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Arts Connect Houston at a glanceMostly funded, not a grantmaker: see who funds it →

· 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 FY2025still arriving
22
Grants FY2025still arriving
1
States reached
$118k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
01What it funds
01100% 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
02FY2025 · 22 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

How this is measured
The 22 grants below total $380,101, the rows itemized in this filing. The $427,240 headline is the total grant expense on the return; the other $47,139 is giving the schedule does not break out (grants under the $5,000 itemization floor, grants to individuals, grants on other schedules). Every figure below describes the itemized rows only.

By grant size · FY2025

  • Under $10k11 grants · $84k
  • $10k–50k10 grants · $178k
  • $50k–250k1 grant · $118k
$10,000
Median grant
1
States reached
$1.3M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
Diversity in the ARTS & Entertainment$118,370
Fashion Museum of Texas$44,500
Houston Healthy Hip Hop$23,500
Orange Show Foundation$16,000
Prelude Music Foundation$16,000
Gordon Education Initiatives for Performing Arts$15,250
Fotofest$14,325
University of Houston$13,515
Musiqa$13,460
Ensemble Theater$11,538
Open Dance Project$10,000
Da Camera Society of Texas$9,674
Children's Theatre of Houston$9,200
Alley Theatre$9,125
Multicultural Education & Counseling through the Arts$8,300
02The need
03

Does the money reach high-need areas?

Each grant placed by the hardship in its grantee’s ZIP, against the area’s typical level.

show:

Dollar for dollar, its grants (FY20–25) land where the poverty rate runs at 16%, against an area that typically sits at 13%. 95% of its dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 13%Express Children's Theatre: $18k → 8%URBAN SOULS: $20k → 16%KATY ART REACH: $16k → 8%ART LEAGUE HOUSTON: $17k → 16%University of Houston: $14k → 16%Mercury Chamber Orch: $11k → 16%AFA: $12k → 16%Main Street Theater: $16k → 16%Main Street Theater: $14k → 16%Contemporary Arts Museum Houston: $21k → 16%Da Camera Society of Texas: $18k → 16%Art League Houston: $17k → 16%Art League Houston: $16k → 16%Houston Center for Photography Inc: $14k → 16%Da Camera: $11k → 16%Ars Lyrica Houston: $12k → 16%Houston Symphony: $12k → 16%EXPRESS CHILDREN'S THEATRE: $17k → 16%Houston Healthy Hip Hop: $24k → 16%Gordon Education Initiatives for the Performing Arts: $25k → 16%THE ENSEMBLE THEATER: $21k → 16%Alley Theatre: $21k → 16%The Ensemble Theatre: $20k → 16%Houston Grand Opera: $16k → 16%Houston Grand Opera: $16k → 16%Gordon Education Initiatives for Performing Arts: $15k → 16%Musiqa: $13k → 16%The Ensemble Theatre: $13k → 16%Houston Grand Opera: $12k → 16%ALLEY THEATRE: $12k → 16%Ensemble Theater: $12k → 16%Diversity in the Arts & Entertainment: $32k → 16%Diversity in the Arts & Entertainment: $12k → 16%Fashion Museum of Texas: $45k → 16%FASHION MUSEUM OF TEXAS: $21k → 16%Fashion Museum of Texas: $12k → 16%OPEN DANCE PROJECT INC: $21k → 16%Foto Fest Literacy Photograph: $19k → 16%Fotofest Inc: $17k → 16%Foto Fest Literacy Photograph: $15k → 16%Fotofest: $14k → 16%Open Dance Project Inc: $13k → 16%Open Dance Project: $12k → 16%MECA: $12k → 16%MECA: $12k → 16%Social Movement Contemporary: $12k → 16%Foundation for Modern Music: $12k → 16%Orange Show Foundation: $16k → 16%0%20%40%50%more need →
grant to an above-average-need area below average· circle size = grant amount
How this is measured
Matched: human-services grants are those whose grantee’s IRS cause code is Human Services. Placed by people below the poverty line in the grantee’s ZIP, averaged from the tracts in that ZIP.
How this is measured
US grants placed by each grantee’s ZIP, which can differ from where services are delivered. Need from public data (U.S. Census/ACS, CDC PLACES, Eviction Lab, USDA), shown as context about the area, never attributed to the funder’s giving.
03Its grantees
repeat funding

Who it funds again

Organizations funded in more than one year, against those funded once.

90%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$1.2M · 28 repeat orgs$126k to everyone else

28 repeat relationships: 20 still active in FY2025, 8 since wound down; 2 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

28
8

Total granted

$1.2M
$89k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+41%
+47%

Still filing today

93%
75%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 90% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $37k went to new ones.

50%100%’20’21’22’23’25
RenewedFirst-time

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

’20’21’22’23’25
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.

Backed again, and grew

  • TE
    THE ENSEMBLE THEATRE
    5× · 2020–2025 · $74k · revenue +26%
  • AL
    ART LEAGUE OF HOUSTON
    5× · 2020–2025 · $67k · revenue +8%
  • OD
    Open Dance Project Inc
    5× · 2020–2025 · $66k · revenue +27%

Funded once

  • US
    URBAN SOULS
    one grant, 2023 · $20k
  • HS
    Houston Symphony Societygraduated
    one grant, 2020 · $12k · revenue +47%
  • AF
    ALZHEIMER'S FOUNDATION OF AMERICA INCgraduated
    one grant, 2021 · $12k · revenue +34%
How this is measured

Repeat means funded in two or more distinct years. Growth and survival are read from each grantee’s own subsequent IRS filings.

04Its field

Closest unfunded matches

The nonprofits that most resemble its grantees but are not funded by it, scored along the direction from the rest of the field toward the portfolio. A resemblance in what they say they do, not a recommendation.

1
Harmonia Stellarum Houston

Harmonia Stellarum is an ensemble of professional vocalists and instrumentalists specialized in historically informed performance practice who seek to inspire, entertain, and enlighten audiences with meaningful, historically informed…

Arts & Culture
2
Hopera

Hopera's mission is to produce live musical performances in unique Houston Area spaces that focus on and empower Houston Area artists. Our Pint-Sized Performance concert series empowers local musicians to create original programs that are…

Arts & Culture
3
Tx Performing Chinese Arts
—
4
Operativo Houston

Providing paid opportunities for Houston based singers.

Arts & Culture
5
Performing Arts Houston

We connect audiences with exceptional artists through diverse performances and learning experiences. we ignite and cultivate passion for the performing arts to create community, inspire dialogue and enrich our world.

Arts & Culture
6
TexArts Association for Visual & Performing Arts

TexARTS is an arts education and performance destination that builds character, professionalism, and careers. Its mission is to cultivate a thriving arts community by exposing all people to the visual and performing arts. TexARTS prepares…

Arts & Culture
7
Allen Parkway Arts Center Inc

APAC is a supporting organization to Stages, a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization producing live theater.

Arts & Culture
8
River Oaks Chamber Orchestra

To shape the future of classical music by energizing, modernizing, and personalizing the concert experience.

Arts & Culture
9
American Baroque Opera Company

American baroque opera company operates in the state of texas for the primary purpose of furthering the appreciaton of music, particularly opera, for the general public. american baroque opera company performs select operas throughout the…

Arts & Culture
10
Houston Latino Film Festival

Mission to promotote hispanic and latino culture through art and film from both local and international artists

Arts & Culture
11
Jazz Houston

Jazz houston promotes the cultivation of jazz music globally through performance, education and community outreach, and honors the houstonians and texans who have and countinue to be major contributors to jazz through the celebration of…

Arts & Culture
12
The Hobby Center Foundation

The Hobby Center for the Performing Arts deepens understanding of our shared humanity. We serve as a connector, convenor and incubator for all Houston audiences, artmakers and arts organizations. By presenting engaging performances and…

Arts & Culture
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Houston Ballet Foundation; the most unlike its peers is Gordon Education Initiatives for the Performing Arts. Resemblance is measured on each organization’s own IRS 990 mission text; it reflects how work is described, not its quality or impact.
04the grantee network

32 grantees tracked through their own filings, 2017–2025.

Each grant beside the grantee’s revenue from every source, year by year.

How this is measured

Counted here: distinct organizations funded across 2017 to 2025, not grant rows in a single year, so this will not match the grant count on the cover. 32 of the 38 grantees resolved in that span have returns of their own we could reconcile.

Each grantee is resolved to its own IRS returns. Association, dated; never a causal claim.

2
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
11
Early backer (in before they grew)
32/32
Grantees still filing
26/32
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

THE ENSEMBLE THEATRE: $73,877 · Arts & CultureTHE ENSEMBLE THEATREOpen Dance Project Inc: $66,350 · Arts & CultureOpen Dance Project IncFotofest Inc: $65,215 · Arts & CultureFotofest IncALLEY THEATRE: $51,825 · Arts & CultureALLEY THEATREGORDON EDUCATION INITIATIVES FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS: $50,650 · Arts & CultureGORDON EDUCATION INITIATIVES FOR THE PERFORMING ARTSHouston Grand Opera Association Inc: $49,835 · Arts & CultureHouston Grand Opera Association IncExpress Childrens Theatre Express Childrens Theatre: $44,675 · Arts & CultureMulticultural Education and Counseling Through the Arts: $42,800 · Arts & CultureMain Street Theater Houston: $40,220 · Arts & CultureDa Camera Society of Texas: $38,345 · Arts & CultureKATY ARTREACH: $34,994 · Arts & CulturePRELUDE MUSIC FOUNDATION: $34,500 · Arts & CultureContemporary Arts Museum Houston: $29,000 · Arts & Culture+14 more: $230,041 · Arts & Culture+14 moreDIVERSITY IN THE ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT: $162,570 · OtherDIVERSITY IN THE ARTS AND ENTERTAIN…FASHION MUSEUM OF TEXAS: $84,499 · OtherFASHION MUSEUM OF TEXASART LEAGUE OF HOUSTON: $67,350 · OtherART LEAGUE OF HOUSTONFoundation for Modern Music: $29,950 · OtherFoundation for Modern MusicHouston Healthy Hip Hop: $23,500 · OtherHouston Healthy Hip HopURBAN SOULS: $20,000 · Other+2 more: $23,515 · Other+2 moreHouston Metropolitan Dance Center Inc: $26,400 · EducationWriters in the Schools: $13,448 · EducationALZHEIMER'S FOUNDATION OF AMERICA INC: $12,000 · Health
Arts & Culture$852,327Other$411,384Education$39,848Health$12,000

Each grantee by its size and the funder’s share of it; top left is load-bearing

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
Grantee by grantee: a decade per organization, before and after funding

A decade per grantee: revenue shaded, grants as bars, all rows on one timeline.

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.

How much its grantees rely on government

Each dot is one organization Arts Connect Houston funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Arts Connect Houston. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 00%5%19%42%75%funder's share of their income ↑0%5%10%15%20%share of the org’s income from government →
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    0get no government money at all
    14report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
    0rely on government for over half their income
    ⤢ axis zoomed · 0–20%
    typical government reliance, FY20–25
    How this is measured
    Government income is each org’s traced federal awards (USASpending grants and contracts) plus state payments (open checkbooks) as a share of its total revenue (IRS Form 990); the self-reported government-grant line (990 line 1e) is carried for cross-check: a grantee that reports government grants we could not trace to a source is left off the chart rather than shown as receiving none. An association, not a claim that a grant caused the public funding. Coverage is precision-first, a floor rather than a census; state records exist for 9 states, so a grantee outside them shows no state figure (dimmed) rather than a false zero. Federal award amounts are obligations, which can span years, so a single-year share is indicative. 990 filings lag 12 to 24 months.

    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