Building for Equity: Anchoring Community

Funds and fosters equitable development for organizations buying, building, or renovating buildings and specialized spaces that make cultural experiences possible. Organizations with project budgets of $10 million and above are invited to apply.

Global to Local Health Initiative , Spice Bridge Youth Poetry Event. Photo by: Wadii'ah Boughdir for Global to Local

Supporting your Equitable Practice

Cohorts

Cohorts of awardees from each year will focus on equitable development practices. Cohort goals are to implement, measure, and evaluate equitable development practices throughout the project in a peer learning setting. Facilitated by 4Culture, cohorts will meet regularly for a duration of 3-years and participate in an annual Community of Practice, a convening of King County equitable development practitioners and advocates.

Cultural Space Partnerships

Cultural Space Partnerships are models of equitable development aimed to form new collaborations that center resource-sharing and support for organizations that have historically faced barriers to property ownership in King County. Awardees will participate in a Cultural Space Partnership for a duration of 3-years and will convene in an annual Community of Practice to further relationships of mutual aid.

Anchoring Community is a means for 4Culture to be more collaborative with grantees. Through a 3-year commitment, 4Culture will support organizations in incorporating equitable efforts throughout the life of their facility projects. We invite project teams to join us in the field where we can learn, share, and address community needs through the built environment. - Brian J. Carter, 4Culture Executive Director

More Information

How to Apply

How to Apply

All eligible organizations with facility project budgets over $10 million are welcome to submit a Letter of Interest in July 2025. After a review and interview process, those invited will apply online from September 4 to November 6.

Funding cycles for this grant may vary. Please contact Maya Santos, Building for Equity Program Manager, at for details.

What Makes this Program Unique

What Makes this Program Unique

Aimed at cultivating a community of equitable development practitioners in King County, this program prioritizes participatory processes, measurable outcomes, and evaluation efforts that advance social equity, centering those disproportionately impacted by systemic racism.

Foundational to this grant is King County’s Building for Equity initiative to support cultural building projects and create a pathway to racial equity in cultural facilities funding. The Building for Equity program provides a combination of funding, technical support, and strategic partnerships geared toward dismantling racism in cultural facilities funding and fostering equitable development throughout the county.

For more resources on equitable development visit our Building for Equity Field Resources page.

Helping You Succeed

Helping You Succeed

Field Resources

No matter where you are in your process, we are here to help. Visit our Building for Equity: Field Resources page, for an ongoing list of resources to help you achieve your facility project goals.

Contact Us

Please contact us early if you are interested in this new program. We look forward to getting to know your facility project.

Maya Santos, Building for Equity Program Manager

(206) 263-0691

Lauren Miles, Building for Equity Support Specialist

206-263-3210

Current Cultural Space Partnerships

Current Cultural Space Partnerships

4Culture Blog July 11, 2023

Stronger Together –Strategic partnerships create a more equitable cultural sector

In 2019, the King County Council approved Building for Equity, an initiative to support cultural building projects and create a pathway for us to evolve our funding practices toward more equitable outcomes. This gave us the unique opportunity to re-envision a facilities grant that increases the economic viability of BIPOC-led arts and cultural organizations.
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International Examiner August 9, 2023

Seattle Opera and Tasveer enter partnership under 4Culture grant

For four years, 4Culture and King County have administered a partnership to provide Cultural Facilities grants to remedy systematic racial inequity, and the current model for this program is called Building for Equity. The program provides funding, technical support, and strategic partnerships between specially-paired organizations such as Seattle Opera and Tasveer, and between the Wing Luke Museum of the Asian Pacific American Experience and the Korean American Historical Society.
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