DATE: December 18, 2015
CONTACT: Victoria Hutter, hutterv@arts.gov, 202-682-5692
Guidelines Available for Arts Funding Programs
National Endowment for the Arts Offers New Funding Opportunity, Creativity
Connects
Washington, DC - The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) in the nation's only arts
funder to award grants in all 50 states and U.S. jurisdictions. As the first step in its
funding process, the NEA has posted application guidelines for the Art Works and
Challenge America categories for art projects anticipated to take place in 2017. New in
this fiscal year is a pilot grant opportunity that is part of the NEA's 50th anniversary
initiative, Creativity Connects.*
Art Works is the NEA's largest funding category, supporting the creation of art that
meets the highest standards of excellence, and promoting public engagement with
diverse and excellent art, lifelong learning in the arts, and the strengthening of
communities through the arts. Matching grants range from $10,000 to $100,000. In
fiscal year 2015, the NEA awarded 1,870 grants totaling more than $52 million through
this category.
Creativity Connects: Additional funding opportunity through Art Works
The Creativity Connects pilot grant opportunity supports partnerships between arts
organizations and organizations from non-arts sectors. Those sectors may include
business, education, environment, faith, finance, food, health, law, science, and
technology. Selected projects should:
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Demonstrate the value of working with the arts
Support the infrastructure for the arts to work in new ways with new sectors
Build bridges that create new relationships and constituencies
Create innovative partnership projects to advance common goals
An organization that submits an application to Art Works: Creativity Connects is still
eligible to submit an application to other National Endowment for the Arts categories
including other areas of Art Works and Challenge America. In each case, the request
must be for a distinctly different project from the other application.
Challenge America offers support primarily to small and mid-sized organizations for
projects that extend the reach of the arts to underserved populations-those populations
whose opportunities to experience the arts are limited by geography, ethnicity,
economics, or disability. The program offers matching grants of $10,000. In fiscal year
2015, Challenge America funded 163 projects totaling $1.63 million.
Guidelines and application materials are in the Apply for a Grant section of the
arts.gov website.
The impact of the NEA's direct grants are significant. By the end of the current fiscal
year 2016, the NEA anticipates it will support:
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More than 30,000 concerts, readings, and performances and more than 3,000
exhibitions of visual and media arts with annual, live attendance of 20 million.
Performances on television and radio with additional audiences of at least 300
million.
Projects that generate more than $600 million in matching support through a ratio
of matching to federal funds approaching 10:1.
WEBINARS
In order to offer applicants the highest level of technical assistance, the NEA has
scheduled webinars covering the basics of the Art Works and Challenge America
funding categories, how to apply to the NEA, how to select work samples, and how to
prepare a strong application. After each presentation, there will be time for Q and A with
NEA staff. The schedule below indicates Eastern Standard Time. To join any of the
webinars, go to the webinar section of arts.gov.
Art Works guidelines workshop
Date: January 20, 2016 3:00 pm
Art Works: Creativity Connects guidelines workshop
Date: January 27, 2016 3:00 pm
Challenge America guidelines workshop
Date: March 9, 2016 3:00 pm
*Creativity Connects™ is used with permission from Crayola, LLC.
About the National Endowment for the Arts Established by Congress in 1965, the
NEA is the independent federal agency whose funding and support gives Americans the
opportunity to participate in the arts, exercise their imaginations, and develop their
creative capacities. Through partnerships with state arts agencies, local leaders, other
federal agencies, and the philanthropic sector, the NEA supports arts learning, affirms
and celebrates America's rich and diverse cultural heritage, and extends its work to
promote equal access to the arts in every community across America. This year marks
the 50th anniversary of the National Endowment for the Arts and the agency is
celebrating this milestone with events and activities through September 2016.