GCI’s Creative Impact Grants aim to inspire climbing communities worldwide to share their narratives through innovative projects in the arts. By recognizing the power of storytelling, GCI seeks to highlight powerful stories, uplift economies, and provide support to local artists within the global climbing community.
The Creative Grant program is designed to facilitate sustainable community development by supporting and spotlighting creative initiatives that amplify diverse voices in climbing. GCI firmly believes in the transformative potential of storytelling to bring about positive change and empower local groups to address the unique challenges and opportunities within their communities.
GCI acknowledges that each community has its own distinct stories, struggles, and triumphs. Therefore, the organization is committed to working closely with grant recipients to ensure that the awarded funds contribute to addressing the specific needs of their community.
The grant supports direct impact projects that seek to highlight the voices and visions of local, underrepresented climbing communities. Examples of eligible projects include short films, climbing photography, literary projects, creative clinics, and festivals centered around climbing and storytelling.
To be considered for funding, proposed projects must meet certain requirements. These include requests of or under $1000 USD, leadership by a local climbing organization, implementation between April and September 2024, clear scopes of work, quantifiable impacts on the selected community, detailed timeline and budget information, and activities that are sustainable beyond the grant term.
GCI prioritizes funding for climbing communities that currently lack avenues of financial support for projects like these. Additionally, the organization is particularly interested in supporting projects led by individuals who are currently underrepresented in the climbing industry, including climbers who are Black, Indigenous, or People of Color.
There are certain types of projects that the grant does not fund, such as those taking place inside the continental United States, projects not led by local climbers or artists, projects without a significant relationship to climbing, and projects not centered on creative works. GCI also does not fund research, white papers, academic projects, conferences, social media or public awareness campaigns, political campaigns or advocacy, land endowment, acquisitions, easements, salaries, stipends, or general operating costs.
The application deadline for projects taking place between April and September 2024 is February 29, 2024. A second round of applications will open in August for projects between October 2024 and March 2025. For any questions, please reach out to grants@globalclimbing.org. GCI looks forward to receiving innovative project proposals that will contribute to the growth and empowerment of climbing communities worldwide.