Boulder B-Sides: A New Grant Will Pop Up Art in Vacant Storefronts for Sundance 2027
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Confirmed by the grant maker: Community Foundation Boulder County, working with the Boulder County Arts Alliance, has opened applications for a new grant program called Boulder B-Sides. It will fund 8 to 10 local artists or arts organizations, up to $15,000 each, to install public art in vacant downtown Boulder storefronts during the Sundance 2027 window. Applications are open now through October 9, 2026, with recipients announced in early November. This is a local philanthropic program, not a Sundance Institute or City of Boulder initiative.
Last verified: September 23, 2026
What Boulder B-Sides funds
| Detail | Status |
|---|---|
| Application window: September 14 to October 9, 2026, 5 p.m. | Confirmed |
| Grant size: up to $15,000 per artist or organization, 8 to 10 awards total | Confirmed |
| Activation window: spaces available January 15 to 31, 2027, concentrated January 21 to 26 | Confirmed |
| Recipients announced: early November 2026 | Confirmed |
Boulder B-Sides activates vacant commercial storefronts and other unexpected spaces in the Sundance footprint, spotlighting local art the Community Foundation describes as experimental, innovative and genre-bending, art that lives outside the main frame the way a record’s B-side sits outside the hit single. Artists and arts organizations apply through the Community Foundation’s grant portal after reviewing a formal request for proposals document. Questions go to the foundation’s program contact by email rather than a general festival address, since this runs separately from Sundance Institute’s own accreditation, ticketing and volunteer programs.
Coverage of the program has also appeared in local press, including a Longmont Times-Call report on the open call for applications, which is consistent with the Community Foundation’s own posted terms.
Why it matters
This is a different track into the festival than the marketing-focused program covered in our post on becoming an Official Friend of Sundance 2027, and it adds to the broader landscape we described in how Boulder businesses are preparing for Sundance 2027. For visitors, it means downtown storefronts that might otherwise sit empty during the festival window could instead hold short-term art installations, which is worth factoring into a walk down Pearl Street between screenings, alongside the ideas in our things to do beyond the festival guide. For Boulder County artists, it is a concrete, funded way to take part in the festival without a press badge, a volunteer shift or a film in the program.
What we’re watching
We will update this post once grant recipients are announced in early November and again once specific storefront locations are confirmed closer to the festival, since those addresses were not available at the time of writing.
