Cultural Grant Program Scoring System and Decision Process

In 2025, over $1.4 million dollars in grant funds will be distributed to the community, with new applications open for community projects, arts education projects, professional development scholarships, grant writing support, and more. Grants are available for organizations, individuals, and classrooms. Review the 2025 funding structure.

Following are the scoring systems for various application categories.

Return to the Cultural Grants Program landing page to apply.

The panel consists of five Grant Panel members. Information on the Grant Panel can be found here.

After reading your application, the panel will provide scores and comments.

For General Operating Support grants and project grants, the questions are divided into two sections:

First, the panel members provide scores on the information you provide in the “Panel Questions” section. Panel members provide a score of 1 to 8 for each panel question.

Second, the panel members provide additional points on two focus areas: 1) for Boulder-based organizations and 2) for encouragement points. A maximum of 4 additional points is available to the panel members for the encouragement points section, and 6 additional points for the Boulder focus section.

The scores for each panel member are added together to establish a preliminary score for the application. All questions are weighted equally. Those preliminary scores are averaged across all the panel members to establish a preliminary score. This score is used to rank your application for consideration. For each grant category, the Arts Commission will establish a threshold score over which an application is considered eligible for an award. Please note that meeting the threshold score does not automatically approve an application for funding.

In addition to providing a score, the commissioners will include questions or comments for each applicant. We will provide these comments to you before the second round of scoring. You will have the opportunity to offer a one-page statement answering the questions raised, or further informing the panel about your application.

After your one-page response is completed, the panel will meet to discuss your application and response, then rescore your application. Once this rescore is complete, the applications are re-ranked. At the decision meeting, the members of the Boulder Arts Commission then deliberate to decide final approval of the applications which will receive a grant. The Arts Commission may a) accept the top scores in the ranking, b) choose to adjust the ranking, or c) ask the panel to reconsider specific scores.

The complete scoring system and rubric can be found below.

Panel members use the following rating scale descriptions to help align their decisions about each score.

Before the grants awards process begins, panel members are trained in how to interpret the scoring system and rubrics, or set of criteria, which helps reduce the possibility of subjective scores based on personal preferences. Please keep in mind, however, that although panel decisions follow this set of criteria, scores could reflect a small degree of subjectivity individual to each panel member. Panel members must be able to defend their scores with observations about each application’s specific strengths or weaknesses during the scoring and re-scoring process.

Following are the scoring systems for various application categories.

Capacity Building

How will this grant increase the capacity of your organization to meet goals in your strategic plan? In what way will this grant increase your organization’s sustainability and resiliency? What innovations, growth, or new community benefits will be made possible by this award?

Community Goals

The Boulder Arts Blueprint is a comprehensive community-driven framework to support the goals, that identifies how creativity and culture can serve our broader city goals. These generational goals (Community Goals) are identified as safety, healthy and socially thriving, livability, accessibility, sustainability, responsible governance, and economic vitality. The Arts Blueprint also identifies how the city can support the arts community in reaching those same standards.

Reference: Boulder Arts Blueprint Phase 1 Cultural Plan and Community Priorities.

Examples of ways to demonstrate your project’s alignment with Blueprint goals:

1. Safe. Boulder’s creative life fosters welcoming, inclusive public spaces, building trust across differences, and help civic life prepare for and recover from disruption.
2. Healthy and Socially Thriving. Boulder is filled with inclusive cultural experiences which strengthen social ties and support mental and physical wellbeing. Through representation, access, and everyday creativity, artists and cultural spaces help residents meet human needs for belonging, expression, and joy while advancing equity across identities and neighborhoods.
3. Livable. The arts make Boulder more livable by turning buildings, streets, and services into places of connection, attachment, and care. Creative practice animates infrastructure, supports housing solutions, and embeds everyday access to culture within walking distance. By weaving art into development, social services, and neighborhood design, the city nurtures environments where people can work, learn, play, live with belonging, and express themselves.
4. Accessible and Connected. The arts advance an accessible and connected city by turning mobility routes into cultural experiences, using creative tools to bridge digital and physical divides, and inviting all residents regardless of language, ability, or location into civic life. Through artful wayfinding, inclusive storytelling, and hybrid engagement platforms, cultural practice helps people navigate, meet, and participate more easily in Boulder’s public realm.
5. Environmentally Sustainable. The arts advance Boulder’s sustainability goals by weaving ecological awareness into everyday civic life. Through creative expression, the arts invite residents to see the natural world with renewed curiosity, celebrate resourcefulness, and co‑create solutions that protect the planet for future generations.
6. Responsibly Governed. The arts strengthen a responsibly governed city engaging residents in civic processes and embedding equity-centered creativity into policy design and service delivery. When incorporated into civic life, the arts generate richer data, deeper trust, and more resilient cross-sector partnerships.
7. Economically Vital. The arts power an economically vital Boulder by sparking innovation, anchoring small businesses, and attracting visitors and talent while ensuring that creative opportunity and the benefits it generates are shared across communities. Culture and creativity are treated as core economic infrastructure

In what way does your organization contribute to one or several of the Community Goals described in the Boulder Arts Blueprint?

Cultural equity

Among the goals of the Boulder Arts Commission is to encourage the equitable, fair, and just distribution of funds in support of the community. This includes providing support to applicants whose organizational leadership, audience, collaborators, artists, and project partners represent groups who are typically underrepresented, i.e. culturally diverse groups, organizations focused on age diversity, etc.) Describe how your project does or does not fulfill one or several of these categories. Describe how your project will address affordability, availability, accessibility, accommodation, and acceptability to diverse groups. For reference, please review the Boulder Arts Commission and Americans for the Arts Statements on Cultural Equity.

Reference: Boulder Arts Commission Statement on Cultural Equity

Proposed Outcomes and Evaluation Strategy

Describe your evaluation strategy and how you will collect data. Please also include measurement of progress towards your organizational goals and how the benefit to the community will be measured.

Encouragement Points

Encouragement points. Among the goals of the Boulder Arts Commission is to encourage the equitable, fair, and just distribution of funds in support of the arts community. These points encourage an equitable distribution of funds to historically underrepresented groups in grantmaking

Please check the boxes if these are addressed in your application:

• Are you a first- time applicant or have you not been awarded a competitive grant before from the Commission?
• Is your primary language (the language you feel most comfortable writing in) something other than English?
• Panelists may award an additional point if the organization’s principal art for is by - and for – Underserved individuals such as Black, Latino, and Indigenous and Native American persons, Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders and other persons of color; members of religious minorities; lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ+) persons; persons with disabilities; and persons otherwise adversely affected by persistent poverty or inequality.

General Operating Grants, Bedrock Consideration (Optional)

Note: This section of evaluation only pertains to applicants that completed the optional ‘Bedrock Organization’ section of the application. Applicants that have filled out this section and are eligible for Bedrock Organization GOS awards are not guaranteed the additional funding due to funding limitations. Bedrock Awards for those who filled out this section will be dependent on score. Applicants that have not filled out this section will be eligible for regular General Operating Support awards.

Findings from the Boulder Arts Blueprint Phase 1 planning process reveal strong support for impact-driven funding tiers that recognize anchor institutions of all sizes—large nonprofits and catalytic small/mid-sized groups alike, boosting social mobility and community resilience. The engagement process highlighted the desire for the grants program to help support organizations in fostering collaboration, accessibility, sustainability, resilience, and community impact. As such, these categories are the criteria for being awarded a Bedrock GOS Grant.

Collaboration

Collaboration. One of the goals stated in Phase 1 of the Blueprint is to “sustain anchor institutions while supporting emerging organizations”. Collaboration is aligned with both facets of that goal. Some elements of a meaningful collaboration include:

• Cocreation
• Your involvement impacted their program/bottom line/sustainability and/or vice versa
• Shared resources (marketing, space, fiscal sponsorship)
• Open communication that welcomes collective feedback
• Organizational and/or project goals are aligned
• Each party brings different but complementary expertise and assets to the table
• Strong connectivity and relationship-building

Please describe up to three collaborations your organization has participated in within the past three years.

Accessibility

Disability Accessibility means ensuring that individuals with disabilities can access and participate in the same experiences and opportunities as those without disabilities. This involves removing barriers and providing accommodations to enable equal access to information, services, and environments, whether physical or digital. Please describe one past measure to increase disability access, one you are currently working on implementing or augmenting, and one that you have made plans to implement in the next year.

Resource: The Office of Arts and Culture has created the Accessibility Self-Assessment Checklist as a resource to assist individuals and organizations in making their programs and facilities accessible and inclusive for people with disabilities. You may refer to this self-assessment to help you answer the question above. Note: This is meant to be filled out and filed internally – please do not include this as an attachment to your application.

Sustainability

The City of Boulder aims to foster a sustainable, thriving, and equitable community that benefits from and supports clean energy; preserves and responsibly uses the earth’s resources; and cares for ecosystems. Source: City of Boulder Community Sustainability, Equity and Resilience Framework

Please describe one past measure to increase environmental sustainability practices, on you are currently working on implementing or augmenting, and one that you have made plans to implement in the future.

Resource: The Office of Arts and Culture has created the Sustainability Self-Assessment Checklist as a resource to assist individuals and organizations in incorporating sustainability practices and improvements in their programs and facilities. You may refer to this self-assessment to help you answer the question above. Note: This is meant to be filled out and filed internally – please do not include this as an attachment to your application.

Adaptability and Resilience

Merriam-Webster defines ‘bedrock’ as “solidly fundamental, basic, or reliable”. Please describe a time where your organization responded to an existential (the continued existence of the organization was at stake) change or challenge.

Community Connection

Findings from the Boulder Arts Blueprint Phase 1 planning process, in regard to the municipal grants portfolio, reveal strong support for impact-driven funding tiers that recognize anchor institutions of all sizes—large nonprofits and catalytic small/mid-sized groups alike, boosting social mobility and community resilience

Please describe three programs or efforts your organization has embarked on in the past five years that involved connecting with communities or audiences you previously had not engaged with that would be described as ‘community-based’ in the past five years, and what the outreach process was like for each. Please describe the methods of connection and the impact of each. What was the impact of each program and the result of the outreach?

Community Goals

The Boulder Arts Blueprint is a comprehensive community-driven framework to support the goals, that identifies how creativity and culture can serve our broader city goals. These generational goals (Community Goals) are identified as safety, healthy and socially thriving, livability, accessibility, sustainability, responsible governance, and economic vitality. The Arts Blueprint also identifies how the city can support the arts community in reaching those same standards.

Reference: Boulder Arts Blueprint Phase 1 Cultural Plan and Community Priorities.

Examples of ways to demonstrate your project’s alignment with Blueprint goals:

1. Safe. Boulder’s creative life fosters welcoming, inclusive public spaces, building trust across differences, and help civic life prepare for and recover from disruption.
2. Healthy and Socially Thriving. Boulder is filled with inclusive cultural experiences which strengthen social ties and support mental and physical wellbeing. Through representation, access, and everyday creativity, artists and cultural spaces help residents meet human needs for belonging, expression, and joy while advancing equity across identities and neighborhoods.
3. Livable. The arts make Boulder more livable by turning buildings, streets, and services into places of connection, attachment, and care. Creative practice animates infrastructure, supports housing solutions, and embeds everyday access to culture within walking distance. By weaving art into development, social services, and neighborhood design, the city nurtures environments where people can work, learn, play, live with belonging, and express themselves.
4. Accessible and Connected. The arts advance an accessible and connected city by turning mobility routes into cultural experiences, using creative tools to bridge digital and physical divides, and inviting all residents regardless of language, ability, or location into civic life. Through artful wayfinding, inclusive storytelling, and hybrid engagement platforms, cultural practice helps people navigate, meet, and participate more easily in Boulder’s public realm.
5. Environmentally Sustainable. The arts advance Boulder’s sustainability goals by weaving ecological awareness into everyday civic life. Through creative expression, the arts invite residents to see the natural world with renewed curiosity, celebrate resourcefulness, and co‑create solutions that protect the planet for future generations.
6. Responsibly Governed. The arts strengthen a responsibly governed city engaging residents in civic processes and embedding equity-centered creativity into policy design and service delivery. When incorporated into civic life, the arts generate richer data, deeper trust, and more resilient cross-sector partnerships.
7. Economically Vital. The arts power an economically vital Boulder by sparking innovation, anchoring small businesses, and attracting visitors and talent while ensuring that creative opportunity and the benefits it generates are shared across communities. Culture and creativity are treated as core economic infrastructure

In what way does your organization contribute to one or several of the Community Goals described in the Boulder Arts Blueprint?

Cultural Offerings

In what way does your project fill a gap in the variety of cultural offerings in Boulder? What is exciting or new about your project?

Cultural equity

Among the goals of the Boulder Arts Commission is to encourage the equitable, fair, and just distribution of funds in support of the community. This includes providing support to applicants whose organizational leadership, audience, collaborators, artists, and project partners represent groups who are typically underrepresented, i.e. culturally diverse groups, organizations focused on age diversity, etc.) Describe how your project does or does not fulfill one or several of these categories. Describe how your project will address affordability, availability, accessibility, accommodation, and acceptability to diverse groups. For reference, please review the Boulder Arts Commission and Americans for the Arts Statements on Cultural Equity.

Reference: Boulder Arts Commission Statement on Cultural Equity

Proposed Outcomes and Evaluation Strategy

Describe your evaluation strategy for this project and how you will collect qualitative and quantitative data. Please also include your goals for this project and how the benefit to the community will be measured.

Boulder Focus

Are you a Boulder organization/individual serving Boulder or are you an organization/individual outside of Boulder and to what degree do you focus on Boulder programming?

Encouragement Points

Encouragement points. Among the goals of the Boulder Arts Commission is to encourage the equitable, fair, and just distribution of funds in support of the arts community. These points encourage an equitable distribution of funds to historically underrepresented groups in grantmaking

Please check the boxes if these are addressed in your application:

• Are you a first- time applicant or have you not been awarded a competitive grant before from the Commission?
• Is your primary language (the language you feel most comfortable writing in) something other than English?
• Panelists may award an additional point if the organization’s principal art for is by - and for – Underserved individuals such as Black, Latino, and Indigenous and Native American persons, Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders and other persons of color; members of religious minorities; lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ+) persons; persons with disabilities; and persons otherwise adversely affected by persistent poverty or inequality.

Benefit to Students

In what ways will this project directly benefit the students and their growth as cultural participants or in the creative industries? What new skills or experiences will be offered? How does this project enhance, or fill a gap in, the generally available curriculum and offerings?

Proposed Outcomes and Evaluation Strategy

How will the benefits to the students be measured?

Community Goals

The Boulder Arts Blueprint is a comprehensive community-driven framework to support the goals, that identifies how creativity and culture can serve our broader city goals. These generational goals (Community Goals) are identified as safety, healthy and socially thriving, livability, accessibility, sustainability, responsible governance, and economic vitality. The Arts Blueprint also identifies how the city can support the arts community in reaching those same standards.

Reference: Boulder Arts Blueprint Phase 1 Cultural Plan and Community Priorities.

Examples of ways to demonstrate your project’s alignment with Blueprint goals:

1. Safe. Boulder’s creative life fosters welcoming, inclusive public spaces, building trust across differences, and help civic life prepare for and recover from disruption.
2. Healthy and Socially Thriving. Boulder is filled with inclusive cultural experiences which strengthen social ties and support mental and physical wellbeing. Through representation, access, and everyday creativity, artists and cultural spaces help residents meet human needs for belonging, expression, and joy while advancing equity across identities and neighborhoods.
3. Livable. The arts make Boulder more livable by turning buildings, streets, and services into places of connection, attachment, and care. Creative practice animates infrastructure, supports housing solutions, and embeds everyday access to culture within walking distance. By weaving art into development, social services, and neighborhood design, the city nurtures environments where people can work, learn, play, live with belonging, and express themselves.
4. Accessible and Connected. The arts advance an accessible and connected city by turning mobility routes into cultural experiences, using creative tools to bridge digital and physical divides, and inviting all residents regardless of language, ability, or location into civic life. Through artful wayfinding, inclusive storytelling, and hybrid engagement platforms, cultural practice helps people navigate, meet, and participate more easily in Boulder’s public realm.
5. Environmentally Sustainable. The arts advance Boulder’s sustainability goals by weaving ecological awareness into everyday civic life. Through creative expression, the arts invite residents to see the natural world with renewed curiosity, celebrate resourcefulness, and co‑create solutions that protect the planet for future generations.
6. Responsibly Governed. The arts strengthen a responsibly governed city engaging residents in civic processes and embedding equity-centered creativity into policy design and service delivery. When incorporated into civic life, the arts generate richer data, deeper trust, and more resilient cross-sector partnerships.
7. Economically Vital. The arts power an economically vital Boulder by sparking innovation, anchoring small businesses, and attracting visitors and talent while ensuring that creative opportunity and the benefits it generates are shared across communities. Culture and creativity are treated as core economic infrastructure

In what way does your organization contribute to one or several of the Community Goals described in the Boulder Arts Blueprint?

Cultural equity

Among the goals of the Boulder Arts Commission is to encourage the equitable, fair, and just distribution of funds in support of the community. This includes providing support to applicants whose organizational leadership, audience, collaborators, artists, and project partners represent groups who are typically underrepresented, i.e. culturally diverse groups, organizations focused on age diversity, etc.) Describe how your project does or does not fulfill one or several of these categories. Describe how your project will address affordability, availability, accessibility, accommodation, and acceptability to diverse groups. For reference, please review the Boulder Arts Commission and Americans for the Arts Statements on Cultural Equity.

Reference: Boulder Arts Commission Statement on Cultural Equity

Boulder Focus

Are you a Boulder organization/individual serving Boulder or are you an organization/individual outside of Boulder and to what degree do you focus on Boulder programming?

Encouragement Points

Encouragement points. Among the goals of the Boulder Arts Commission is to encourage the equitable, fair, and just distribution of funds in support of the arts community. These points encourage an equitable distribution of funds to historically underrepresented groups in grantmaking

Please check the boxes if these are addressed in your application:

• Are you a first- time applicant or have you not been awarded a competitive grant before from the Commission?
• Is your primary language (the language you feel most comfortable writing in) something other than English?
• Panelists may award an additional point if the organization’s principal art for is by - and for – Underserved individuals such as Black, Latino, and Indigenous and Native American persons, Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders and other persons of color; members of religious minorities; lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ+) persons; persons with disabilities; and persons otherwise adversely affected by persistent poverty or inequality.

Program Offerings

Phase 1 of the Boulder Blueprint engagement process demonstrated a clear desire on behalf of the community for intergenerational programming. State-wide, there is a lack of safe ‘third spaces’ for young people.

Intergenerational arts programming: This programming brings together people from different generations to engage in shared creative activities, promoting social inclusion, empathy, and community connection. These programs utilize music, dance, visual arts, and other forms of expression to foster new connections, build meaningful relationships, and enhance the well-being and quality of life for all participants.

Third Spaces: Third spaces are distinct from home (first space) and work or school (second space). For teens, third spaces can serve as sanctuaries where they can develop social skills, explore passions, interests, and new skills, and find a sense of belonging away from the pressures of academic and family life. These spaces are crucial to identity formation, skill formation, and social connection, Loneliness and social isolation are significant concerns for many teens. Third spaces provide a setting to meet new people and build meaningful relationships. These interactions can improve social skills, boost self-esteem, and foster a sense of belonging.

As such, the Office of Arts and Culture is piloting a one-year grant to support Boulder youth either through (1) intergenerational programming and/or (2) supporting safe ‘third spaces’. The intent of this grant is to support long-term programming, and so if this pilot is successful, this grant will likely be multi-year in the future.

Please describe the programming or space that would be supported by this grant. Is there a demonstrated need for this programming? How does it relate to intergenerational programming, third spaces, or both?

Criteria

Proposed Outcomes and Evaluation Strategy

Describe your evaluation strategy for this project and how you will collect qualitative and quantitative data. Please also include your goals for this project and how the benefit to the community will be measured.

Cultural equity

Among the goals of the Boulder Arts Commission is to encourage the equitable, fair, and just distribution of funds in support of the community. This includes providing support to applicants whose organizational leadership, audience, collaborators, artists, and project partners represent groups who are typically underrepresented, i.e. culturally diverse groups, organizations focused on age diversity, etc.) Describe how your project does or does not fulfill one or several of these categories. Describe how your project will address affordability, availability, accessibility, accommodation, and acceptability to diverse groups. For reference, please review the Boulder Arts Commission and Americans for the Arts Statements on Cultural Equity.

Reference: Boulder Arts Commission Statement on Cultural Equity

Encouragement Points

Encouragement points. Among the goals of the Boulder Arts Commission is to encourage the equitable, fair, and just distribution of funds in support of the arts community. These points encourage an equitable distribution of funds to historically underrepresented groups in grantmaking

Please check the boxes if these are addressed in your application:

• Are you a first- time applicant or have you not been awarded a competitive grant before from the Commission?
• Is your primary language (the language you feel most comfortable writing in) something other than English?
• Panelists may award an additional point if the organization’s principal art for is by - and for – Underserved individuals such as Black, Latino, and Indigenous and Native American persons, Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders and other persons of color; members of religious minorities; lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ+) persons; persons with disabilities; and persons otherwise adversely affected by persistent poverty or inequality.