DEADLINE: August 27, 2026

AWARDED BY: September 2, 2026

AMOUNTS: Up to $1000 (Between $500–1000 based on proposed budget is typical)

FUNDING AVAILABLE: $5000

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Objectives

Increase student voting participation in fall 2026! Creative Citizens in Action (CCA@CCA) Faculty Grants support the implementation of small-scale, immediate, public-facing events, projects, or activations that aim to improve students' learning experience and provide opportunities for them to practice creative activism. Projects must result in a public outcome that can be featured in the Creative Citizens Program Series, on social media, and across online platforms.

In fall 2026, we are looking for projects related to voting and democratic engagement, timed in connection with the United States Midterm Election on November 3rd. We encourage activities before the election, though projects later in the semester are welcome if connected to democratic engagement. Your project may take a point of view, but please remember that CCA, as an institution, is committed to nonpartisan political dialogue.

Here is a link to archived events from Fall 2020 through Spring 2026. In addition to events, grant funds have supported a number of book, zine, website, social media, and printing projects. Grant funds are not available for private class visits, travel expenses related to field trips, or programs that do not have a public outcome.

Eligibility

All faculty who are actively teaching at CCA in fall 2026 are invited to request funds. Faculty who have previously received CCA@CCA grants are eligible to apply again, but priority will be given to new applicants. Faculty are welcome to collaborate on a grant application and share the awarded funds between their classes.

Funds

In fall 2026, we have up to $5000 of grant funding available to support 5-10 grants of $500-$1000 each. Funds can be used for printing, materials purchases, and/or Speaker Fees that are part of your course-related public-facing project. Projects are expected to be completed within the fall 2026 semester, including the public-facing outcome.

Based on an evaluation of past grant cycles, we recommend focusing funding support on the following budget categories:

1. Speaker Fees. Funds can be used to compensate a guest speaker/artist/participant for a lecture, workshop, event, project, etc. Please note that your budget must include any additional costs associated with taxes, wiring fees, etc. Speaker fees must be $100 or higher.
2. Printing. CCA Exhibitions can arrange for printing via a CCA-approved vendor or a limited number of online vendors such as blurb.com.
3. Materials. Purchases from Amazon.com, ARCH, Blick, or another CCA-approved vendor. Past materials purchases have included paper, printed t-shirts, postcards, website domains, and art-making supplies.
4. Organizer stipend. Adjunct Faculty may include a stipend based on an hourly rate for additional work above and beyond regular course preparations related to the grant project. Stipend will need approval from the Divisional Dean and may not comprise more than half of the total grant amount. Ranked faculty may count their hours toward college-wide service. Exceptions or adjustments based on individual contracts may apply; we are happy to talk through any questions you have. The goal is to recognize and compensate faculty labor.

Please note that students are not eligible to receive direct payments or shipped materials. Purchases must be processed by CCA Exhibitions; we cannot reimburse expenditures. If you have specific funding questions, please contact [email protected].

Application

Applicants are asked to address the following components via brief responses in the Submittable application. The application fields are purposely brief. We expect that projects will evolve, and are just asking for just enough detail to give us a sense of your course and the proposed project.

1. Project Proposal – Describe your proposed public-facing project, event, or activation and how you anticipate this project will improve the student learning experience related to voting and democratic engagement within your course. A brief synopsis of your vision is fine. (Up to 300 words)
2. Public Outcome – What is the public-facing outcome of your project? i.e. website, artist talk, student-led roundtable event, printed publication, workshop, etc. Who would participate?
3. Connection to voting and democratic engagement – How does your proposed project increase student learning and participation related to voter participation and/or civic and democratic engagement? (Up to 200 words)
4. Budget – Please craft and upload a budget for an amount between $500 - $1000 including expense categories, and short explanation. All expenses must follow college guidelines; reach out to [email protected] with any questions. Please estimate where exact amounts are unable to be calculated.

If you would like a preliminary reading of your application or assistance in developing your proposal, contact [email protected] to schedule an appointment.

Please e-mail [email protected] with any questions. We are happy to discuss proposals that are still in the working stage. APPLY NOW!

• CCA@CCA Voting Resources
• Past CCA@CCA Faculty Grant awardees
• Archived events, publications, and activations from Fall 2020 through Spring 2026. Note: projects by faculty in fall 2020, fall 2022, and fall 2024 related specifically to voting and democratic engagement.
• A selection of past project examples related to voting include:
  • Voting Story organized by Aspen Mays, Associate Professor, Photography Program.
  • Getting Out the Vote: The 2020 US Presidential Election Awareness Project organized by Steve Jones, Adjunct Professor, First Year Core Studio Program and Kim Anno, Professor, Painting and Drawing Program.
  • Get out the vote! poster exhibition organized by Isabel Samaras
  • Election watch party organized by Maxwell Leung
  • Prop Talk: Decoding the Critical Measures on the California Ballot organized by Natalie Pellolio
• Voting Resources for CCA Faculty
• Projects are encouraged to support CCA’s work related to Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging.
• Note: About 40% of CCA’s total student body is international or undocumented, and therefore ineligible to vote. When discussing elections, it is important to acknowledge this population and emphasize that U.S. election issues and results can have personal, bureaucratic, and global ramifications that affect them, too. All students can organize and mobilize their peers. View 5 Steps to Understanding U.S. Elections as an International Student.

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Creative Citizens in Action at CCA (CCA@CCA) is a college-wide initiative that promotes creative activism and democratic engagement through public programs, exhibitions, and curriculum connections. This grant opportunity is funded by an endowment gift to support The Deborah and Kenneth Novack Creative Citizens Series, an annual series of public programs focused on creative activism that spans the disciplines of art, design, architecture, and writing. A list of past awardees is available here.