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Evaluation Process
  • There is no limit to the number of applications accepted by the foundation each cycle.
  • Grantseekers are evaluated across disciplines.
  • Applications are evaluated by a rotating panel of Bay Area artists
  • Reporting requirements for all Community Arts grants will be detailed in grant agreements.
Evaluation Criteria
Evaluation of Community Arts grants is based on four criteria, each of which is assigned a score of either 1, 4, 7, or 10. The scores for each criteria are then weighted and combined, for a total possible score of 100, and then scores are averaged across panelists. Criteria are used to ensure a consistent and equitable approach is taken in evaluation. While scores provide a framework for conversation among panel members, they are not the only factor that influences funding decisions; scores alone do not determine whether a grant is recommended for funding.
  • 30% Relevance and urgency of organization/project – How clearly did the grantseeker articulate the necessity of the work of the organization at this moment? Why is this work being done, and why now?
  • 30% Artistic excellence/craft – Who is doing the work and what is the level of skill and craft exhibited in the work?
  • 30% Community served – How rooted is the grantseeker in the desired community, what is the plan for reaching the intended community, what is the need of the community being served?
  • 10% Capacity – Does the grantseeker have a reliable organizational structure or confirmed plan for execution of the project; is there staff capacity, confirmed resources, and clarity of purpose? Does the grantseeker have necessary community connections and support?

Community Arts Panelists

Applications are evaluated by a rotating panel of six Bay Area artists representing multiple disciplines, geographic areas, aesthetic styles, and backgrounds. Panelists are respected experts and mentors in the Bay Area arts community; each panelist serves a three-year term.

Select a photo to view bio.

S. Shafer Mazow (he/him)

Stephen Shafer Mazow, Executive Director at Z Space, is a writer, theater artist, fundraiser, and activist living in San Francisco and working in program development and strategic initiatives at the intersection of art, science, and social justice. Read more.

Eric Garcia (he/him)

Eric is a San Francisco-based devised dance-theater artist, drag queen, community organizer, and the Co-Director of Detour. He creates immersive and site-responsive performances that straddle nostalgia, radical futurism, collaborative ensembles, and queer maximalism. Read more.

Leigh Rondon-Davis (they/them)

Leigh is a theatre performer, dramaturg, director, and producer who has worked widely both within the Bay Area and national industry. They attended Wellesley College and were a member of Oakland's Laney College Fusion Theatre Project. Read more.

Kimberley Acebo Arteche (she/they)

Kimberley is an educator, cultural worker, and interdisciplinary artist. Her work explores the hybrid cultures formed by technology, movements of immigrants in America, and the way movements through space and spaces has been affected by these two. Read more.

Lisa Mezzacappa (she/her)

Lisa is a Berkeley-based composer, bassist, and producer who has been an active part of California’s music community for nearly 20 years. Her activities as a composer and ensemble leader include ethereal chamber music, electro-acoustic works, adventurous jazz, non-traditional opera, music for groups, and collaborations with film, dance, and visual art. Read more.

Nadhi Thekkek (she/her)

Nadhi Thekkek is the Artistic Director of Nava Dance Theatre, a bharatanatyam dance company based in San Francisco. Nadhi uses the south Indian dance form to navigate place, identity, and politics through the lens of her lived experience as a child of immigrants and an unapologetic South Asian, diasporic woman. Read more.

455 Market Street, Suite 2200
San Francisco, CA 94105
(415) 421-2629
(415) 421-6317 FAX
communityarts@zff.org

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Header: The Umoja Festival, Zimbabwean singer Piwaii, 2019. Photo by Mecca Media.

On a sunny outdoor stage, a singer holds a microphone as the wind blows her brown curly hair out behind her. She is wearing stacked gold rings around her throat and wrists, and has a collar made of long black feathers around her neck and chest. She is a warrior, and superhero.

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