fiscal year ends June 30, the FYE Report would be due July 30. We will work with organizations on the specifics as we navigate this shift.

This change removes burden by (eventually) reducing the annual paperwork funding recipients need to complete. Historically, organizations would have to fill out a large application for funding, typically sometime between May and August, and a lengthy annual report, which has been due at the end of January. Now, the FYE Report will act as both the annual report and the application for future funding. 

The Division and the Cultural Funding Committee anticipate any information collected in the FYE Report will act as the basis for future funding applications. There may be some supplemental questions asked when it is time to reapply for funding, but it will be minimal compared to the current application. The FYE Report will be due when organizations are already compiling their own end-of-year reporting information, and as such, it is intended to slot into that process.

Ultimately, this change toward utilizing a FYE Report and not a calendar year-based Annual Report is meant to remove burden, though it may create some in the short term. For some organizations, the FYE Report will be due just months after they may have filled out their 2026 Annual Report. Staff will work with affected organizations to mitigate that burden. 

Contracts and Audits

• If the recommendation for funding is approved, individual contracts with organizations will be sent by the Division of Arts and Cultural Services staff and approved by the City Council for Fiscal Year 2026.
• Organizations will be required to submit a Fiscal Year End Report. This report will be due one month after the close of their FY27 fiscal year. 
• City funding may be audited at any time.

Timeline

• Friday, May 8, 2026 – The application opens at wichita.submittable.com.
• Friday, May 8, 2026 through Friday, July 31, 2026 – Division Staff are available to answer questions and review drafts of applications for completeness.
• Tuesday, May 19, 2026 - Information Session on Microsoft Teams (Click here to join)
• Monday, August 3, 2026 – Submission deadline for the FY2026 application.
• Thursday, September 3, 2026 – Q&A sessions; organizations will meet with the Cultural Funding Committee to answer questions regarding their organization and application.
• Thursday, September 10, 2026 – Deliberations - Cultural Funding Committee members meet to deliberate funding recommendations.
• Thursday, October 1, 2026 – The Committee finalizes its recommendations for the Wichita City Council

Funding Limitations and Uses

• Operational Grant funding is for an organization’s operations. Operational spending includes categories like salaries, office rent, utility payments, general website upkeep, and so on. If you have any questions about what you can use operational funding for, please feel free to reach out to the Division of Arts and Cultural Services.
• The maximum amount of funding a Cultural Anchor or Cultural Partner will be awarded is based on how much the organization spent (its expenses) during its most recently completed fiscal year. In-kind services, such as donated items, volunteer hours, free rent, etc., cannot count toward that total.
• You can only submit one application for Operational Grant funding each cycle. Please coordinate with members of your organization to make sure only one application is submitted.

Application Requirements and Information

• Applications may be accessed via the Submittable platform: https://wichita.submittable.com
• Applications must be completed by the application deadline.
• While Division of Arts and Cultural Services staff will check your application, you are ultimately responsible for making sure it is complete. There is no guarantee that an incomplete application will be reviewed by the Cultural Funding Committee.
• Some information requested in the application may not apply to your organization. If this comes up, please write “N/A”, “Not Applicable”, or similar. If the system requests a document that you do not have (e.g. it requests three years of financial information, but your organization is only two years old), please upload a document explaining that the requested document does not exist.
• Supplemental materials (pamphlets, advertisements, etc.) will not be accepted. No extra materials or media presentations will be allowed. These items will be removed from your application before it is passed on to the Cultural Funding Committee.

Technical Questions?

Check out the Submitter Resource Center or contact Submittable Customer Support.