CALI Futures
Forecasted
CALI Futures supports California artists and cultural workers with research and experimentation on alternatives to conventional arts systems that advance financial sustainability, ownership, and mutual care.
Funder: Center for Cultural Innovation
Due Dates (Anticipated): August 2027 (Application deadline)
Funding Amounts: $5,000 project-restricted grants; $100,000 available annually across 2026–2028
Summary: CALI Futures supports California artists and cultural workers advancing alternative approaches to income, creative ownership, and mutual care.
Key Information: Individual applicants and every team member must reside full-time in California and maintain an active artistic or cultural practice.
Description
CALI Futures is administered by the Center for Cultural Innovation (CCI), with funding from the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation. Launched in 2026, it supports individual artists and cultural workers, including teams, contributing to alternatives outside conventional nonprofit and for-profit arts and culture systems. Its priorities are financial sustainability, creative ownership, and mutual support, with an emphasis on systemic possibilities rather than one-off benefits for a few participants.
The fund supports work from initial ideas and research through implementation, experimentation, and reflection. Examples include barter exchanges for housing or healthcare, time-banking artistic services, collectively securing artist spaces, cooperative technology, pooled intellectual property, and community-economy teach-ins. These efforts should draw on mutualism, collectivity, and community rather than maximizing profit or relying solely on outside capital.
