Doors Open brings millions of dollars to arts and cultural organizations throughout King County

With a minimum of 25% of funding to go to areas outside of Seattle, Doors Open will strengthen public acces to art, heritage, science and historic preservation.

By Bailey Josie • September 2, 2024 1:30 pm
Courtesy of 4Culture.
In an effort to strengthen King County’s cultural sector and increasing public access to arts, heritage, science, public art and historic preservation education and experiences, 4Culture and Doors Open will bring funding to local non-profit organizations in 2025 and beyond. Susan Point. “Northwind Fishing Weir Legend”, 1997. Carved and painted cedar with cast concrete. Green River Trail, Tukwila, WA. King County Public Art Collection. Photo: joefreemanjunior.com

Since the beginning of the pandemic in 2020, the arts and cultural sector of King County — public art, historical preservation, heritage and arts — had become underfunded and, in many ways, put on hold.

Over the next two years, this will immensely change, as recent legislation will allow for millions of dollars to go towards non-profit organizations that are dedicated not only to arts, heritage and history, but also technology, botony, zoology and science.

In December 2023, King County passed legislation for Doors Open, a program which will increase funding of an estimated $90 million per year to non-profit organizations that focus on arts, heritage, science and historic preservations through a 0.1% sales tax.

Headed by 4Culture, the cultural funding agency of King County here in Washington, funding for the county’s arts, preservation, heritage and public art have often been for individuals, but Doors Open is different in that it is money that only goes to eligible King County-based non-profit organizations.

Eligible organizations include those whose “primary purpose is the advancement and preservation of science or technology, the visual or performing arts, including zoology, botany, anthropology, heritage, or natural history.”

With the first leg of the program kicking off in the last half of 2024 — applications opened in August with a quick closure on Sept. 4 — the initial turnaround was tight but necessary, due to the funding needing to get out by the beginning of 2025.

“It takes some time to build programs and to roll them out,” said Christina DePaolo of 4Culture, the cultural funding agency of King County here in Washington. “It takes time to plan them and to implement them. Knowing that the programs would happening in 2025, we wanted to get the money out this year.”

Initial Programs through Doors Open

For this first leg, the two opening programs for Doors Open are Sustained Support and Doors Open Facilities.

Sustained Support, in short, “keeps the lights on” for organizations for a year, allowing “unrestricted funding to meet the day-to-day needs” of eligible organizations. In fall 2025, this program will begin a two-year cycle for 2026-2027.

Doors Open Facilities grants totaling in $24 million would help chosen organizations acquire, build or renovate physical buildings for their cultural work operations. According to the 4Culture website, the maximum amount that organizations are able to request through this program depends on their total project budget size. For example, organizations with a budget of $250,000 or under can request 100% of their project budget, while organizations with a budget between $250,001 and $1 million would only be able to request up to $250,000 plus 50% of the project budget over $250,000.

“The process, once some has applied, is a review of the grant proposal by a panel with people being notified at the end of December and those organizations would see funding in January,” said DePaolo, who added that 4Culture is launching all six programs in January 2025.

All Six Programs in 2025

Along with Sustained Support and Facilities, there are four other Doors Open programs that will be available in 2025 for eligibale organizations.

While the first application period has already passed, the second one will open in February, and will go throughout the year for all of the Doors Open programs.

The remaining programs include:

  • Public School Cultural Access – This program will help address gaps found in cultural education for Kindergarten through 12th-grade students. This grant would provide King County public schools with free access to arts, heritage and science activities.
  • Countywide Initiatives – In an effort to address unmet community needs throughout the county, this program would facilitate collaborations among organizations and individual cultural practitioners.
  • Launch – This would fund new and emerging organizations that would bring cultural and scientific experiences to all communities throughout King County.
  • Public Free Access – Designed to help reduce barriers for cultural programming for eligible organizations that are based in King County.

To learn more about these programs and eligibility criteria, visit 4culture.org/doors-open.

Courtesy of 4Culture.

Courtesy of 4Culture.