Fund applications are now closed and will reopen in July 2025.
East Bay Community Foundation (EBCF) has been a long time proponent of the arts as is demonstrated through our partnerships with our donors and fellow foundations that work to support the arts across Alameda and Contra Costa counties. We recognize the power of the arts to inspire and bring us together.
Storytelling, arts, and cultural practices have always been important tools for survival, healing, and resistance. These creative expressions build community resilience and power, and they give voice, agency, and visibility to communities most harmed by oppression. We turn to our visionaries, artist activists, and resilient culture-keepers to help us imagine new landscapes, rewrite narratives, liberate unrealized potential, recover old wisdoms, and spark radical hope.
For information on current and future works, or to learn how you might become involved with the East Bay Fund for Artists, contact us via email ebfa@eastbaycf.org.
About the East Bay Fund for Artists
Since 2003, the East Bay Fund for Artists at EBCF has partnered with more than 9,500 generous donors and more than 200 nonprofit organizations to commission new works by over 300 local artists. The East Bay Fund for Artists has leveraged almost $3.1 million in new financial support for the arts in the East Bay.
In 2019, the East Bay Fund for Artists refined its programmatic focus to invest in individual artists and arts organizations rooted in low-income communities of color and other disadvantaged communities to commission new work that advances racial justice and social equity. Research shows that individual artists are not adequately compensated. This guided our decisions to designate funding directly to the commissioned artist(s): composers, playwrights, choreographers, visual and media artists.
The East Bay Fund for Artists is committed to the diversity of artistic practices and organizations as well as providing opportunities for Black, Indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC) communities to experience art that represents their culture and history in addition to building their own individual donor base to sustain their work.
This Fund is currently supported by the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, MacKenzie Scott and Dan Jewett, and the generous donors of East Bay Community Foundation.
Learn more about EBCF’s Commissioned Public Art on our blog.
Frequently Asked Questions
Check out these FAQs about the application process: East Bay Fund for Artists Frequently Asked Questions
Learn more about eligibility requirements and the application process in our upcoming webinar.
If you have other questions, please email the East Bay Fund for Artists at ebfa@eastbaycf.org.