Now open: Arts Impact for Individuals grant applications, deadline Oct 7, 2024

Applications are now open for the Metropolitan Regional Arts Council’s Arts Impact for Individuals grant program.

Application deadline: October 7, 2024 at 11:59 PM
Award notifications: March 1, 2025
Eligible funding period: March 1, 2025 to May 31, 2026

Featured image description: Fiscal Year 2023 grantee Valerie Oliveiro’s “Vastnessess” at Red Eye (2024). Two dancers in casual comfy clothing stand poised on a stage floor lit in vibrant red. A femme person, face hidden behind a halo of curls, extends a rigid arm and leg behind their body, looking up and away in the opposite direction. The stiff but elegant gesture is mirrored in the tall masculine person nearby, whose bearded face peers reverently into uncanny blue light.

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.

Community members, rather than the applicant, must be the primary beneficiary of project activities. At least three (3) Minnesotans other than the applicant must participate in the project. Projects primarily focused on developing the applicant’s own needs and creative interests are not a good fit with this program.

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 for at least the six months prior to the application deadline, 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.

What Do I Do Next?

Choose your own adventure! But here’s a possible way forward.

Step One: Arts Impact for Individuals Webinar & Guidelines

MRAC offers a recorded Grant Information Webinar to learn about the grant program––we call it “the guide to the guidelines.” The recorded webinar can be viewed on the MRAC YouTube channel and embedded on the Arts Impact for Individuals webpage, where you can also access the webinar slides.

Guidelines are your most important tool for submitting an eligible application. The document, written to walk you through every step of the application, is provided in both English and Spanish and as several file formats.

Did you know? The webinar includes ASL interpretation and closed captioning that can be translated into 200+ languages. The webinar slide deck is also available for download.

Step Two: Familiarize yourself with the application resources

Step 4: Let’s connect one-on-one!

MRAC program director Scott Artley truly enjoys working with applicants and encourages you to connect for help navigating the process. Using the online applicant assistance form, you may request one-on-one support to:

• Briefly meet with Scott via phone or video to discuss project ideas and eligibility; and/or
• Have an MRAC staff member review your complete application draft ahead of the deadline for eligibility.