Osceola County Cultural Facilities Grant Program

The Osceola County Cultural Facilities Grant Program supports capital investments in cultural facilities located in Osceola County. Funding is provided through Tourist Development Tax revenues and is intended to strengthen the County's cultural infrastructure, improve visitor experiences, expand public access, and generate measurable benefits for residents and visitors. Eligible projects should preserve, improve, expand, repair, construct, renovate, or equip facilities that provide arts, culture, heritage, or visitor-serving experiences and are open to the general public. The program is administered through United Arts, which provides program information, manages the grant portal, conducts administrative review, and coordinates the independent panel review process. Applicants may request support for one clearly defined eligible cultural facilities project. The total funding pool is $4.5 million over two years, with a minimum request of $2,000 and a maximum request of $4.5 million. No matching funds are required. Eligible project categories are Repair, Renovation, Construction, and Equipping. Allowable costs include construction labor and materials; roofing, HVAC, electrical, plumbing, fire suppression, and other facility system work; ADA accessibility and code compliance improvements; permanent or facility-related furniture, fixtures, and equipment; design, engineering, permitting, and directly required soft costs; and project-specific professional, contractor, vendor, and installation services. Ineligible expenses include land or building acquisition, debt service, past-due debts, fines, penalties, interest, operating deficits, fundraising, lobbying, food and beverage costs, unrelated administrative or operational expenses, and expenses incurred before execution of the grant agreement. Eligible applicants must be 501(c)(3) nonprofit organizations in good standing with the IRS, Florida Department of State through Sunbiz, Osceola County, and United Arts. Organizations must have operated eligible cultural programming, services, or facilities in Osceola County for at least two years before applying and must have at least a two-year operating history. Applicants must also be current on required grant reporting and contractual obligations if previously funded and must demonstrate organizational and financial capacity to manage the proposed project. Projects must occur at eligible facilities within Osceola County that are open to the general public and support cultural, heritage, or visitor-serving experiences. Applicants must demonstrate site control through ownership documentation or, for leased facilities, a current lease and a property owner support letter. Arts education facilities are not eligible unless they otherwise qualify as eligible cultural facilities and are open to the general public. Applications must be submitted through the United Arts Grant Portal. The application requests the project title, project category, project description, request amount, total project cost, project location and address, project dates, primary contact information, facility ownership or lease information, and a description of public access. Applicants must answer narrative questions addressing Project Need, Impact, Project Readiness, and Long-Term Stewardship. Supporting materials may include a project budget, contractor estimates, vendor quotes, plans or drawings, construction documents, scopes of work, board authorization, board list, operating budgets, strategic or long-range plans, project team information, IRS Form 990s, financial statements, current profit and loss and balance sheet information, ownership or lease documentation, and two letters of support establishing the project need. Required materials may vary by project type and request size. United Arts staff will first review applications for eligibility, completeness, required documentation, and compliance. Site visits may then be conducted to verify project conditions, clarify information, assess readiness, and support panel review. Eligible applications are reviewed and scored by an independent volunteer panel. The published 100-point scoring framework assigns 20 points to Project Need, 30 points to Impact, 20 points to Project Readiness, 15 points to Organizational Capacity, and 15 points to Financial Feasibility. Applicants should therefore clearly document the facility need, show organizational, community, tourism, and economic impact where applicable, demonstrate that the project is realistic and ready to proceed, establish project management capacity, and provide a credible and sustainable project budget. Applications open September 1, 2026, and are due October 16, 2026 at 11:59 PM ET. An applicant information session or workshop is planned for late August or September and will be recorded, but it is not identified as a required pre-application step. Staff eligibility and completeness review is scheduled for October 19-30, 2026, panel orientation for November 2-6, 2026, and panel review and site visits for November 9, 2026 through January 1, 2027. The review panel meeting is expected during the week of January 4-8, 2027, with United Arts Board approval, award notification, and grant agreements expected in January 2027. The project period runs from February 2027 through August 2028, described as an 18-month construction or project activity window. Grant funds may be used only for approved expenses incurred after execution of the grant agreement. Progress reports will vary by project, and a final impact report is due within 60 days after project completion. Program questions may be directed to Elyse Jardine at Outreach@UnitedArtsCFL.org or 407-790-7844.

Build the application directly around the published 100-point scoring framework. Document the facility need with supporting evidence; demonstrate organizational, community, tourism, and economic impact; show that planning, design, budgeting, team, approvals, and schedule make the project ready to proceed; provide a realistic budget and evidence of financial capacity; and ensure all required site-control, financial, governance, and project documentation is complete because incomplete or ineligible applications may be removed from consideration.