“Tone deaf.” “Insulting.” “Distasteful” and “an extra burden.” Those are some of the descriptions used by local arts leaders to describe how money is being awarded through this year’s CultureWorks competitive grants program.

Fourteen candidates—seven organizations and seven artists—are due to compete for their share of a $100,000 funding pool at a special invitation-only event at the Institute for Contemporary Art (ICA at VCU) on Thursday, May 22. The region’s most prominent arts advocacy organization, CultureWorks receives and dispenses funds from a variety of sources, including the City of Richmond, counties such as Hanover and Henrico, the National Endowment for the Arts, and private donors.

At issue is a new final step in the advocacy group’s annual awards process.

“This presentation will be a part of a live ‘Shark Tank’-like event where you may be asked for more details about your project,” reads the official CultureWorks 2025 guidelines, announced in December.

At least one arts organization declined to apply for funding based on the new criteria.

“The new format of a ‘Shark Tank’-style finale where nonprofits duke it out on stage in front of a live audience is distasteful to us,” writes Melissa Vaughn, the president of the Virginia Center For the Public Press, which oversees WRIR, in a letter to CultureWorks officials obtained by Style. “It’s already hard enough out here for small to mid-sized nonprofits to get funding, especially in arts and culture. We are already in silent competition daily.”

“Shark Tank” is an ABC reality TV show, originally adapted from the Japanese program, “The Tigers of Money,” that depicts entrepreneurs making business presentations to a panel of investors, who are often brusque, dismissive and keen on finding weaknesses and faults in the product or company.

In her letter, Vaughn continued: “There is no level playing field in a situation like this. Underrepresented voices and teachable moments get shuffled to the back in favor of who can be the most entertaining and put on the best show.” Vaughn called it a “painful decision” to decline potential arts funding at this time. “[WRIR is] in the beginning stages of a $2M capital campaign and every single penny counts.”

“It’s already hard enough out here for small to mid-sized nonprofits to get funding, especially in arts and culture. We are already in silent competition daily.”—Melissa Vaughn, the President of the Virginia Center For the Public Press

Other organizations weren’t thrilled by the new setup but applied anyway.

“We would’ve done it,” says Philip Crosby, executive director of Richmond Triangle Players, whose 2025 application request for a special consultant didn’t make the final cut. “People were shocked by the [‘Shark Tank’] requirement and maybe a little insulted by it.” As a former Virginia Commission for the Arts judge, Crosby reminds that there is always a review process for grants. “But never has anybody been put into a direct competition with each other in public. That’s new.”

Ash Moore, a Gallery5 board member who writes the nonprofit venue’s grant applications, also found the new criteria “unusual.” “I don’t want to bash [CultureWorks] because they really are a valuable resource for smaller arts groups who don’t have access to funding, but I would be curious to know where the idea for this model came from and what they’re using as a basis to judge the funding.” Gallery5 received its first CultureWorks grant last year to assist in renovating its stage, but a 2025 application to expand special open mic events didn’t make it to the final 14.

Studio Two Three, one of this year’s finalists, has received CultureWorks funding four times in the past, and is asking this year for $20,000 to maintain its community events program. They aren’t thrilled with the new format either. “I think it’s possible to vet an organization’s work, and the impact of what they’re doing, without placing a burden on them to do extensive applications or time consuming presentations,” says Executive Director Ashley Hawkins.

She points out that CultureWorks awards its competitive grants based on two important areas of focus: capacity building and cultural equity. “Unfortunately, we’re unsure of ways to make capacity building a sexy presentation, and I think a lot of folks are feeling the same way.”

Another finalist this year, filmmaker Justin Black, is seeking $20,000 to fund a documentary about Rappahannock Chief Anne Richmond and her tribe’s efforts to protect the James River. “I understand where people are coming from,” says the first-time CultureWorks applicant. “At first, I was taken aback because I’d never heard of this kind of situation. What I can say as a positive is that the actual application was relatively short and less complicated compared to other grants. The buy-in was easy.”

Black, whose previous “Headwaters Down” documentary will begin airing on VPM the same night as the ICA gathering, sees the “Shark Tank” element as an opportunity, not a hurdle. “I mean, we get to go up and answer direct questions that can potentially sway in our favor, instead of everything being done behind a closed door. I understand the concerns people have, but there’s no right way to give out free money.”

Looming large over this debate is the potential loss of federal arts funding, especially money from the National Endowment For the Arts. Studio Two Three alone has suffered the loss of more than $300,000 in grant funds in the early days of the second Trump administration, and other groups face future uncertainty, even CultureWorks itself.

“I wouldn’t disagree if you called it tone deaf,” says Crosby of the timing. “They are trying to spin it as a way for organizations to learn from others, and how to make their applications better, but it’s an extra layer.”

Like many of the leaders surveyed, [1708 Gallery] Executive Director Emily Smith thinks that CultureWorks has been exemplary in supporting grassroots arts groups with annual budgets of less than $750,000.

One longtime mainstay, 1708 Gallery, has received CultureWorks funding several times in the past. It did not apply this year, but only because there was no special need, not because of the new rules. Like many of the leaders surveyed, Executive Director Emily Smith thinks that CultureWorks has been exemplary in supporting grassroots arts groups with annual budgets of less than $750,000; since 2009, its competitive grants have provided more than $1.3 million for smaller organizations and $293,000 for individual artists.

“But this feels a little start-up-ish,” Smith says. “It’s an extra step and it seems like it can favor organizations that have more capacity to prepare and present a presentation, which is different from writing a grant.” She’s also curious to know what inspired this change. “What is being served, or needed to be teased out? I’d be curious to know what led to this decision.”

Mary Burruss, the advancement and grants program strategist for CultureWorks—the planner in charge of the process—says the decision was based on feedback she received after the last grant cycle in 2024.

But first, she wants to walk back the statement found in the guidelines.

“I really regret writing the words ‘Shark Tank,'” she says. “Because that’s really not what this is.” No one is being asked to perform or endure a harsh interrogation, she says. “They are pitching, and that is different.”

When she arrived at CultureWorks last year, Burruss says that she started streamlining the competitive grants process—including the initial applications—based on a survey taken of arts organizations, artists and judges. “Time was a thing, customer service was a thing, and making it more equitable was a thing.”

The survey revealed that, for many, the CultureWorks grant application process was too complicated for the modest funds at hand.

“You’d have to fill it out as if you were applying for half-a-million dollars or $2 million, not $2,000.” So the organization simplified the process for 2025, and Burruss concocted a way for judges and applicants to interact with each other during deliberations. “Last year, I saw people not getting funded because questions couldn’t be answered on the spot. They didn’t have a chance to meet these people face to face.”

No one is being asked to perform or endure a harsh interrogation, says Burruss. “They are pitching, and that is different.”

Actually, the four judges at the ICA will be anonymous and sitting backstage. There will be a two-minute presentation given by each of the 14 finalists, followed by questions from the judges relayed by emcee Chioke l’Anson. The awards will be announced at the end of the night, no waiting, and some will leave empty handed. One leader calls this “insulting.”

Burruss, who has been offering coaching sessions in live pitching to the finalists, maintains that losing organizations will still get needed exposure, and could potentially still find support at the event from invited funders in the audience. Competing finalists this year include: James River Writers, Bridge 9, Mending Walls, Podium, RVA Thriving Artists and Richmond Concert Band, and artists Heather Bailey, Mike Thibodeau, Malik Banks, Berry O’Keefe, Nancy Sanderson and Erin Cross.

The strategist feels vindicated that 139 applicants applied for the grants this year, a big increase from 87 in 2024. But she acknowledges that there’s been blowback to this new live element.

“I’m not surprised that some are upset because people dislike change. This is a weird time, and I think people are on edge,” Burruss says. “I know there’s one or two people who are going to do the pitch that are really unhappy about doing it. I mean, they haven’t talked to me about it, but, you know, it’s a small town.”