The application window for the Bend Cultural Tourism Fund is now closed.

Guidelines for applicants

Grant objectives and what we fund:

The BCTF grants are intended to attract tourists from outside of a 50-mile radius to regionally based arts and culture projects, activities or events with a measurable and positive economic and cultural impact on the community of Bend. Grants are limited to definitions within Oregon State Statute 320.300 and can include any of the following activities:

• Advertising, publicizing, or distributing information for the purpose of attracting and welcoming tourists
• Conducting strategic planning and research necessary to stimulate future tourism development
• Marketing special events and festivals designed to attract tourists

What we do not fund:

• Buying equipment or supplies for a project/program
• Construction or capital investments
• Operations
• Overhead
• Local advertising (including TV, such as KTVZ, posters, local newspapers such as The Source or Bend Bulletin, etc.)

Types of grants

Small Marketing/Research Grants

Small Marketing/Research Grants (formally known as Catalyst Grants) are intended to support newer emerging cultural tourism activities that will have less of a focus on ROI or conduct research for a new project’s feasibility. Small Marketing/Research Grant award amounts are typically smaller than the Large Marketing Grants. Historically, the average award is $9,000.

2025 Small Marketing/Research Grants Guidelines

Large Marketing Grant

Large Marketing Grants are intended to support high quality cultural tourism activities that demonstrate a clear and measurable economic benefit in Bend. These grants are usually for established programs and activities that need a little help to draw in additional tourists and can demonstrate measurable return on investment. The average Large Marketing Grant made in 2023 was $26,700. The maximum award was $48,000.

2025 Large Marketing Grant Guidelines

Goals of the Bend Cultural Tourism Fund

• Attract incremental tourists to Bend during the shoulder seasons and winter months
• Diversify Bend’s tourism offerings
• Enrich and cultivate Bend’s arts and cultural assets
• Establish Bend as a premier cultural tourism destination
• Enhance Bend’s quality of life
• Increase Bend’s appeal to attract new long-term investment into the community

Definitions of culture

Culture is defined as “activities, projects or programs that are primarily organized for the purpose of producing, promoting or presenting the arts, heritage or humanities to the public.”

The BCTF uses the following public agencies’ definitions of Arts, Heritage and Humanities:

National Endowment for the Arts Definition of “Arts”:

The term “the arts” includes, but is not limited to, music (instrumental and vocal), dance, drama, folk art, creative writing, architecture and allied fields, painting, sculpture, photography, graphic and craft arts, industrial design, costume and fashion design, motion pictures, television, radio, film, video, tape and sound recording, the arts related to the presentation, performance, execution, and exhibition of such major art forms, all those traditional arts practiced by the diverse peoples of this country. [,] and the study and application of the arts to the human environment. — National Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities Act, 1965, as amended

The Oregon Arts Commission uses these categories:

• Visual Arts (crafts, drawing, painting, photography, printmaking, sculpture, mixed media, new media)
• Literature (creative non-fiction, fiction, play writing, poetry)
• Dance (including choreography) • Music (composition, performance)
• Theatre and Performance Art
• Design Arts
• Media Arts

Folk and Traditional Arts Oregon Administrative Rule definition for Oregon Heritage:

• Heritage is the array of significant things, thoughts, and activities associated with the human experience in Oregon.
• Oregon’s heritage resources include artifacts and other manifestations of material culture, documents, publications, photographs and films, prehistoric and historic sites, historic buildings and other structures, cultural landscapes, heritage celebrations, festivals and fairs, and songs, stories, and recordings associated with the human experience in Oregon.

National Endowment for the Humanities Definition of “Humanities”:

“The term ‘humanities’ includes, but is not limited to, the study and interpretation of the following: language, both modern and classical; linguistics; literature; history; jurisprudence; philosophy; archaeology; comparative religion; ethics; the history, criticism and theory of the arts; those aspects of the social sciences which have humanistic content and employ humanistic methods; and the study and application of the humanities to the human environment with particular attention to reflecting our diverse heritage, traditions, and history and to the relevance of the humanities to the current conditions of national life.” — National Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities Act, 1965, as amended