4Culture’s Heritage Projects funding program promotes the identification, documentation, exhibition, and interpretation of historic and cultural materials exploring the heritage and historical record in King County, Washington. Awards range from $1,000 to $10,000.

Criteria

Public Benefit: Why It Matters

Every time a visitor to Washington State stays in a hotel, they pay a Lodging Tax—this is where our funding comes from, and our mission is to put it back into the community. As you work through your application, tell us exactly how your fellow King County residents will be able to enjoy and learn from your work. Read about public benefit more in depth here. Here are some ways you can provide public benefit:

• Free performances, exhibitions, workshops, screenings, or readings.
• Events in the often under-served areas of suburban or rural King County, to low-income, youth and senior groups, individuals with limited physical abilities, recent immigrants, or residents from minority races or ethnicities.
• Free, electronically accessible materials, including literary publications, audio, or video recordings.

Equity Investments

In order to combat inequities in our grantmaking, 4Culture has implemented Equity Investments. This practice incorporates indicators of structural inequity into our panel process, including geographic location, income, operating budget, audiences served, and project focus. By prioritizing these factors, we intend to more equitably distribute funds to communities that have historically been excluded from cultural funding.

Each of our grant programs implements an Equity Investment system tailored to the specific needs of its applicants; please read the After You Submit section of this page for details on how Equity Investments functions for this grant. This organization-wide practice —and what we learn about its impact—is an important step towards more equitable funding at 4Culture and throughout the King County cultural sector.

You

• Individuals, organizations, community groups, unincorporated or fiscally sponsored groups may apply.
• You must be at least 18 years old and a resident of King County when you apply and through the completion of your project.
• Organizations, community groups, and public agencies must operate within King • County. If you receive funding, you’ll need to provide us with your Social Security number in order to receive payment. Organizations, community groups, and public agencies will need to provide us with a Tax ID or EIN in order to receive grant funds.

Your Project

• Your project must focus primarily on heritage and historical themes in King County through identification, documentation, exhibition and/or interpretation. Heritage and historical themes can include people, memories, places, communities, and events. Heritage is defined as “the exchange of knowledge and experiences shaped by the past.”
• Your project must be accessible to and provide public benefit to King County residents and visitors.
• Your request amount is between $1,000 – $10,000. Requests that are outside of the range are not eligible.
• If your project involves multiple disciplines—heritage, preservation, and/or arts—it may be eligible for consideration under more than one 4Culture projects funding program. You may request funding for different elements of your project through the separate funding programs, but must disclose the other 4Culture requests in your application. Contact Megumi Nagata to discuss your project’s eligibility before applying.

You can only submit one application for the Heritage Projects program. We’ll consider your application complete once you’ve filled out all sections and provided all required materials listed in the Apply section of this page. It’s a good idea to put all these together before you login and begin your application.

Workshops

Workshops can make a real difference in the success of your application. They’re an opportunity for you to get your questions answered by a 4Culture grant manager and learn from other applicants. All workshops will be held remotely. Please register via the links provided to receive Zoom meeting information. You will need a personal Zoom account in order to attend a workshop. If you are unable to attend, a workshop recording will be available.

Application Guide

Watch this step-by-step application guide video to assist you in the application process.

Resources

The total available funding for Heritage Projects in 2023 is $275,000. In 2022, 73 applications were submitted and 37 of them received funding, totaling $265,126 in support of Heritage projects throughout King County. Awards range from $2,165 to $9,575.

You can read a sample application that successfully received funding for inspiration, and view a list of last year’s recipients on our Awardees page.

You can also read through the application questions before getting started:

Please read the Apply section for the complete list of required materials.

Contact

Megumi Nagata
megumi.nagata@4culture.org
206-263-3474

Translation and Assistance

The guidelines, a detailed explanation of how to apply, and the application are in English. If this is a barrier that stops you from understanding the grant or applying due to limited English writing ability, visual impairment, or you would like to request assistance to create an application, please contact hello@4culture.org or call (206) 296-7580 or TTY 711, and we will make sure you get the support you need. More ›
 
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Timeline

The deadline for this grant is March 23, 2023 at 5:00 pm PST. Most 4Culture grants take approximately three months from application deadline to when we announce our funding decisions. You can start your project—or the portion of your project described in your application—on or after June 28, 2023, and you must complete it by June 29, 2025.

Panel Process

We make all of our funding decisions through a panel process in which a group of peers working in heritage assesses your application. 4Culture staff recruits the panelists with considerations for various factors such as geography, expertise, and conflict of interest. 4Culture staff facilitates the panel but does not score applications or try to influence the outcome. If you are interested in learning how to become a panelist, please see our Get Involved page.

This program implements two practices towards advancing equity. First, there is a question specifically asking if your project has a primary focus to center and serve historically marginalized people or communities in King County. The answer to this question will be scored against the Advancing Equity criterion, which holds the same weight as the other three criteria for this program—five points.
Second, applicants or projects that are located within a 4Culture Equity Investment area are eligible for an equity investment. 4Culture recognizes that where an organization or cultural worker is based or provides its services can affect access to funding and other resources. Many cultural organizations and cultural workers in greater King County have less access to public and private support than those located in Seattle. To take a step towards balancing these disparities, applicants or projects located in a 4Culture Equity Investment area will receive additional consideration during the grant evaluation and awards process. Projects qualify as being in an Equity Investment area by meeting one of the following requirements:

• The applicant or project site is located outside of the City of Seattle.
• The project is located Seattle but is also in a 2010 US Census tract area with a Communities of Opportunity index percentile of 60% or greater.

Please contact Megumi Nagata if you have any questions

Contracts and Payment

If we select your project for funding, your grant manager will work with you to create a contract outlining the scope of your project and a payment schedule. Payments are made on a reimbursement basis. You’ll receive your funds once you have completed the public benefit component of your project—that’s why it’s so important to come up with a feasible way to share your project with the public.

Requirements and Appeals

Learn about what will be required if you are awarded a grant, and about the process for appeal of a 4Culture decision.

Once you’ve started your application, you can save after each step and sign out—your application will be saved as a draft that you can continue to work on up to the deadline. Once you hit “Submit,” your application is final. Please do not hesitate to contact us if you have any questions during the process.

What’s in the Application?

We will not consider your application without the materials listed here. We strongly recommend assembling them before you login and begin your application and encourage you to call or email us with any questions as you work on these materials.