By Ali Palmieri, August 2012
Arts councils and organizations are essential to enriching the culture and diversity within a community. Whether it is an art show, a music festival or something as simple as a day program for children, it has lasting effects that can only make the community a better place. With the economy in its current state, funding for the arts is not seen as a priority, so state arts organizations must step up to raise money or work even harder to receive funding or to make grants for their communities.
The National Endowment of the Arts (NEA) is a great source when looking into funding for arts projects. Where these grant programs generally support projects that are larger in scope than just a local community, you can still get a general idea of what is being funded and what arts projects are trending in the funding landscape. If you are looking to fund a local arts project, a grant such as Art Works, from the NEA, which funds 25 recipients with $10,000-$100,000 might not be the best solution for you. The good news is, many states have arts organizations that present grants that may be useful to you on a smaller scale.
A few of the states that have the best arts organizations for grantmaking are Arkansas (Arkansas Arts Council), South Dakota (South Dakota Arts Council), Minnesota (Minnesota State Arts Board), Vermont (Vermont Arts Council), Nebraska (Nebraska Arts Council) and Washington (Washington State Arts Commission, to name a few. Most of these programs are broken down into who they fund or with whom they partner. Many times there is funding for individual artists, organizations, operating support and arts education. Individual artist grants may depend on state in terms of what artists they may fund. They may enhance an artist's career or recognize artists for the impact they have had in a community. Grants for organizations may assist in resources like materials travel or program development. When grants are created for operating support are most likely for day to day needs within an arts organization.. Arts education could mean specific programs educating the community in arts or getting artists into schools in different ways; either during school or for after school programs.
Keep in mind that these types of grants may have much smaller awards. Awards may range from as little as $250 for an Artist in Schools program in Vermont to as high as $100,000 for an Arts Access grant in Minnesota. The size of these awards may get a program started, cover the cost of travel for a program or even fund an entire program. It is up to your organization how to best use these smaller pools of funding. One thing that is for sure is that these grants are much more accessible for smaller communities than the larger NEA grants.
Another tip to remember is that just as all states are different, so are their arts organizations. They have different names, application processes, guidelines and opportunities. Check with your local or state arts organization for the best results in trying to achieve funding. Arts organizations make communities diverse and unique. We can only hope that funding at the state and local level will continue with the help of the government and the many people who work daily to keep these programs and organizations thriving and in place.