EU and INAEM grants attract most attention because the amounts are large. But local calls — from provincial councils, county councils and city halls — tend to have fewer applications, more accessible criteria and a more direct connection to the territory where you work. For many artists, especially at early stages, this is the fastest route to real public funding.

Diputació de Barcelona

The Diputació de Barcelona manages two types of grants relevant to artists:

Artistic creation and cultural production grants: for creation projects in any discipline with impact on municipalities in the Barcelona demarcation. Particularly values territorial distribution and decentralisation.

Xarxa de Teatres: the Diputació manages the network of municipal theatres and auditoriums in the demarcation. Companies that enter the network access a guaranteed programming schedule in municipalities across the province. Access is by open call. Highly relevant for theatre, dance and live music companies.

Diputació de Girona, Tarragona and Lleida

All four Catalan provincial councils publish annual cultural calls. Deadlines and amounts vary, but the pattern is similar: grants for production, distribution and programming within the demarcation.

Diputació de Girona: particular attention to popular culture, traditional music and contemporary performing arts.
Diputació de Tarragona: territory-linked programmes, proximity festivals and cultural heritage.
Diputació de Lleida: rural culture, traditions and Pyrenean traditional music.

City councils: Barcelona, Terrassa, Sabadell, Girona, Tarragona

Barcelona: beyond ICUB, Barcelona City Council manages General Grants Calls that open each year in the first quarter. There are specific lines for cultural projects in each district. A culturally interesting project without a candidacy for the general lines may have access to district calls with less competition.

Terrassa, Sabadell, Girona, Tarragona: each has annual grants calls for cultural entities and projects. Search the electronic office of each city council for “subvencions cultura.”

How to find local calls

No centralised resource collects all local cultural calls in Catalonia. The search is manual:

Google: [city council or provincial council name] + subvencions cultura + [current year]
Each body’s electronic office: usually has a “notice board” or “grants” section where call terms are published.
The DOGC — Official Gazette of Catalonia: all public grant calls in Catalonia are published in the DOGC. Setting up keyword alerts (“subvenció” + “cultura” + “arts”) prevents missing deadlines.

The unwritten rule

Local calls reward proximity and territorial commitment. A project demonstrating knowledge of the local context, connections with local organisations and clear community benefit scores far above a project of artistic excellence but without local roots. This is not the same logic as INAEM or Creative Europe.

See also:

Ressona supports artists in organising the documentation and digital presence needed for local funding applications. Get in touch.