The 2025 City of Indianapolis Annual Grants Program invested nearly $2 million into the nonprofit arts sector.
On May 6, The Indy Arts Council and City of Indianapolis announced the 101 nonprofit arts and culture organizations that received funding. The 2025 Annual Grants Program, which invests in the city’s nonprofit arts and culture sector each year, supports the development of arts and culture performances, programs, exhibitions and activities throughout Indianapolis and Marion County, according to a press release.
“The City of Indianapolis is proud to invest in local arts and culture through the Annual Grants Program,” Mayor Joe Hogsett said in a statement. “The value of the arts cannot be underestimated. Outside of playing an integral part in our city’s cultural fabric, they are an economic driver for this city — supporting thousands of jobs and generating hundreds of millions of dollars in direct economic impact.”
Since 1987, the Annual Grants Program has remained essential to Indianapolis’ support of the arts. In 2021, new scoring criteria were introduced, centering racial and socioeconomic equity across community impact, artistic alignment and organizational capacity. The number of BIPOC-led organizations funded increased by 28% since then, according to a press release.
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General operating support grants range from $5,000-$86,000 and are distributed based on a competitive scoring process. Organizations that received grants in 2024 were automatically afforded increases in 2025 due to expanded City investment and additional funding from the Indianapolis Bond Bank and the Capital Improvement Board of Managers of Marion County. The program also funded two $2,500 capacity-building grants each to Imagine Indy Inc. and the Tribe Youth Program, according to a press release.
“We are grateful for the City’s investment in our arts and culture community for the past 38 years,” Judith B. Thomas, president and CEO of Indy Arts Council, said in a statement. “We appreciate their recognition of our fast-growing arts sector through the 101 total organizations funded this year, including a record 20 BIPOC-led organizations.”
The 2025 Annual Grants Program review panelists included Kathy Hsieh, cultural investments strategist for the City of Seattle office of arts & culture; Kavita Mahoney, Indy Arts Council vice president; Monika Mala, Indy Arts Council board member; Laura Reyes Mejia, arts + creativity program associate for Barr Foundation; Jacob Sinatra, director of grantmaking strategy & communications for Cuyahoga Arts & Culture.
For more information about the Annual Grants Program or to view a full list of grant recipients, visit indyarts.org.
Contact Arts & Culture Reporter Chloe McGowan at 317-762-7848. Follow her on X @chloe_mcgowanxx.
Chloe McGowan is the Arts & Culture Reporter for the Indianapolis Recorder Newspaper. Originally from Columbus, OH, Chloe graduated with a degree in journalism from The Ohio State University. She is a former IndyStar Pulliam Fellow, and her previous work includes freelancing for Indy Maven, Assistant Arts & Life Editor for The Lantern, and editorial assistant at CityScene Media Group. Chloe enjoys covering all things arts and culture — from local music, visual art, dance, theater and film, as well as minority-owned businesses. In her free time, Chloe enjoys reading, cooking and keeping her plants alive.
