Grants for Public Art Programs 2026: Mural Funders
Quick Answer: If you're running a mural program, a sculpture park, a public art nonprofit or a mural festival, grants for public art programs come mostly from private foundations, and they file them under the arts.
Full answer and how we checked it
Grantsights analysis of 990-PF arts grants pulled October 31, 2026 found 189 foundations that made 326 grants to public art and mural programs, totaling $16,307,644. Pennsylvania (68 foundations) leads by a wide margin because of one Philadelphia program, and California's free preview sample is the Zellerbach Family Foundation. The median grant was $10,000, so most projects are built from several local gifts.
This guide is for directors, board members and volunteer organizers of community mural programs, public art nonprofits, sculpture parks, mural festivals and arts councils that run a public art program. Individual artists looking for a commission can use the federal and city sections, but the foundation data here covers money paid to organizations.
Data note: The public art counts come from a Grantsights search of 990-PF arts grants, pulled October 31, 2026, for recipients or purposes naming murals, public art, sculpture parks and mural festivals. Grantsights checked 40 matched arts recipients by hand, and 39 were public art, mural or sculpture-park programs or a group's mural project; a rural photo-sharing community hub was the miss. Art museums, galleries and museums with sculpture gardens were left out of the pattern. Statewide arts totals in the table further down come from a separate Grantsights pull of 990-PF arts filings dated October 29, 2026.
In this guide (12 sections)
- 5 Kinds of Public Art Groups and Who Pays Each
- Grants for Public Art Programs: What 990-PF Filings Show
- Why the Arts List Fits Public Art Groups
- What the NEA Doesn't Tell You About Public Art Funding
- Percent for Art and Federal Commissions Aren't Grants
- Costing a Mural or Public Art Project
- 6 Public Art Projects Foundations Have Paid For
- Common Mistakes in Public Art Grant Requests
- A Public Art Program's Funding Calendar
- Related Guides for Public Art Groups
- FAQ: Common Questions
- Sources
Foundations near you already fund this work. See three in your state that take requests, with how to apply. Free, about a minute.
Foundations that fund this work
31,050 private foundations gave to museums, theaters, orchestras and arts groups
From their own IRS Form 990-PF filings (tax years 2020 to 2025). Pick your state to see who gave there, with one foundation in full. About the list
Across the US, these foundations gave 220,125 grants totaling $10,606,816,531.
Historical giving does not establish an open application or eligibility for your organization. For-profit operators should check each foundation's applicant rules before buying.
The full list names all 31,050, state by state: what each gave, to whom, for what, and a link to its filings. One payment, no subscription.
Public art source review, Grantsights, October 31, 2026: Grantsights checked the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) pages on Grants for Arts Projects (opens in a new tab), Our Town (opens in a new tab) and state and regional arts partners (opens in a new tab), the NEA's Design and Our Town application instructions (opens in a new tab), the General Services Administration (GSA) fine arts page (opens in a new tab), New York City's Percent for Art page (opens in a new tab) and the IRS page about Form 990-PF (opens in a new tab) against foundation filings that name public art groups. Where official sources stop: no federal page counts how many mural programs exist or what a wall costs per square foot, so your request has to supply those numbers.
5 Kinds of Public Art Groups and Who Pays Each
The 326 public art grants in the pull went to 5 fairly different kinds of organization, and each one sells a different story to a funder. Find your row before you draft anything. This table is illustrative, not data: budgets and partners vary widely.
| Kind of group | What it makes | Main costs | Who usually pays |
|---|---|---|---|
| Community mural program | Painted walls with neighborhood input | Artist fees, paint, lifts, wall prep, youth crews | Local family foundations, city arts offices, businesses |
| Public art nonprofit or city art office | Temporary and permanent commissions | Curators, fabrication, permits, insurance | Large regional foundations, city budgets |
| Sculpture park | A permanent outdoor collection | Grounds, conservation, new acquisitions, staff | One or two anchor family foundations |
| Mural or public art festival | Many walls in a week or a weekend | Artist travel, equipment rental, events | Tourism groups, corporate sponsors, small funders |
| Arts council public art program | Murals, sculpture loans, signage art | Project costs on top of regranting | State arts agency money, local foundations |
A mural program wins money by showing the neighborhood had a say and that young people or local artists got paid. A sculpture park sells visitors, education and care of a collection. Those are different pitches, and the same letter rarely works for both.
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Grants for Public Art Programs: What 990-PF Filings Show
Private foundation money, reported on IRS Form 990-PF, is a main source for public art groups, though city budgets, percent for art set-asides, sponsors and commissions often pay for the walls themselves. According to IRS guidance, private foundations use Form 990-PF to report their charitable distributions and activities, so every gift below can be traced to a filing. Grantsights analysis of 990-PF arts grants pulled October 31, 2026 found 189 foundations that made 326 grants totaling $16,307,644, an average near $50,000 but a median of only $10,000.
Many of the largest public art gifts carry no cause tag in the filings, so they don't show up in the arts count. This table draws on a wider search across causes to show the top of the range:
| Foundation | Public art recipient | State | Amount | Filed purpose | Year |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Harry T. Wilks Family Foundation | Pyramid Hill Sculpture Park | OH | $1,076,915 | Program support | 2025 |
| The William Penn Foundation | Philadelphia Mural Arts Advocates | PA | $850,000 | Our Market cultural project | 2023 |
| Barr Foundation | New England Foundation for the Arts | MA | $750,000 | Public art programs | 2024 |
| Bloomberg Family Foundation | City of Phoenix | AZ | $700,000 | Public Art Challenge | 2024 |
| Linde Family Foundation | Now and There (Boston Public Art Triennial) | MA | $500,000 | 2025 triennial | 2024 |
| Andrew W. Mellon Foundation | Chicago Public Art Group | IL | $450,000 | Preserving a labor movement mural | 2024 |
| The Heinz Endowments | Office for Public Art, Pittsburgh | PA | $300,000 | 2-year general operating support | 2024 |
| Deb and Bob Pulver Foundation | Greater Des Moines Public Art Foundation | IA | $250,000 | General operating budget | 2024 |
For example, the Bloomberg Family Foundation gave $700,000 apiece in 2024 to 8 Public Art Challenge recipients in the wider search, including the City of Phoenix, Houston's Midtown Redevelopment Authority, the Central Baltimore Partnership and the Salt Lake City Foundation. Several of those checks went to a city or a city-linked fund rather than an independent arts nonprofit, which says a lot about how big public art gets paid for. One organization in Oregon, Art in Public Places in Bend, received $136,500 from the Bend Foundation in 2023, proof that a small city's public art group can land a large local gift.
Public art grants by state
| Place | Public art funders | Public art grants | Public art total |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pennsylvania | 68 | 142 | $8,069,706 |
| New York | 18 | 30 | $862,180 |
| California | 14 | 17 | $533,892 |
| Ohio | 11 | 15 | $234,308 |
| Minnesota | 10 | 14 | $830,300 |
| Massachusetts | 7 | 16 | $2,482,500 |
| Florida | 4 | 6 | $40,000 |
| Michigan | 4 | 5 | $34,000 |
| Missouri | 4 | 10 | $397,479 |
Each row counts grants by the state where the recipient is based, using arts-tagged gifts from the October 31, 2026 pull. 18 states had 3 or more foundations giving to public art, including Alabama, Connecticut, Indiana, Iowa, Maryland, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Texas and Wisconsin with 3 each.
Why Pennsylvania's count is so high
1 program explains most of Pennsylvania: Mural Arts Philadelphia. Pennsylvania holds 142 of the 326 arts grants and $8,069,706 of the $16,307,644, nearly half the money. Among the 120 largest matched gifts in the wider search, 41 went to Pennsylvania recipients, and 27 of those, worth $6,364,852, went to Mural Arts under 6 different spellings, from "Mural Arts Program" to "Philadelphia Mural Arts Advocates Inc." The JPB Foundation alone gave Philadelphia Mural Arts Advocates $750,000 in both 2022 and 2023 for its Solace in Solidarity project.
So a mural group in Erie or Scranton shouldn't read 68 Pennsylvania funders as 68 open doors. Many of them gave to the same Philadelphia program. Pittsburgh is the other center: the Heinz Endowments gave the Office for Public Art $300,000 in both 2023 and 2024, and the McCune Foundation gave the Society to Preserve the Millvale Murals $200,000 in 2023 for general support.
Massachusetts has the same shape. The Barr Foundation's 4 grants in the Massachusetts preview add up to $1,900,000, about 77% of the $2,482,500 Massachusetts total, so the state's numbers mostly reflect one funder's interest in public art.
California's public art funders
California's 14 foundations made 17 arts grants worth $533,892. The free preview on the Grantsights arts funder list for California leads with the Zellerbach Family Foundation, which says it takes requests and lists what to send, deadlines, limits and a contact in its filings. It gave the Bay Area Mural Program in Oakland $10,000 in 2023 for a Black arts collective project and the Haight Street Art Center in San Francisco $10,000 in 2024 for general operating support. The preview's next names include the J. Paul Getty Trust, whose largest matched California gift was $125,000.
The wider California search shows the steady, smaller gifts most mural groups live on. The California Endowment gave the West Oakland Mural Project $25,000 in both 2023 and 2024, the Peter A. and Vernice H. Gasser Foundation gave the Rail Arts District in Napa $25,000 in 2024 for a quake mural, and the Mark and Jessie Milano Foundation gave the Tehachapi Arts Foundation $16,000 in 2024 to restore and maintain the town's historic murals.
Why the Arts List Fits Public Art Groups
Arts is the right list for a mural program or sculpture park. In the October 31, 2026 search, which Grantsights didn't hand-check across every cause, most matched gifts carried no cause tag at all, about 189 foundations tagged their gifts as arts, and education trailed far behind. The education gifts were mostly school murals and arts-in-schools projects. A public art group is judged on the art and the public that sees it, and arts funders score those things.
| State | Arts grants filed | Arts foundations | Open to requests | Median gift |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pennsylvania | 9,719 | 1,998 | 658 | $5,000 |
| New York | 36,965 | 6,557 | 1,370 | $5,974 |
| California | 23,737 | 4,991 | 1,060 | $6,800 |
| Ohio | 6,870 | 1,418 | 552 | $5,408 |
| Minnesota | 4,411 | 849 | 259 | $7,500 |
| Massachusetts | 10,409 | 2,543 | 660 | $5,000 |
Minnesota's typical arts gift is the largest of these 6 states: according to Grantsights analysis of 990-PF arts filings pulled October 29, 2026, its median was $7,500, against $5,000 in Pennsylvania and Massachusetts. A Grantsights arts funder list for one state costs $29, a year of access to every cause and state costs $99, and you can get a refund on either within 30 days. Groups that also run a gallery or classes share many funders with art centers, so that guide is worth reading next.
What the NEA Doesn't Tell You About Public Art Funding
The NEA funds public art through its creative placemaking work, but its pages leave out how the rules play out for a mural group. Read the NEA rules next to the filings and 5 lessons stand out.
- Our Town lives inside Grants for Arts Projects now. According to NEA guidance on its Our Town page, applicants select the Design and Our Town discipline within Grants for Arts Projects. The Grants for Arts Projects page lists requests of $10,000 to $100,000 for most applicants and a 1 to 1 cost share in cash or in-kind. A $25,000 award means at least $50,000 of project budget.
- The city partner is encouraged, not required. The Design and Our Town instructions say the NEA strongly encourages, but doesn't require, partnerships between nonprofits, local governments and arts and design experts. Older guides still say a nonprofit and a local government must apply together. That rule is gone, but a project with a city partner still reads as more likely to happen.
- Construction is out. The same instructions say the NEA doesn't fund capital campaigns, construction costs, renovation, or buying or leasing sites or structures. Planning with artists, community design and public art projects fit. A permanent sculpture base or a wall rebuild should be paid for by someone else, so ask NEA staff which of your lines count before you send the budget.
- Small groups usually can't apply yet. Applicants must have 5 years of arts programming and at least $20,000 in operating expenses in their latest fiscal year, and applications submitted by a fiscal sponsor aren't eligible. A volunteer mural collective working under a sponsor has to apply through a partner that qualifies on its own, or start with its state arts agency. Read what a fiscal sponsor is before you set that up.
- The calendar runs 18 months. The current page shows July 9, 2026 as the latest Part 1 deadline, now past, with decisions in April 2027 and projects starting no earlier than June 1, 2027. The NEA grants guide covers registration, and NEA reports that its partnership agreements send funds to state arts agencies and 6 regional arts organizations, which is the faster route for most mural projects.
What most public art guides skip is the word "mural" itself. In a filing it can mean a museum's restored ceiling, a school hallway painting or a gala sponsorship. The one miss in Grantsights' hand check was a community hub that listed public art among photo-sharing events, and an $800,000 Mellon gift to The New School to safeguard its Orozco mural room is the kind of money a neighborhood mural program won't see. Filter by recipient, not by keyword.
Percent for Art and Federal Commissions Aren't Grants
1% is the number to know: according to New York City's Department of Cultural Affairs, the city's Percent for Art law has required since 1982 that 1% of the budget for eligible city-funded construction projects go to public artwork. That money pays for commissions on city-owned buildings, chosen through the city's process. It isn't a grant pool your nonprofit can apply to.
The federal version works the same way. According to GSA, its Art in Architecture Program commissions American artists to create large, permanent artworks for federal buildings, and artists apply to be considered through a national registry. Again, the artist is hired, not a nonprofit funded.
Here's why this still matters to a public art group. Cities with percent for art rules often need a partner to run community meetings, train young assistants or care for works after they go up. Ask your city's arts office whether any of those jobs are contracted out. A paid contract to manage a city commission can steady a mural program's budget more than another $5,000 grant.
Costing a Mural or Public Art Project
Most groups underestimate wall prep, equipment and upkeep. Primer, power washing, a lift rental and anti-graffiti coating can rival the artist fee, and a mural that peels in 5 years hurts the next request. This table is illustrative, not data: costs vary by wall size, climate and city rules.
| Cost | What it covers | Often missing from the budget? |
|---|---|---|
| Artist fee and design fee | Paid design rounds and the painting itself | No |
| Wall prep and materials | Repairs, primer, paint, sealant, anti-graffiti coat | Yes |
| Equipment and safety | Lifts, scaffolding, barriers, traffic control | Yes |
| Permits, insurance and owner agreement | Building owner consent, liability cover, city approval | Yes |
| Community engagement | Meetings, translation, youth apprentice stipends | No |
| Maintenance fund | Touch-ups and repairs over the mural's life | Yes |
Report square feet painted, local artists paid, residents at design meetings and how long the work will last. Those numbers let a funder compare your project with others, and they show more than a photo of a finished wall can.
6 Public Art Projects Foundations Have Paid For
All 6 projects below were paid for by a foundation, per filings in the October 31, 2026 pull. Borrow their shape when you frame your own project request.
- Restoring a historic mural. The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation gave the Chicago Public Art Group $450,000 in 2024 to preserve a labor movement mural.
- Airport art. The Thomas and Linda Koehn Foundation gave the Des Moines Public Art Foundation $250,000 in 2023 for a campaign to buy public art for the Des Moines airport terminal.
- An artist residency in neighborhoods. The William Penn Foundation gave Monument Lab in Philadelphia $225,000 a year in 2022, 2023 and 2024 for a neighborhood-based public art residency.
- Murals plus capacity. Saint Luke's Foundation of Cleveland gave Balance Point Studios $92,500 in 2024 for murals in the Mt. Pleasant neighborhood with a capacity building add-on.
- A festival of art. The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts gave Public Art Saint Paul $100,000 in 2023 for the Wakpa Triennial Art Festival.
- Growth planning. The Barr Foundation gave the Common Wealth Mural Collaborative in Granby, Massachusetts $80,000 in 2024 for growth planning and operations.
Small groups win too, at a smaller scale. The American Savings Foundation gave the Clinton Arts Council in Connecticut $1,500 in 2025 for a mural project, and the John W. and Anna H. Hanes Foundation gave the Delta Arts Center in Winston-Salem $10,000 in 2023 to fund mural painting. The strongest small-group requests pair one visible piece of art with a request for operating money, because funders like to see the wall and you still have to pay staff.
Common Mistakes in Public Art Grant Requests
These 5 mistakes show up when a public art group writes about the art and forgets the public.
- No wall agreement. A red flag for any funder is a mural request with no signed agreement from the building owner. Get consent, a term of years and a plan for removal or repair before you ask.
- Skipping the neighborhood. A common mistake is describing the artist's vision and nothing else. Funders want to know who chose the theme, who was paid and who'll see it every day.
- Underestimating upkeep. Murals fade and sculptures need conservation. Name a maintenance amount, even a small one, so funders don't fear paying for a wall that's gone in 4 years.
- Pitching a museum to a mural funder. If you're a sculpture park, say so, but don't borrow museum language about collections and catalogs when you're asking a neighborhood funder. Grants for museums covers the funders who want that pitch.
- Guessing the ask. Use how to read a 990-PF to find a funder's usual gift. Asking a funder whose public art grants run near $5,000 for $75,000 usually ends the talk.
A Public Art Program's Funding Calendar
This 12-month plan follows a typical outdoor painting season in a 4-season climate.
| Month | Action |
|---|---|
| January | Pick next year's walls, sign owner agreements and total last year's results |
| February | Ask your state arts agency and city arts office about project grants |
| March to April | Send 8 to 12 requests to local arts funders with design sketches |
| May to September | Paint, hold community days and collect photos with consent |
| October | Report to funders with before and after photos and resident counts |
| November to December | Budget upkeep, thank sponsors and plan any NEA request 18 months out |
The Grantsights grant database tracks open federal and state notices, including state arts agency programs that fund public art projects.
Related Guides for Public Art Groups
The funders behind $16,307,644 in public art grants also give to nearby kinds of arts and community groups, and these guides cover them.
Mural festivals and public art weekends share sponsors with the groups in grants for arts festivals. If your county arts council runs the public art program, grants for arts councils explains how regranting money works. Downtown murals often start with a business district, so read grants for Main Street programs, and a block-by-block mural project may fit the funders in grants for neighborhood associations. For a wider view of arts money beyond murals, see grants for arts organizations. Painted bowls and mural walls are part of many new skateparks, and grants for skate parks explains how those park projects raise their money.
FAQ: Common Questions
How many foundations fund public art programs? 189 in Grantsights' search of 990-PF arts grants pulled October 31, 2026.
What's a typical grant for a mural or public art project? The median arts grant was $10,000, and 133 of 326 were under $5,000.
Does the NEA still run Our Town? Yes, as the Design and Our Town discipline inside Grants for Arts Projects.
Does Our Town require a local government partner? No. The NEA strongly encourages one but doesn't require it.
Is percent for art a grant my nonprofit can apply for? No. It pays for city commissions, and the government hires the artist.
Who gives the largest public art grants? Big foundations such as the Harry T. Wilks Family Foundation, William Penn Foundation and Barr Foundation.
Sources
- National Endowment for the Arts: Our Town (opens in a new tab)
- NEA program page for Grants for Arts Projects, 2026 cycles (opens in a new tab)
- National Endowment for the Arts: Design and Our Town Application Instructions (FY27, July cycle) (opens in a new tab)
- NEA list of state, jurisdictional and regional arts agencies (opens in a new tab)
- GSA: Fine Arts and the Art in Architecture Program (opens in a new tab)
- NYC Department of Cultural Affairs: Percent for Art (opens in a new tab)
- IRS: About Form 990-PF (opens in a new tab)
Last updated October 31, 2026. Published by Grantsights from public sources. See our editorial policy, how we build and check guides, corrections and how we make money.
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