​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​City of Phoenix Artists to Work Program​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

The City of Phoenix Office of Arts and Culture administers the Artists to Work Program, a grant opportunity supporting practicing artists who are permanent residents of Phoenix, Arizona. The program supports the creation and presentation of original, new, or in-process artistic work and requires funded artists to provide a public presentation within the City of Phoenix that primarily benefits Phoenix residents. For the award cycle covered by the source, eligible disciplines are visual arts, film, and media arts. Visual arts include specified two-dimensional and three-dimensional subdisciplines, while film includes narrative, documentary, experimental, and animation, and media arts includes digital, interactive, sound excluding music and performing arts, audiovisual, installation, and technology-based work. Ten artists are expected to receive awards of 10000 each, paid in two installments. Grant funds may support direct project expenses, including research costs and artist or subcontractor artist fees, supplies and materials, equipment or equipment rental, event space rental, insurance, licenses, permits, publicity and marketing, reasonable transportation described in the recommended proposal, documentation, and non-equipment technology. Funds may not support organizations, capital equipment, studio or office rental, costs associated with selling, marketing, or distributing products or services of the recipient, government divisions, religious or proselytizing projects, debt reduction, re-granting, lobbying, facility construction, entertainment costs, fundraising or political projects, academic-related projects, literary agents or editors, curation of other artists' work, or AI-generated art. Projects primarily intended for promotion, ongoing business operations, murals or permanent public art, curation or documentation of existing work, presentation of others' work, and projects using AI-generated or augmented art are also ineligible. No cost share or matching requirement is stated. Applicants must be individuals who are permanent City of Phoenix residents and at least 18 years old by the application deadline. Each applicant must be a practicing visual artist, filmmaker, or media artist currently generating original, new, or in-process work and must propose a project for which visual, film, or digital and electronic media art is the primary discipline. Applicants must provide two documents proving permanent Phoenix residency. One must be an Arizona Driver's License or Arizona ID showing the current address, and the second must show the same address. PO Box addresses are not accepted, and mismatched addresses result in automatic ineligibility. Applicants must also be able to complete a W9 and an Affidavit of Lawful Presence. Applicants outside Phoenix, temporary Phoenix residents, recent Artists to Work grantees awarded in fall 2024 or fall 2025, certain family members or commission members, and applicants applying as businesses, artist teams, collectives, companies, nonprofits, organizations, fiscal sponsorships, or community groups are ineligible. Degree-related projects and projects overlapping Phoenix Office of Arts and Culture General or Project Support funding are also excluded. Applications are submitted through the MARGO grants portal in a one-step application process. The application opened August 3, 2026 and closes September 6, 2026 at 11:59 p.m. Arizona Time. The required application consists of narrative questions, a budget, and work samples. Applicants select a primary discipline, category, and, for visual artists, a subdiscipline that must correspond to both the proposed project and submitted work samples. The source also provides downloadable Word application questions and an Excel budget form. No required letter of intent, concept paper, pre-proposal, notice of intent, or other pre-application gating step is identified. Applications are first reviewed by Arts and Culture staff for eligibility and completeness from September 8 through September 14, 2026. Applications that are overwhelmingly unresponsive to the questions and evaluation criteria may be declined without panel review. Eligible applications proceed to a panel of up to five practitioners with knowledge and expertise in the discipline under review and without conflicts of interest. Panelists independently review applications and work samples, provide preliminary comments, and assign initial scores before meeting in a closed session to discuss the highest-scored applications. Artistic Excellence is worth up to 24 points and considers the artist statement and work samples. Artistic Merit is worth up to 36 points and evaluates the proposal, project plan, impact, budget, ability to complete the project, defined goals and outcomes, and evidence of direct compensation to artists and art workers. Award notification is scheduled for November 4, 2026. Recommended artists must register or confirm registration as City of Phoenix vendors, complete required grant conditions, and, when applicable, submit a W9 and Affidavit of Lawful Presence by November 20, 2026. The award term is January 1 through December 31, 2027. Awardees must attend the funded-grantee information session and five Artists to Work cohort meetings scheduled between March and November 2027, use required Arts and Phoenix Arts and Culture logos when promoting the public presentation, and participate in a public presentation of the grant-funded work within Phoenix by January 15, 2028. Payments are made in two installments, with the first following grant conditions and vendor registration and the second following completion of the public benefit event and receipt of the final report. The final report is due January 21, 2028, and project-expense documentation must be retained through January 21, 2031. Program contacts include Sarah Leon, Grants and Community Engagement Director, at sarah.leon@phoenix.gov or 602-262-6164, and Anel E. Arriola, Grants and Systems Manager, at anel.arriola@phoenix.gov or 602-534-5084. The program is described as accepting applications each year from specified artistic disciplines, supporting treatment as a recurring opportunity.

Align the artist statement, work samples, selected discipline, and proposed project; respond directly and completely to every application question because overwhelmingly unresponsive applications may be declined before panel review; demonstrate the ability to complete the project through a clear proposal and project plan; explain the project's impact and intrinsic necessity; provide a clear and organized budget reflecting the entirety of project expenses; demonstrate direct compensation to artists or art workers where applicable