City expands arts access with Inspire Vancouver grants program

Vancouver's new cultural access sales tax raised $7 million in its first year and is on track to fund grants that will expand access to the arts in the coming years.

The city approved a 0.1 percent tax in December 2024 to fund the Inspire Vancouver grants program.

"We estimated between $6 million and $7 million, so we're very thrilled to have upwards of $7 million," Stacey Donovan, the city's cultural services manager, told the city council during its Monday afternoon workshop.

The city will launch a mini-round of cultural access grants this year, Donovan said, with applications likely opening in late July and awards funded in October.

Grant recipients will then have nine months to spend the money before the city launches its first full round of cultural access grant funding in July 2027.

Donovan told councilors that the new program is a "game changer" for the city and will help remove barriers to cultural experiences - particularly for youth and underserved groups.

"Inspire Vancouver isn't just about funding individual grant projects; it's about strengthening the overall cultural ecosystem for our community," she said. "It marks a major commitment to expanding access to our arts, culture, heritage and science and investing in creative experiences that bring people together and strengthen our community."

Donovan said the city plans to hire its fourth and final Inspire Vancouver staff member this month and has already started reaching out to groups that may be eligible to apply for the cultural access grants.

Inspire Vancouver is one of several sales tax-funded cultural access programs in Washington and joins established programs in Tacoma, Olympia and King and San Juan counties.

Program guidelines

Because Inspire Vancouver grants are funded by a citywide sales tax, grant recipients must be located within city limits or provide at least 55 percent of their programming inside the city limits. They also need to deliver public programs to Vancouver residents, Donovan said.

State and local governments, organizations that redistribute funds and media groups are not eligible to apply for the Inspire Vancouver grants.

"We absolutely do not want anyone to self-eliminate," Donovan said. "We have an eligibility tool on our website that helps people understand if they're eligible."

The city's Culture, Arts and Heritage Commission will oversee the grant program and work with a volunteer subcommittee to select grant recipients.

There are a few "musts" when it comes time to dole out the taxpayer funds.

Donovan said 10 percent of the funds will pay for administration and 10 percent will go to Vancouver schools for field trips and access to arts, culture, heritage and science venues. Another 60 percent will go toward the dedicated grants in four categories:

* Capital grants ($300,000 and up) will provide seed money or a funding match to build new spaces or to remodel, enhance or open accessibility at existing venues.

* Comprehensive grants ($100,000 to $300,000) will offer nonprofit organizations unrestricted, multiyear funding to strengthen or grow capacity.

* Impact grants ($10,000 to $75,000) also provide unrestricted funding to nonprofits for arts, culture, heritage or science programs.

* Innovation grants ($5,000 to $25,000) offer smaller awards to nonprofits and individuals for experimental, collaborative or innovative projects.

That leaves roughly 30 to 40 percent of the money for the commissioners to allocate or save.

"It will be up to the commission to decide how they want to spend the full amount," Donovan said. "The money can be carried over and kept safely in that fund for the future year."

Officials weigh in

City councilors praised the Inspire Vancouver program Monday but had different views on the proposed process to select grant recipients, which calls for a volunteer subcommittee selected by the Culture, Arts and Heritage Commission to score and rank the applicants.

Councilor Sarah Fox said Monday that she would prefer the council-appointed commissioners be in charge of the entire application review process.

"Council members have weighed in on commission members already, and it sounds like we wouldn't have input on this new committee overseeing $7 million," Fox said.

Donovan said city staff believe the subcommittee will help streamline the program.

"We anticipate 50 to 70 applications, if not more, once grant funding really takes off," Donovan said. "That would increase the workload of the commission tremendously."

The commission will appoint the subcommittee members, have input on the grant applicant scoring process and ultimately select the grant recipients, Donovan said.

"I'm still a little concerned, given how important this grant program will be to the community and the work council has done choosing commission members," Fox said.

Councilor Ty Stober said he was less concerned about the proposed process.

"Where I get concerned is when staff appoints a committee," he said. "I feel like we've given up authority at that point."

Councilor Erik Paulsen also supported the proposed process.

"This program is unique in that we've given the commission authority over the decision-making," Paulsen said. "This is what empowerment looks like. We're giving the commission the ability to enlist additional members in that decision-making process."

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