In partnership with Portland’s Office of Arts & Culture
Echo Fund Guidelines
The 2025 Echo Fund Grant Cycle opens August 4 and closes September 5, 2025 at midnight. Awards will be announced in mid-November 2025. Sign up for the MusicOregon newsletter to receive updates about this year’s grant program.
What is MusicOregon’s Echo Fund?
MusicOregon is the first statewide organization to create grant programs specifically designed to support the unique needs of independent, commercial, contemporary musical artists. The Echo Fund at MusicOregon empowers creative musical excellence and professional development by supporting independent, working musicians with funding for creative, non-performance projects that support new growth and spur creative and career development.
In 2025-26, MusicOregon is partnering with the City of Portland’s Office of Arts & Culture to provide $100,000 in grants to Portland-based independent musicians across all genres. MusicOregon will also offer $20,000 in grants funded by proceeds from Portland Music Month.
Who Can Apply?
The following are eligibility requirements for the Echo Fund:
You are a working musician - A working musician is a person who receives compensation for creating and/or delivering music and can show evidence of their activities in the community and online.
Your project is independent - The Echo Fund awards grants to working musicians' independent projects. We do not fund projects that are activities of nonprofit organizations or commercial entities.
You reside in Portland - Grantees must reside in one of the following zip codes to qualify during this grant cycle: 970xx, 971xx, 972xx.
You are an individual or group - We fund working musicians who operate as individuals, sole proprietors, Limited Liability Companies (LLC), partnerships, and other legally organized entities.
You can demonstrate your tax status and legal address - Grantees must provide MusicOregon with a signed W-9 form that includes a Social Security Number (SSN), or Taxpayer Identification Number (TIN), or Employer Identification Number (EIN) and your legal address in Oregon. Note: If you do not have a tax ID, please contact us at contact@musicoregon.org for confidential assistance.
MusicOregon will consider one applicant per project. If your band has a project, designate one member to apply.
Through its Small Grants Program, the City of Portland’s Office of Arts & Culture's three grantmaking contractors distribute grants through Friends of IFCC, MusicOregon, and the Regional Arts & Culture Council (RACC). You may apply to more than one of these providers, however, the total amount of funding received from all three partners combined may not exceed $5,000. For more information, visit Portland.gov/arts-grants.
Who cannot apply?
Non-musicians - The Echo Fund is only open to working musicians. If you are an event producer, engineer, venue, or other individual or business working in the music industry but not creating music yourself, you are not eligible.
Deejays or those who curate playlists of other artists' songs without a creative musical contribution of their own
Employees, board members, and family members of employees and board members of MusicOregon
Nonprofit organizations, commercial entities, schools, and school districts
Musicians under 18 years of age
What projects are eligible?
Projects must fit one or more of the following categories. Echo Fund prioritizes applicants who use local vendors, contractors, and musicians.
Production (tracking, session players, engineering, production, mixing, mastering, recording project management, studio rental, etc.)
Promotion (promo materials, website development, EPK, publicity, photography, videography, digital and print advertising, posters, printing, design)
Distribution (physical media replication (vinyl/CD), distribution platform fees such as Distrokid or CD Baby, mailing costs)
Resources (purchases of instruments, gear, software, performance-related equipment, pedals, amplifiers, etc.)
What projects are ineligible?
Activities related to live performances, events, and touring
Artists' personal expenses, such as rent, groceries, childcare, etc.
Paid or brokered placement on streaming playlists/platforms
Education, training, lessons, etc.
Gas, food, and travel expenses
Rehearsal space rental costs
Activities that do not take place between December 1, 2025 and June 30, 2026
A project that is not related to music.
What are the selection criteria?
Panelists will review applications and select awardees using the following criteria:
Benefit to the applicant:
Does the project support the applicant's artistic growth?
Does the project enhance the artist’s career development?
Demonstrated planning and preparation:
Does the application have a clear timeline of activities?
Does the application list participants and vendors?
Does the budget break down costs and include links or other supporting material?
If applicable, if the overall budget exceeds $5,000, does the budget list additional sources of funding?
Demonstrated presence in the community as evidenced by their performance touring history, online presence, and/or other means of documentation?
Local impact:
Does the applicant plan to use vendors, contractors, and resources from our local music community? The Echo Fund prioritizes applicants who use local artists and vendors.
Each application is scored on a 1-7 point system. The review committee will score the applications in two rounds. After round one, the top 50% of applicants progress to round two, and are scored based on the same criteria and point system. In the final round, grants are assigned to the top point-scoring applications, in order, until all available funds are awarded.
APPLICATION PROCESS
Before Applying
Read through all the UPDATED 2025 guidelines for applying.
See sample projects and budgets here.
Check out our FAQs here.
How to Apply
Applications are accepted through the online portal Good Grants (unless you have made an accessibility request to coordinate the application with the program manager ahead of the submission deadline).
Create an account before starting an application. You are encouraged to download the application questions and work on the application outside the portal beforehand.
Sample applications can be reviewed on our website at musicoregon.org/echo-fund-sample-projects
MusicOregon staff is available to answer questions and provide support by email at contact@musicoregon.org.
Need Help?
Applicant information session: Monday August 11, 2025, 6-7:30 pm
Grant Writing Workshop: Monday August 25, 2025, 6-7:30 pm
Applicants who have accessibility needs can contact@musicoregon.org for assistance. We will make our best effort to support all who seek to apply.
Important Dates and Deadlines
The 2025 Echo Fund grant cycle opens August 4, 2025 and closes September 5, 2025 at midnight. We do not provide extensions to the application deadline. Awards will be announced in mid-November 2025.
Applications should reflect project activity costs of $1,000 to $5,000 that occur between December 1, 2025 and June 30, 2026.
How are applications evaluated?
Our evaluation process begins with a staff review of submitted applications to determine basic eligibility. Applications are then reviewed in two rounds by a panel of music professionals and working musicians. Panelists score applications based on the criteria described in detail below.
Panel Review Criteria
Panelists will review applications and select awardees using the following criteria:
Benefit to the applicant:
Does the project support the applicant's artistic growth?
Does the project enhance the artist’s career development?
Demonstrated planning and preparation:
Does the application have a clear timeline of activities?
Does the application list participants and vendors?
Does the budget break down costs and include links or other supporting material?
If applicable, if the overall budget exceeds $5,000, does the budget list additional sources of funding?
Demonstrated presence in the community as evidenced by online and/or other means of documentation?
Local impact:
Does the applicant plan to use vendors, contractors, and resources from our local music community? The Echo Fund prioritizes applicants who use local artists and vendors.
Each application is scored on a 1-7 point system. The review committee will score the applications in two rounds. After round one, the top 50% of applicants progress to round two, and are scored based on the same criteria and point system. Grants are then assigned to the top point-scoring applications, in order, until all available funds are awarded.
AWARDS
Timeline
Awards will be announced in mid-November 2025 and distributed in December 2025.
Awardee Responsibilities and Reporting
Grantees must provide a signed grant agreement and documentation of legal address in one of the following zip codes: 970xx, 971xx, 972xx. All grantees will receive an IRS Form 1099 for the tax year they are dispersed.
Grantees must acknowledge the City of Portland’s Office of Arts & Culture and MusicOregon in all external promotion and publicity of projects funded by the Echo Fund. Grantees will receive digital assets (logos, etc.) in their award packet. Please reach out to us at contact@musicoregon.org if you have challenges with this requirement so we can help.
Funded project activities must be completed in full by June 30, 2026. You agree to contact MusicOregon if you experience any issues that affect your ability to complete the project on time.
Provide a final, brief, oral and/or written report on the ways you used the funding, and provide proof of completion by July 31, 2026. NOTE: In order to be eligible for the 2025-26 grant cycle, you must have completed any outstanding grant reporting requirements from the previous grant cycle(s).