How To Apply

The application period for 2023 is now closed. Please check back for application dates in 2024.

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

Guidelines for applicants

Grants may support:

  • Programs designed to generate incremental tourism activity in the city of Bend during the shoulder seasons and winter months
  • Target marketing for arts and cultural activities designed to attract visitors from outside a 50 mile radius of the city of Bend
  • Grant Activities must meet BCTF’s definition of culture
  • The development of packages or special promotions for arts or cultural tourism activities
  • The development of new uses of media and technology for arts and cultural activities
  • Research projects related to existing or potential cultural tourism programs with the intent of increasing cultural tourism activity in the City of Bend
  • Other forms of tourism promotion that adhere to ORS.320.350.

Types of Grants

Catalyst Grant

Intended to support the bold ideas that aren’t yet fully developed, but can demonstrate extraordinary potential for increasing Bend’s off-season “cultural tourists.” The grant will provide successful applicants with funding to propel the development of an event or activity that will support the local economy and cultural organizations. Catalyst grants award amounts are typically smaller than the Marketing Grants. Historically, the average award is $9,000. No more than 25% of available grant funds will be allocated to this category in this grant period (approximately a total of $100,000).

2023 Catalyst Grant Guidelines

Marketing and Program Grant

Marketing/Program grants are intended to support high quality cultural tourism activities that demonstrate a clear and measurable economic benefit in Bend.

If you are are a first time applicant or uncertain which category to apply under, please contact the program administer, below.
Applicants may only apply for one grant in either category. Funding resources are limited and not all eligible applications will receive funding. Grant award amounts are determined by the Commission. Review the Policies and Procedures for a full description of the Bend Cultural Tourism Commission.

2023 Marketing and Project Grants

Frequently Asked Questions

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