Our Grants

Welcome to MRAC! We work to improve arts access in Minnesota’s seven-county metro area through grants to artists and organizations. Read on to find out about our current grant programs and see if one of them is right for you.

We only fund applicants in Anoka, Carver, Dakota, Hennepin, Ramsey, Scott, or Washington counties. If you are outside our region, you can find the regional arts council representing you by visiting our What Is MRAC? page.

2026 MRAC Grant Programs

For Organizations/Groups

Flexible Support

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The Flexible Support grant provides up to $25,000 to help organizations/groups create and sustain Minnesotans’ access to the arts. Grant funds may go to a number of eligible expenses:

  • Support for operations and/or organizational capacity to directly provide arts access to Minnesotans
  • Capital expenses, including facility improvements and/or equipment purchases (with some restrictions)
  • Arts programming activities in Minnesota, whether a single event or a series

For Individuals

Creative Connections

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The Creative Connections grant provides up to $5,000 for artistic proposals in Minnesota led by individual artists. Proposals must focus on creating access to the arts for Minnesotans and/or engaging with Minnesota communities through artistic endeavors. Qualifying proposals will:

  • Connect Minnesotans with arts and cultural experiences, and/or
  • Integrate artists and/or artistic engagement to accomplish a community’s non-arts goals, and/or
  • Provide Minnesotans with opportunities for arts learning, and/or
  • Pass along expressive cultural traditions.

Next Step Fund

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The Next Step Fund grant provides up to $6,000 to individual artists for proposals that would help them sustain the trajectory of their artistic career, overcome a barrier to success, and/or leverage a beneficial career opportunity. Applicants may be at any stage in their career, but must be able to provide work samples of their own original art.

This grant is made possible with support from the McKnight Foundation.

Emergency Relief Fund

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The Emergency Relief Fund provides $500 for short-term, rapid relief to artists facing unexpected lost income or expenses due to personal/professional emergencies or natural disasters.

Staff Contacts by Grant Program

Flexible Support: flexiblesupport@mrac.org
Creative Connections: creativeconnections@mrac.org
Next Step Fund: nextstepfund@mrac.org
Emergency Relief Fund: emergencyrelief@mrac.org

Priority Communities

As stewards of public funds, MRAC pays close attention to systemic barriers that may result in limited access and/or funding disparities. To ensure that our resources are reaching all communities in the metro, MRAC has set priorities to address historic disparities for demographic and geographic communities.

In the effort to close disparity gaps, MRAC will set aside a portion of funds in certain grant programs to support Black, Indigenous, or people of color (BIPOC); people with disabilities; and/or lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, or queer (LGBTQ+) individuals, organizations, and groups, as well as all applicants from Anoka, Carver, Dakota, Scott, and Washington counties.

Statewide Misuse of Funds Reporting

Because a majority of our funding comes from the state of Minnesota, we follow the statewide parameters for Misuse of Funds. This procedure, adopted by the MN State Arts Board and Regional Arts Councils, defines misuse of funds, outlines investigation and documentation of misuse, establishes a range of consequences when misuse has occurred, and outlines a process by which a grantee may appeal consequences.

This procedure applies to funds a regional arts council receives from the State of Minnesota from its general fund, its arts and cultural heritage fund, or any other State funds. The procedure does not apply to other revenue sources regional arts councils may have (e.g., contributions from other grant makers or donors, or earned income). The intent of this procedure is to ensure that regional arts councils are managing state funds in a consistent manner; that similar consequences will be imposed when misuse of state funds occurs; and that a grantee that has misused funds will lose privileges statewide, not just in the region in which it resides.

You can read the Misuse of Funds procedure here:
Minnesota State Arts Board/Regional Arts Councils Misuse of Funds Procedure (PDF)