Marching band instruments, ballet costumes and painting supplies are just a few things that have been funded in recent years by a Littleton program that supports arts and culture initiatives.

The Arts and Culture Grant program, which started in 2023, will open later this month for its third annual grant cycle. The program, funded by the city’s 5% lodger’s tax on hotels, motels and short-term rentals, provides grants to support and cultivate arts and culture in Littleton, according to the city.

“These grants help realize our shared vision of Littleton as a community where creativity will thrive,” said Anna Dyste, the city’s public art administrator. “I think everyone who lives and works here agrees that arts and culture are a vital part of Littleton’s unique character.”

In its first two years, the program distributed about $500,000 in grant awards to 93 recipients. The number of recipients more than doubled — from 30 to 63 — from the first year to the second year, Dyste said.

“This grant program has proven that our community wants, and needs, continued investment in the arts,” Dyste said. “We are only able to fund a fraction of requests. Last year, for example, we received about $4 in asks for every $1 we had to spend.”

For the upcoming grant cycle, the city adjusted eligibility requirements to narrow the program’s focus. Applicants are now required to be registered nonprofits and must provide publicly-accessible programming within the designated boundaries of Littleton, Dyste said. Groups must also have a minimum of three consecutive years in operation, the program’s website states.

The Littleton Arts and Culture Board reviews applications and makes recommendations to the city council for disbursement of the funds. Organizations may apply for up to $30,000, and funding may be spent on anything that advances the organization’s goals and supports the mission of promoting the arts in Littleton, the city’s website states.

The Littleton Independent is among the recipients of the second cycle of funding from the city’s Arts and Culture Grant Program. (As a matter of policy, funders exercise no control over editorial decisions.) The newspaper received a grant from the city to support coverage of arts and culture in Littleton and the south metro area, in honor of Sonya Ellingboe.

Ellingboe, a longtime force in Littleton’s civic and cultural life, was an arts and culture journalist and columnist until her retirement in late 2023. Her articles regularly appeared in the Littleton Independent, as well as Colorado Community Media’s other newspapers in Arapahoe and Douglas counties. She was recognized last year with the first-ever Arts and Culture Award from Littleton.

Ellingboe’s daughter, Kirsten Orahood, said her mother was pleased to learn about the Littleton Independent’s grant in her name.

“What a wonderful honor for her,” Orahood said. “That’s very exciting. I got goosebumps when you told me about it.”

Other recipients of the Arts and Culture Grant in the current cycle include the Alley Arts Studio, the Arapahoe Community College Foundation, the Bega-Littleton Sister City Exchange program, Cycling Without Age Littleton, the Littleton Symphony Orchestra, Voices West, Western Welcome Week and many more organizations.

Just over 25% of the revenue from the city’s lodger’s tax goes towards the Arts and Culture Grant program, Dyste said. Other revenue from the tax goes towards Bemis Public Library, the Littleton Museum, the Town Hall Arts Center and Hudson Gardens & Event Center — the four “major cultural institutions” in the city, as designated by the city council, Dyste said. Some of the funds also go towards the city’s communications department and other programs like murals, public art and other requests.

Applications for the Arts and Culture Grant program will be open from Feb. 28 to April 11, and funding will be available to recipients in January 2026, according to a factsheet about the program. More information about the program and how to apply is available on the Littleton Museum’s website.

Dyste said she encourages anyone who may be on the fence about applying to apply for the grant.

“Sometimes, all it takes is a small investment for big, impactful things to happen,” she said.