Release Date: 9/3/2026

BOISE — The City of Boise is thrilled to announce Arts & History Grant fund recipients for fiscal year 2027. 38 recipients will receive funding to total $150,000 for cultural projects that occur between October 1, 2026, and September 30, 2027, and benefit Boise residents.

The City of Boise’s Department of Arts & History Grants program supports those in both established and emerging cultural fields with initiatives that nurture a strong and equitable cultural community in Boise. Grants are reviewed by a community panel and awarded based on community benefit, alignment with City of Boise and Department of Arts & History’s mission, project readiness, implementation and logistics, and accessibility. Together these funded projects and events contribute to creating opportunity and a city for everyone.

The recipients are: (*indicates first-time recipients)

$5,000 Awards

Ballet Idaho: Learning Through Dance Arts Education Program – Support for Ballet Idaho’s flagship educational program, which brings the history, vocabulary, and movement of ballet into Title I schools free of charge.

Global Lounge: World Village Festival – Support for an annual multicultural arts festival, including artist and cultural presenter/performer stipends, workshop materials, marketing, and accessibility and language access measures.

Idaho Film Foundation: i48 2027 – A forty-eight-hour film competition open to Boise filmmakers of all ages and abilities which challenges filmmaker teams to make an original short film in 48 hours.

*Idaho Office for Refugees: Mosaics Podcast – Support for production contract to create 12 audio and video episodes of the Mosaics podcast which highlights the vibrant and diverse stories of Idaho’s refugee and immigrant communities.

Idaho Shakespeare Festival: Access Program – Support of Idaho Shakespeare Festival's Access Program, with the goal of expanding access to individuals who, due to financial or social constraints, geographic isolation, or physical challenges, are unable to experience theater.

Lauren Edson Dance (LED), Inc.: Arts Education Outreach for Boise Public Schools – Support for LED’s arts education outreach program, benefiting students in Boise School District’s junior high and high schools.

Open Arms Dance Project: Adaptive Dance & Anti-bullying Dance Camp – Support for program facilitation of Open Arms Dance Project’s 2027 suite of offerings, including adaptive dance classes and performance, Family Boogie classes, and the Upstanders with Open Arms Spring Break Camp (offered in partnership with the Wassmuth Center).

Opera Idaho: Opera in the Park – Support for a free community concert bringing operatic performance to a local park. Funding will offset production expenses, including artist fees, musician compensation, and technical production costs.

Winter Wildlands Alliance: 22nd Annual Boise Backcountry Film Festival Premiere – Support for the 2027 Backcountry Film Festival premiere, including venue and production expenses, film screening and technical costs, closed captioning, marketing and outreach, and affordable ticket prices.

$4,500 Awards

*Boise PhotoGrid: Boise PhotoGrid Exhibition – Support for exhibition production and public programming for the Boise PhotoGrid in Fall/Winter 2026, including artwork printing, signage, promotional materials, venue rental, and artist honorariums, with the goal of creating a long-term visual archive of Boise’s changing streetscapes through the perspectives of 15 local photographers.

Full Tilt Boogie L.L.C./Starbelly School of Dance: Boise Raks – Boise Raks is a program that merges historical and contemporary artistic expressions through the vibrant medium of dance, offering free public performances and interactive sessions.

Global Gardens: West Bench Farmers Market Performances – Support to engage a lineup of local musicians, dancers, storytellers, and cultural performers during the seasonal West Bench Farmers Market which highlights Boise’s cultural diversity through food, art, and small businesses.

*Idaho Regional Ballet: Idaho Regional Ballet’s Children’s Performance – Support for a free children’s ballet performance, including venue rental, technical production, and the creation and printing of an interactive, child-friendly program featuring ballet and history activities.

*Lala's Jazz: Jazz Performance Series – Support for three jazz performances in winter 2026/2027, including artist fees, venue production costs, and paid educational opportunities for emerging student musicians from Boise State University.

MING Studios: Residency Program for Local Artists – Support for multi-week residencies for local artists that include a stipend, studio space, materials support, and opportunities to provide public programs.

Project Flux Dance: Perspectives Works-in-Progress Presentation Series – A presentation series that offers local artists across disciplines the opportunity to share works-in-progress with an audience, helping them refine and shape their work as it moves toward final production.

Serenata Chamber Orchestra, Inc.: Celebration of Women Concert – Support for this volunteer-driven, community orchestra’s free concert presented during Women’s History Month, including rehearsal and venue expenses, technical production, marketing and outreach, security, and artistic planning and administration.

Story Story Night, Inc.: 2026/2027 Program Support – Support for Story Story Night artist contracts and production expenses for six flagship shows and three late-night events taking place between November 2026 and September 2027.

The Luminary: 2027 Program Season Funding – Boise-based, female founded theatre ensemble that will bring a newly devised piece to Boise in 2027.

$4,000 Awards

Boise Chordsmen: 2026-2027 Performance Program – Support for local men’s a cappella barbershop chorus’ annual programming, including costs related to rehearsals and two public performances, with the goal of maintaining affordable access to barbershop music for the Boise community.

Boise Hive, Inc.: Rap America Project – Free weeklong workshop experience and outreach program focused on songwriting, music business, and music production for youth from underserved and low-income communities in Boise.

Boise Traditional Chinese Dance Group: 2027 Spring Show – Support for a showcase performance of ethnic and cultural dance forms with educational components to preserve and share Chinese culture in Boise.

*Capital City Mulligan Band: Capital City Mulligan Band & Swing – Support for a community music organization that provides adult musicians of all skill levels a “second chance” to return to instruments they once played, including sheet music, marketing materials, performance documentation, and venue rentals for concerts and rehearsals.

Gemma Arts: Here We Have Idaho Concert Series – Support for the Here We Have Idaho Concert Series, an event series that integrates music, storytelling, and interpretive content. Funding will provide artist stipends, support educational materials, and cover accessibility and production costs, including ASL interpretation and event documentation.

*Lenses & Brushes: Found Camera Project – Support for a year-long community photography and storytelling project that invites Boise residents and visitors to document the city through shared images and written reflections, including photography supplies, film processing and archival materials, exhibition production, and community outreach.

*Rubicon Studios: THIS MAD RIVER Puppetry Performance – Support for the development and presentation of an original puppetry work inspired by Idaho history, landscapes, and folklore, including script development, historical and cultural research, puppet design and construction, original music, artist compensation, accessibility services, and free public performance.

The Boise Bard Players: Theatre Production of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night's Dream – Support for a free performance of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, including artist stipends, production expenses, and targeted outreach to new audiences.

TRICA, Inc.: TRICA Summer Camp Scholarships 2026 – Offsetting summer camp enrollment costs for Treasure Valley Institute for Children’s Arts (TRICA) Summer Arts Camps for children from financially disadvantaged families.

$3,500 Awards

Rebecca Evans and Hannah Rodabaugh: Reverberations Event Series – Support for a free, four-part series designed to create opportunities for collaboration across artistic disciplines, bringing writers, artists, musicians, and performers of diverse backgrounds and experience levels together to explore unique themes and creative practices.

$3,000 Awards

*Kartoflanie Folk Dance Ensemble, Inc.: Polish and Ukrainian Folk Arts in Boise – Support for a year-long community program of Polish and Ukrainian folk dance, music, song, and arts, including weekly sliding-scale dance classes with scholarships and free public performances at community events, schools, libraries, and cultural festivals.

*Pink Pony Project: Pink Pony Project Postcard Maps – Support for a community-driven project documenting and celebrating Boise’s historic horse-era streetscape relics, including the creation and free distribution of six illustrated postcard maps with historical context about Boise’s equestrian and transportation heritage.

Treasure Valley Children’s Theater: Where's Ida? An Idaho History Mystery – Support to bring an original, interactive, theater experience designed to teach young audiences about Idaho history free or at a low cost for Boise-based classrooms.

$2,500 Awards

Colossal Cinematic Showcase: Colossal Cinematic Showcase – Support for in-person, movie theater screening of locally produced films featuring Boise-based casts and crews.

$2,000 Awards

Idaho Blues Society: Blues in the Schools Educational Program – Blues in the Schools is a free educational performance program that brings professional musicians into Boise School District classrooms, exposing students to live music and deepening their understanding of the history, culture, and influence of the blues.

Idaho Japanese Association: Japan Day 2027 – Support for Japan Day 2027 which involves performances, vendors, food, and games at Julia Davis Park.

*Wassmuth Center for Human Rights: Wassmuth Arts Awards Workshop Expansion – Support for free intergenerational workshops led by guest artists and writers, encouraging participants to explore human rights issues through creative expression, while expanding community engagement with the Wassmuth Arts Showcase and celebrating young people’s voices.

$1,500 Awards

Basque Museum & Cultural Center: Cyrus Jacobs-Uberuaga House Tour Improvements – Support for reprinting cultural history brochures in multiple languages for increased accessibility to the history of Basque boardinghouses, biographies of past residents, historic spaces, and the role of women in Basque immigration.

Surel's Place: pARTner Schools Program – Support for a collaborative educational experience pairing Boise-based high school students with Surel’s Place artists-in-residence for an immersive creative exchange and learning opportunity.

For more information: boiseartsandhistory.org/Grants