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Texas · Public charity

Arts Connect Houston

Arts Connect Houston unites with the greater Houston community to ensure access to high-quality arts education in creative writing, dance, music, theater, and the visual arts for every student, beginning with Houston ISD.

$427k
Granted FY2025(still arriving)
22
Itemized grants FY2025
9
Organizations funded FY2023
22%
First-time grantees FY2023
Read the full brief
Itemized, FY2025
$380k
The rest is grants the schedule does not break out
Median grant, FY2025
$10,000
Largest grant, FY2025
$118,370
Organizations funded a year
9 to 25
FY2020 to FY2023
States reached, FY2025
1
Total assets, FY2025
$1.3M

How open it is to new grantees

In FY2023, 22% of the organizations Arts Connect Houston funded were first-time grantees, receiving 19% of its grant dollars.

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2023, 81% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $29k went to new ones.

50%100%’21’22’23
RenewedFirst-time

Where new relationships form · theme of each grantee’s first grant

’21’22’23
Arts & CultureEducationHealthOther
How this is measured
First-time means a grantee’s first year in the filing window; renewed means funded in an earlier year too. The renewed share climbs naturally as a portfolio matures, so the signal is a year that bucks it (a wave of new grantees). The earliest year is left-censored: relationships that predate the data read as new. Theme is the grantee’s IRS cause.
The numbers by year
Fiscal yearOrganizations fundedTo those organizationsFirst-time grantees
FY2025still arriving22$380k9%
FY20239$154k22%
FY202225$357k24%
FY202122$224k50%
FY202017$200kn/a
100% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2020 to 2025.

Arts & Culture$1.3MHealth$12k

Top grantees

Largest recipients by total granted, FY2020 to FY2025, and the share of each one’s budget the grants supplied at peak.

GranteeTotal grantedYearsShare of their budget
Diversity in the Arts and Entertainment$162,5703n/a
Fashion Museum of Texas$84,4994n/a
The Ensemble Theatre$73,87751%
Art League of Houston$67,35051%
Open Dance Project Inc$66,35054%
Fotofest Inc$65,21541%
Alley Theatre$51,82540%
Gordon Education Initiatives for the Performing Arts$50,650346%
Houston Grand Opera Association Inc$49,83540%
Express Childrens Theatre Express Childrens Theatre$44,675322%
Show all 37 grantees
All grantees of Arts Connect Houston by total granted
GranteeTotal grantedYearsShare of their budget
Diversity in the Arts and Entertainment$162,5703n/a
Fashion Museum of Texas$84,4994n/a
The Ensemble Theatre$73,87751%
Art League of Houston$67,35051%
Open Dance Project Inc$66,35054%
Fotofest Inc$65,21541%
Alley Theatre$51,82540%
Gordon Education Initiatives for the Performing Arts$50,650346%
Houston Grand Opera Association Inc$49,83540%
Express Childrens Theatre Express Childrens Theatre$44,675322%
Multicultural Education and Counseling Through the Arts$42,80041%
Main Street Theater Houston$40,22031%
Da Camera Society of Texas$38,34531%
Katy Artreach$34,99445%
Prelude Music Foundation$34,50035%
Foundation for Modern Music$29,950312%
Contemporary Arts Museum Houston$29,00020%
Community Artists Collective$28,00027%
Houston Metropolitan Dance Center Inc$26,40033%
The Orange Show Foundation$24,50020%
Musiqa$22,21024%
Social Movement Contemporary Dance Theater$22,000264%
Houston Center for Photography Inc$20,40622%
Mercury Chamber Orchestra Inc$20,20021%
Urban Souls$20,0001n/a
Asia Society Texas Center$17,49520%
Houston Ballet Foundation$17,10020%
University of Houston$13,5151n/a
Writers in the Schools$13,44820%
Houston Symphony Society$12,00010%
Alzheimer's Foundation of America Inc$12,00010%
Ars Lyrica Houston$12,00012%
American Festival for the Arts$10,72021%
Urban Souls$10,0001n/a
Texan-French Alliance for the Arts$10,00014%
Segundo Barrio Childrens Chorus$8,1101n/a
Frame Dance Productions$5,3001n/a

Plus 1 recipient with no EIN on record ($24k), not named here.

Where it is load-bearing

Arts Connect Houston supplied at least a quarter of the budget for 2 of its grantees at some point. The chart plots its 30 largest grantees; load-bearing ones sit top left.

25%50%75%100%$100k$1.0M$10Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetThe Ensemble Theatre: $73,877 over 5y, 0.7% of budgetArt League of Houston: $67,350 over 5y, 1.5% of budgetOpen Dance Project Inc: $66,350 over 5y, 3.9% of budgetFotofest Inc: $65,215 over 4y, 1.4% of budgetAlley Theatre: $51,825 over 4y, 0.1% of budgetGordon Education Initiatives for the Performing Arts: $50,650 over 3y, 46% of budgetHouston Grand Opera Association Inc: $49,835 over 4y, 0.1% of budgetExpress Childrens Theatre Express Childrens Theatre: $44,675 over 3y, 22% of budgetMulticultural Education and Counseling Through the Arts: $42,800 over 4y, 1.2% of budgetMain Street Theater Houston: $40,220 over 3y, 1.1% of budgetDa Camera Society of Texas: $38,345 over 3y, 0.7% of budgetKaty Artreach: $34,994 over 4y, 4.6% of budgetPrelude Music Foundation: $34,500 over 3y, 4.7% of budgetFoundation for Modern Music: $29,950 over 3y, 12% of budgetContemporary Arts Museum Houston: $29,000 over 2y, 0.3% of budgetCommunity Artists Collective: $28,000 over 2y, 6.9% of budgetHouston Metropolitan Dance Center Inc: $26,400 over 3y, 3.5% of budgetThe Orange Show Foundation: $24,500 over 2y, 0.3% of budgetMusiqa: $22,210 over 2y, 4.0% of budgetSocial Movement Contemporary Dance Theater: $22,000 over 2y, 64% of budgetHouston Center for Photography Inc: $20,406 over 2y, 1.8% of budgetMercury Chamber Orchestra Inc: $20,200 over 2y, 0.9% of budgetAsia Society Texas Center: $17,495 over 2y, 0.3% of budgetHouston Ballet Foundation: $17,100 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetWriters in the Schools: $13,448 over 2y, 0.5% of budgetHouston Symphony Society: $12,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetAlzheimer's Foundation of America Inc: $12,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetArs Lyrica Houston: $12,000 over 1y, 2.0% of budgetAmerican Festival for the Arts: $10,720 over 2y, 0.7% of budgetTexan-French Alliance for the Arts: $10,000 over 1y, 4.2% of budget

Tap a dot to name the grantee.

How this is measured
Share of budget is the funder’s grant in a year over the grantee’s total revenue that year, at its highest across the years we hold; revenue is from all sources. Only grantees confirmed against their own filings, whose grants do not exceed their revenue, are plotted: the largest 30.

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Co-funders

Grantmakers whose grantees overlap with this funder’s far more than size alone predicts. Closer means stronger alignment; arcs show where they also fund each other. Here they form a tightly interlocked group: most of these funders back each other's grantees too.

Houston Arts AllianceHouston Endowment IncThe Brown Foundation …The Powell FoundationGreater Houston Commu…Shell USA Company Fou…The Cullen Trust for …Albert & Ethel Herzst…The Wortham Foundatio…Miller Theatre Adviso…The Stanford & Joan A…The Susan Vaughan Fou…
Houston Arts AllianceTX57.1× affinity25 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Houston Arts Alliance · Houston Endowment Inc · The Brown Foundation Inc · The Powell Foundation · Greater Houston Community Foundation · Shell USA Company Foundation · The Cullen Trust for the Performing Arts · Albert & Ethel Herzstein Charitable Foundation · The Wortham Foundation Inc · Miller Theatre Advisory Board Inc · The Stanford & Joan Alexander Foundation · The Susan Vaughan Foundation Inc

How this is measured
Affinity is a Gamma-Poisson posterior co-funding rate, re-centered on the typical rate, so thin evidence shrinks toward no signal. Overlap is association, not proof of shared intent.

Compare Arts Connect Houston with peer funders

About Arts Connect Houston

How much does Arts Connect Houston give?
Arts Connect Houston reported 22 itemized grants totaling $380,101, out of $427,240 in total grant expense reported on the return in its FY2025 IRS filing. It funded between 9 and 25 organizations a year over FY2020 to FY2023.
What does Arts Connect Houston fund?
By grant dollars over FY2020 to FY2025, its largest causes are Arts & Culture (99%), Health (1%).
Who are Arts Connect Houston's largest grantees?
By total granted over FY2020 to FY2025: Diversity in the Arts and Entertainment ($163k), Fashion Museum of Texas ($84k), The Ensemble Theatre ($74k).
Does Arts Connect Houston fund new organizations?
In FY2023, 22% of the organizations it funded were first-time grantees.
Which funders back the same organizations as Arts Connect Houston?
Its strongest co-funders, measured against what their size predicts, include Houston Arts Alliance, Houston Endowment Inc, The Brown Foundation Inc.
Where is Arts Connect Houston based?
Arts Connect Houston is based in TX.

On method. Every financial figure here is read from IRS e-file XML, the funder’s own 990/990-PF, and from the multi-year returns of the 38 grantees we resolved, each linked to its source. Grantee outcomes are each organization’s own program-service reporting (Form 990, Part III), read as association with funding, never as caused by it. Low-confidence name matches are suppressed rather than guessed. How we build these →

How this is measured
Each figure carries one of six labels. Filed is what the funder reported on its return. Official is another government record about an organization, such as a federal award or a charity register, joined by name where no shared identifier exists. Resolved is an identity we worked out where the filing named a recipient without an EIN, kept only above a measured confidence threshold. Computed is arithmetic over those, like themes, portfolio clusters and co-funder strength. Context is a statistic about a place rather than about an organization, which is what the need overlay is: it describes the area a grantee’s address sits in, not where its work lands. Inferred is drawn by a model from text, like the partnerships read out of public news and organization websites. Each is labeled where it appears.

Generated from the IRS Form 990 e-file return for fiscal year 2025, released 2025. Filings run roughly 12 to 24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

Source object · view filing

Play a game based on Arts Connect Houston’s filings →

More from the funding graph

The unnamed billions
grants reported with no recipient in the public record
The regranting layer
51% of grant dollars land in the regranting layer
The DAF merry-go-round
$9.7B circulates between donor-advised funds
The endowment market
who holds foundation money, and what just moved
The camps
funders cluster by geography, not ideology
By state
where grant money is based, and what stays home