Community Arts Grants applications open on Hawaii.GoSmart.org on August 1, 2025. The first part of the application, the Intent to Apply, must be submitted by September 30, 2025.
About Community Arts Grants
The Community Arts Grants program (previously called Biennium Grants) supports eligible nonprofit 501(c)3 arts and culture organizations throughout the state of Hawaiʻi. The grant awards funding to organizations supporting programs and projects that advance the arts, culture, and the humanities in the lives of the people of Hawaiʻi.
Grant Categories
Applicants may submit an application for a project to one of the following categories:
- Heritage/Preservation
- Community Arts, Community Development, Arts and Healing
- Arts Education
- Presentation/Performing Arts
Grant Amounts
A Community Arts Grant can be requested in the amount of $5,000, $10,000, or $15,000. A 1:1 match is required. This is a reimbursement grant program.
How to apply
Go to Hawaii.GoSmart.org and click on Additional Resources to open the menu. Click on Community Arts Grants Program. Eligibility and application requirements and other instructions are already posted. The application will open on Friday, August 1, 2025.
Artwork in image
A detail from “Hōnaunau”, a handwoven fabric wall hanging by Lynn Martin Graton, 2020, is in the background of the graphic at the top of this page. An overshot weave with Sashiko embroidery, Lynn says the work was inspired “…by an afternoon visit to the National Historic Park of Pu’uhonua o Hōnaunau in October of 2020. The park was closed due to the pandemic but allowed visitors to walk in. It was such a privilege to be one of the only people in such a sacred site. It was a quiet day and I sat behind Hale o Keawe for quite a while, lost in the glimmering shifting colors of the turquoise ocean lapping up against patterns of the pahoehoe lava while schools of yellow tang fluttered by.” “Hōnaunau” is in the SFCA Art in Public Places Collection and is currently on display in the State of Hawaiʻi Department of Labor and Industrial Relations, Office of Community Services. Learn more about the artwork and explore the collection in our new online database: sfca.hawaii.gov/app-art.