San Francisco Foundation launched the Bay Area Creative Corps Program (BACC), in partnership with the California Arts Council’s statewide pilot initiative, the California Creative Corps (CCC), established by a one-time $60 million investment from the State of California General Fund. SFF is one of 14 partners with the CAC across the state that are designing programs unique to the strengths and needs of their particular region.
The primary goal of the CCC is to lift up the essential role of artists and cultural practitioners as a workforce that is essential to advancing equity and well-being across California through creative and culturally-relevant problem-solving in key sectors. The work of the BACC will be focused on communities that are facing some of the highest barriers to environmental safety, civic participation, access to healthcare, and other social goods needed to build equitable opportunities for all. (The CAC defines the priority communities as those ranking the lowest 25 percent of the California Healthy Places Index within the issue areas named above.)
BACC supports organizations eager to collaborate with artist activists, cultural strategists, and resilient culture keepers to create and/or deepen community-informed solutions in the areas of Civic Engagement, Environmental Sustainability & Resilience, Housing/Immigrant/Workers Rights, and Public Health. Activities take place in priority communities in eight counties of the Bay Area region— that is, Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, Napa, San Francisco, San Mateo, Santa Clara, and Sonoma counties.
See our full announcement of the 29 Bay Area Creative Corps Program Grantees.
For questions about the program, see Frequently Asked Questions below.
Announcing the Bay Area Creative Corps Program Grantees
1. 67 Sueños
2. A. Philip Randolph Institute San Francisco
3. Attitudinal Healing Connection
4. California Lawyers for the Arts
5. Chinese for Affirmative Action
6. City of San Jose Office of Cultural Affairs
7. Civic Design Studio
8. Creativity Explored
9. Cultural Odyssey
10. East Bay Center for the Performing Arts
11. EPACENTER
12. Grown Women Dance Collective
13. Indigenous Healing Center
14. Interfaith Movement for Human Integrity
15. Monument Impact
16. Mosaic America
17. Movimiento de Arte y Cultura Latino Americana
18. Nimbus Arts
19. North Bay Jobs with Justice
20. North Bay Organizing Project
21. Oakland Fund for Public Innovation
22. Oakland Rising
23. Puertas Abiertas Community Resource Center
24. Raizes Collective
25. Sarah Webster Fabio Center for Social Justice
26. School of Arts and Culture at MHP
27. Somos Mayfair
28. Suscol Intertribal Council
29. Youth vs Apocalypse
Expand the section below for Frequently Asked Questions
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: I received a grant from another CAC California Creative Corps administrating organization in addition to the grant I am receiving from the San Francisco Foundation’s Bay Area Creative Corps (BACC). Is that okay?
A: Artists or organizations that have received a grant from another CAC-funded California Creative Corps grant maker are not eligible to receive funds from the San Francisco Foundation’s Bay Area Creative Corps. Please contact your Application Lead at the San Francisco Foundation immediately if you received a grant from another CAC California Creative Corps organization.
Q: What is the best way for me to find artists from Priority Communities identified in my application?
A: Rhiannon MacFadyen from Emerging Arts Professionals (EAP) will be providing technical assistance throughout the SFF BACC grant term, including helping you identify artists from priority communities, supporting the artist contracting process, and answering your questions about working with artists. EAP will be hosting office hours on Fridays at 11:00 am. If you missed the July 7, 2023 workshop, you should have received a copy of the recording and PowerPoint. Please review both before reaching out to Rhiannon MacFadyen at rhiannon[at]emergingsf.org for additional assistance or questions.
As a reminder, organizations are required to hire/contract artists who are either grounded in or have experience working with priority communities, and artists must reside in California.
Q: I would like to begin planning Community Engagement events and outreach. Will I receive support from the SFF BACC on how to conduct community engagement? Do the events need to be accessible and multi-lingual?
A: The artists/creative changemakers that you work with should be working with you on ways to effectively engage priority communities. Community engagement events should be as accessible as possible. We also encourage your events and materials to be available in multiple languages, if applicable to your grant program.
Q: Will there be a Sample Contract or template available to contract with artists/creative changemakers being contracted or hired?
A: There will not be a contract template made available. Rhiannon MacFadyen from Emerging Arts Professionals provided guidelines on contracting with artists at the Next Steps Workshop on July 7, 2023. As a reminder, 75% of your grant needs to be paid directly to artists. Please reach out to Rhiannon/EAP directly at rhiannon[at]emergingsf.org if you still have questions that were not covered in the workshop.
Q: Does my organization withhold Benefits and Taxes for the artists as part of the contract or do they pay for those themselves?
A: It depends on whether you are onboarding the artist/creative changemaker as an employee or an independent contractor. We recommend that you seek advice from a certified accountant to best answer this question for your specific circumstance.
Q: How much should my organization pay the artist/creative changemaker?
A: We recommend that you pay each artist who is brought on as an independent contractor $75 per hour. We recommend that you seek advice from your HR department to determine how to compensate artists at $75 per hour if they are on salary.
Q: When will I learn more about Data Collection and Evaluation? Will the artist be responsible for data collection and evaluation or is that my responsibility as the grantee organization?
A: Both the artist and the grantee organization are responsible for collecting data and conducting evaluation. There will be a virtual Data Collection and Evaluation Workshop on August 22, 2023 from 12:00-1:30 pm and September 14, 2023 from 12:00-1:30 pm to provide more detail on the data collection requirements, to orient grantee partners to tools and templates, and to share best practices on collaborating with artists on data collection.
We request that you assign someone from your organization to take responsibility for collecting and entering data for your BACC project.
Weekly drop-in office hours for questions about and support for data collection will begin on Thursday, August 24, 2023. Please contact Castle Sinicrope at csinicrope[at]sff.org if you still have additional questions about data collection activities.
Q: I would like to connect with other BACC grantees and I understand that there is a shared BACC grantee contact list. Can I access the contact list?
A: The BACC grantee list will be made available soon.
Q: When does my grant begin and end?
A: All BACC grants begin on June 1, 2023 and finish on September 30, 2024.
Q: Can my organization put out a press release and announce the BACC grant on our website?
A: Yes, but please do not announce or discuss the grant until you have received and signed a copy of your grant agreement. Also, we will be providing messaging guidelines following the July 7, 2023 workshop.
Q: I still have questions. Who is the best person to reach out to?
A: Please reach out to Esailama G. Artry-Diouf eartrydiouf[at]sff.org.