The Arts Research Center currently offers two grant opportunities: LIFT Student Arts Development Grants, and LOFT Faculty Arts Development Grants.
The goal of the grant program is to seed arts development and support:
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creative arts projects/arts research for students across disciplines, including workshops, conferences, archival research, performance or exhibition costs, collaborations, materials, or publication
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critical developmental phases of arts creation for faculty, including manuscript workshops, staged readings, composition, exhibitions, performances, residencies, or other activities to advance work in creative writing, visual arts, music, theater, performance, film, or other arts practices
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promotion of the arts research of students and faculty at Berkeley
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nurturing of creative talent within the arts community (Depts of Art Practice, Art History, Creative Writing, Film & Media, Music, Theater, Dance & Performance Studies) as well as students and faculty working on arts research in diverse disciplines across campus, including the sciences and social sciences, architecture, public policy, business, education and law.
Grants will open for the 2026/27 year on Sept 1, 2026.
Make sure to sign up for ARC's mailing list to be notified of this and other opportunities.
LIFT/LOFT Arts Development Grants are designed for current full-time UC Berkeley undergraduate & graduate students and current ladder rank faculty members doing creative work, across the division and beyond. For more grant and funding opportunities for Art & Humanities faculty, please visit the A&H website, here.
FACULTY
Gerónimo Barrera de la Torre (Geography, and Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies), Liz Gálvez (Architecture), Asma Kazmi & Jill Miller (collaborators, Art Practice and Berkeley Center for New Media), SanSan Kwan (Theater, Dance, and Performance Studies), Tadiwa Madenga (English and Comparative Literature), Courtney Desiree Morris (Gender and Women's Studies)
STUDENTS
Eleni Berg (Art Practice), Ryan Gourley (Ethnomusicology), Muffy Koster (Performance Studies), Cammie Lee (English; creative writing masters and film & media DE), Jose Miguel Alvarado Mendoza (Comparative Literature), Macyn Metten (Art Practice), Héctor Muñoz-Guzmán (Art Practice), NAMI (Theater, Dance, and Performance Studies), Lorain Khalil Rihan (Art Practice), Irene Franco Rubio (Ethnic Studies; DE in Gender, Women, Sexuality + New Media), Maria Silk (Theater, Dance, and Performance Studies), Bhavani Srinivas (Art Practice), Alex K Torrez (Sociology Department; DE in Gender & Women's Studies), Alder Wheeler (Environmental Science, Policy and Management)
LIFT Student Arts Development Grants
in 2025/26 ARC will fund fifteen $500 awards to fund specific creative arts projects or arts research, including workshops, conferences, performance costs, collaborations, materials, publication, or exhibition costs. LIFT grants are open to undergraduate and graduate students. *LIFT grants are available to current fulltime students only. If you receive aid, please check with the Financial Aid office to see if you would need to do a COLA adjustment if you receive the award.
Form link currently closed.
LOFT Faculty Arts Development Grants
in 2025/26, ARC will fund six $2,000 awards for faculty to support developmental phases of arts creation, including activities such as manuscript workshops, staged readings, composition performances, or other activities to advance work in creative writing, visual arts, music, theater, performance, film, or other arts practices. *Due to our own grant guidelines, LOFT awards are only available to current ladder rank faculty; funds will be deposited in research accounts.
Form link currently closed.
