2025 Culture Bearers’ Power Building Award and Cohort
This Spring, in partnership with the California Arts Council, The Center for Cultural Power invites Culture Bearers working through traditional and tradition-based forms and practices to apply for our Power Building for Culture Bearers Award and Cohort! The 2025 Power Building for Culture Bearers Award & Cohort will bring together a community of Culture Bearers focusing on folk and traditional art practices to engage in peer learning, connection, and skill sharing to deepen narrative and community impact.
Apply now and learn more about the opportunity and eligibility criteria below!
ABOUT THE CENTER FOR CULTURAL POWER
The Center for Cultural Power (CCP) is a cultural strategy organization that activates and mobilizes Artist Disruptors and Culture Bearers to envision a world in which cultural, economic and political power are distributed equitably, and where all human beings can live in harmony with nature. We believe artist disruptors and culture bearers are key agents of cultural and narrative change and are committed to building their collective power.
ABOUT THE CULTURE BEARERS’ POWER BUILDING AWARD AND COHORT
In partnership with the California Arts Council (CAC), CCP will provide 17 awards for both emerging and established traditional and tradition-based Culture Bearers. Each award is $15,000 to develop new or existing work, projects, and/or content that advances at least one of the CCP's deep narratives. The cohort will bring together a community of Culture Bearers focusing on Folk and Traditional Art practices to engage in peer learning, connection, and skill sharing to deepen narrative and community impact.
DEFINITIONS
Culture Bearers are practitioners, artists, and carriers of indigenous, ancestral, and/or traditional knowledge who weave past, present, and future stewardship of land, culture, community, and spirit. “They represent an embedded presence in place, community trust and mutual support.” They are cultural stewards and help us understand traditional ways of knowing and creating as paths to community health and healing. Traditional Culture Bearers come from and inform cultural communities of practice, representing generations of stewardship, and knowledge transmission. Tradition-Based Culture Bearers are based in the same cultural communities of practice, but engage as subject matter through a mix of heritage and new methodologies. (Weaving Forward, 2022).
FOLK AND TRADITIONAL ARTS
The California Arts Council and the National Endowment for the Arts define folk and traditional art forms as being “rooted in and reflective of the cultural life of a community and may share a common ethnic heritage, cultural mores, language, religion, occupation, or geographic region. These vital and constantly reinvigorated artistic traditions are shaped by values and standards of excellence that are passed from generation to generation, most often within family and community, through demonstration, conversation, and practice.”
KEY DATES
Announcement: Feb 26, 2025
Application Opens: Feb 26, 2025
Last day to submit questions: Mar 17, 2025- 12PM PT
Application deadline: Mar 17, 2025 - 11:59PM PT
Application Review: Apr 4, 2025
Award Announcement: Apr 18, 2025
Award Period: April-October 2025
ELIGIBILITY
- Applications are open to all Culture Bearers, regardless of immigration status, who are at least 18 years of age and residents of California.
- Note: Individuals who identify as Culture Bearers (traditional and tradition-based), with the following parameters:
- Recognize and innovate in alignment with ancestral knowledge, values, and practices.
- Operate intergenerationally to prioritize knowledge transmission, guiding understanding of the changing world.
- Combat threats of erasure through inherited cultural expressions and ways of knowing.
- Show agency aligned with accountability to cultural origins and community-recognized excellence.
- Note: Individuals who identify as Culture Bearers (traditional and tradition-based), with the following parameters:
- Applicants must live or work in one of the California HPI 25% Quartile zip codes listed in this spreadsheet. To see if your zip code is eligible use the “search function” (macOS: ⌘+f / windowsOS: ctrl+shift+f) and type your zip code. If the zip code appears, it is eligible.
- Applications must include work that aligns with at least one of the following CCP deep narratives: (Culture is power; We are all interconnected; We steward the past and future; Love moves us toward liberation; We thrive when we care for each other; and We determine our lives and future).
- Applicants have not previously received an award from the 2023-2025 California Arts Council Folk and Traditional Arts cycle, including the Alliance for California Traditional Arts’ (ACTA) Living Cultures Grant, or any past award from The Center of Cultural Power, or the Constellations Culture Change Fund & Initiative.
Please note: Applicants who do not meet the above eligibility requirements will be disqualified. In addition, this opportunity will not fund the following list of activities as outlined by the California Arts Council. CAC - WhatWeDoNotFund.pdf
APPLICATION & SCORE CRITERIA
Applications can be submitted through our online form using text, video, or voice memos.
Applications submitted through our online form can include written (500-word maximum), audio, and/or video (2 min. maximum) responses.
If you plan to submit video responses, please upload each video response to YouTube as "Unlisted" and add the link in the corresponding response area of the question.
All applications will be reviewed by a community panel of at least four people.
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Question or Prompt |
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Tell us about yourself and your work. Tell us who you are and what has influenced you as a Culture Bearer. Describe how many years you have been engaged in your practice, the medium(s) you work in, and the traditions, stories, or techniques that shape your work. |
20 |
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What impact do you anticipate this award and being a part of this cohort will have? How will it enhance your aspirations and capacity to build power for your community? |
20 |
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What narrative does your work align with? How do the stories/narratives embedded in your work contribute to the cultural resilience of your community and the broader movements for social change?
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20 |
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Submit a community endorsement of no more than half a page. Suggested endorsement prompt: Please describe briefly how you know the candidate, for how long, and their relationship to the community that they work in. Please include why you think they are in alignment with this award. |
20 |
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Provide two work samples of past or current projects that give the panel a sense of your work. These can be links to online work, projects, exhibits, etc. |
20 |
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Total Points Possible |
100 |
Application reviewers will use the following scale to assist with the scoring process.
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100-90 |
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89-80 |
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79-70 |
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69 and below |
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POST-AWARD EXPECTATIONS AND REQUIREMENTS
Throughout the award period from April to October 2025, all awardees are expected to attend monthly meetings, which may include networking opportunities, workshops, and more.
The following are requirements that must be fulfilled by the awardees in a timely manner as outlined by the program manager:
- Sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU)
- Submit an Invoice & W9.
- Attend monthly meetings and be fully present and available for the cohort orientation, mid-point check-in, and final check-in.
APPLICATION:
https://4elivl2i9zs.typeform.com/CBpowerbuilding
Note: This form will not be able to save your progress once you begin. We recommend preparing your answers beforehand on a separate document and then submitting once you are ready. Click here for a full list of application questions.
QUESTIONS
For questions about this opportunity, please use this online form. With the intention of ensuring that everyone has access to the same information, we will update a FAQ Document every Monday to respond to questions received.
