Applications are now open for the Metropolitan Regional Arts Council’s Arts Impact for Individuals grant program.
Application deadline: October 23, 2023 at 11:59 PM
Award notifications: March 27, 2024
Eligible funding period: April 1, 2024 to May 31, 2025
Featured image by Joe + Jen Photography provided by NEMAA
Image description: An art class at a portrait-filled gallery during Art-A-Whirl. An artist who has textured, natural hair, dark skin, and wears a vibrant red dress with colorful patterns is helping three children draw with markers. Other class participants of various ages are around them.
Grant Program Focus
The Arts Impact for Individuals grant program provides up to $5,000 for artistic projects in Minnesota led by individuals. Projects must be focused on creating access to the arts for Minnesotans, and/or engaging with Minnesota communities through artistic endeavors. Proposed projects could include:
- Connecting Minnesotans with participation in arts and cultural experiences; and/or
- Integrating artists and/or artistic engagement to accomplish a community’s non-arts goals; and/or
- Providing Minnesotans with opportunities for arts learning and passing along expressive cultural traditions.
Who Is Eligible to Apply?
This grant program is open to individuals who identify as any of the following:
- Black, Indigenous, and/or a Person of Color (BIPOC); and/or
Disabled/a person with a disability; and/or
Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, Intersex, Asexual/Agender, Two-Spirit (LGBTQIA2+)
Individuals must have a primary residential address in Anoka, Carver, Dakota, Hennepin, Ramsey, Scott or Washington county, and be a United States citizen or an individual who has attained permanent resident status in the United States. Awardees must also continue to reside in this region for the entirety of the project period.
Grant awards in this program are made only to the individual applicant, who must have primary responsibility for managing the proposed project. Entities such as nonprofits, for-profits, schools, and fiscally sponsored organizations may not apply in this program. Individuals do not need prior artistic experience or to identify as an artist to apply.
What Do I Do Next?
Step One: Arts Impact for Individuals Webinar
MRAC offers a recorded Grant Information Webinar to learn about the grant program. The recorded webinar can be viewed on the MRAC YouTube channel and on the Arts Impact for Individuals webpage, where you can also access the webinar slides.
Step Two: Arts Impact for Individuals Guidelines & Application Resources
Guidelines are your most important tool for submitting an eligible application. The documents are provided in several formats, and they are available in English and Spanish. Find all of these documents, along with application templates and scoring criteria, on the Arts Impact for Individuals webpage.
Step Three: Virtual Question & Answer Sessions
Do you have questions after reviewing the guidelines and/or viewing the webinar? MRAC program directors will host two informal drop-in Zoom sessions to answer brief questions in a large group setting.
Pre-registration for the Virtual Q & A Session is required. The session will not be recorded. Automated captioning will be available.
Q&A Session #1
- Thursday, September 14: 10:00 – 11:00 AM
- Register for the September 14 Q&A
Q&A Session #2
- Tuesday, October 17: 5:30-6:30 PM
- Register for the October 17 Q&A Session