Each summer, the Arts Council for Long Beach convenes grant review panels to undertake the important task of deciding how to distribute annual grant funds to Long Beach artists, organizations and community groups. We invite you to apply!

Panelists have included artists, educators, administrators, historians, other arts professionals or community members active in the arts. Applicants must be Southern California residents and are chosen from various artistic and cultural disciplines to ensure each panel is diverse.

The Arts Council runs three days of panels – one for each grant category: Operating Grants; Community Project Grants; and Professional Artist Fellowships. Applicants specify which grant category they’d like to be considered for and must avoid conflicts of interest.

Panelists commit 10–20 hours to the process, which includes reading and ‘pre-scoring’ applications as well as attending one full-day panel meeting (lunch provided). Panelists receive copies of completed grant applications and scoring sheets where they pre-score applicants based on a set of criteria. Pre-scoring occurs prior to the panel on the panelists’ own time. Each of the three panels meets for one full day at the Arts Council office to discuss the applications and view supplemental materials, such as slides, videos, CDs and PowerPoints.

The 2016 panel schedule is:

  • Wednesday, July 6 – Community Project Grants
  • Thursday, July 7 – Operating Grants
  • Friday, July 8 – Professional Artist Fellowships

Please email a two-paragraph description of why you’d like to be a panelist, your preferred panel and what you see as your main qualifications, along with your resume, to lisa.desmidt@artslb.org by 9 a.m., Monday, May 16, 2016. And please spread the word! For more information about our grants, visit www.artslb.org/services/grants.