Flexible Support Grant Program

The Flexible Support deadlines have passed for MRAC’s fiscal year 2023. The new fiscal year will begin in July 2023, and upcoming grant programs and deadlines will be announced this spring. Applicants for Round 2 (deadline February 13, 2023) will be notified of decisions on May 31, 2023. No information about applications will be available before then.

The Flexible Support grant provides up to $15,000 in funding to help groups create and sustain Minnesotans’ access to the arts. Groups’ primary addresses must be located in Anoka, Carver, Dakota, Hennepin, Ramsey, Scott or Washington county. This program supports the production of artistic projects, and/or projects that strengthen the organizational capacity and operations of groups providing access to the arts.

Your grant proposal could include:

  • Arts Programming activities, whether a single event (like a theater production) or a series (like a season of painting classes).
  • Organizational Capacity activities, meaning a coordinated management effort that bolsters the organization’s ability to do its work (like rebranding, building a website, or overhauling financial tracking systems). Organizational Capacity projects could also be the purchase of equipment, or making facilities improvements.
  • Operations activities that support the ongoing operations of a group (such as paying staff salaries or rent on a space) to provide arts access.

All of these types of activities, independently, or in some combination, could be the organization’s “project” or “program.”

The deadline for Flexible Support Round 2 applications is February 13, 2023 at 11:59 PM.

Please note and plan accordingly: the online grant interface will be down for updates on Sunday, February 12 from 1:00 AM to 5:00 AM.

Application Resources

MRAC wants to make sure the application process is accessible and available for you to share who you are and your project ideas. Here are some ways we are trying to make the process accessible:

Guidelines & Appendices

Documents are provided in several formats. PDFs may open in a new window.

Templates

The Panel Rating Guide

This document describes how the information you provide will be used to review your application.

Sample applications

These proposals have been successfully funded in past rounds (all files are downloadable PDFs):

Application Tools

Recorded Grant Information Webinar

A recorded Grant Information Webinar on Flexible Support is available on this webpage below and on MRAC’s YouTube page. The webinar includes ASL interpretation, adjustable captions, automated translated captions into other languages, and adjustable playback speeds.

Grant Information Webinar slides

Application Assistance

Virtual Question & Answer Sessions

Do you have more 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. Please note, this is not a grant information webinar. We recommend viewing the webinar and/or reading the guidelines in advance of attending a Virtual Q & A Session, as many frequently asked questions can be found there. Pre-registration for the Virtual Q & A Session is required. Specific date/times and registration for Round 2 Q&A sessions are below. These sessions are not recorded.

Round 2 Q&A Session #1

Round 2 Q&A Session #2

Program Directors

Program directors are available to help with your application. To schedule a video or phone meeting with a program director, fill out the application assistance meeting request form. The form will open December 16, 2022.

Note: The MRAC office is closed December 23, 2022 – January 2, 2023. 

You may also call or email the program director listed under Contacts. There are three types of meetings you may request:

  • Group Eligibility/Project Ideas Check-in (early in the process)
  • Application Eligibility Review (for when you have a draft ready for us to review for eligibility)
  • Project Check-In (once you received a grant and want to discuss any project changes)

Please note: We will do some initial brainstorming/refining with you about ideas, and will review application materials for eligibility and completeness. We are not able to help with reviewing content beyond eligibility. This is intended to provide general guidance ahead of submission; final eligibility determinations depend on a variety of factors and are made only after an application is submitted.

Additional Online Resources

Visit the Welcome to MRAC page (https://mrac.org/grants) to learn about the MRAC grant application process, an overview of all our grant programs, and more resources related to seeking and receiving MRAC funding.

Language Translation

These guidelines and other materials are translated in Spanish and available on this page MRAC’s website can also be translated into Spanish by clicking the language button in the top left corner.

The online grant portal has the Google Translate feature to enable application translations in over 100 languages.

Groups/organizations are encouraged to apply in their preferred language. With advance notice, MRAC can contract an interpreter and/or translator to assist during the application process.

Accessibility

MRAC requests that all applicants apply online unless a disability prevents them from doing so.

MRAC works to ensure that grant guidelines, workshop presentations, and any other written materials are created with accessibility principles in mind. Additionally, we are happy to provide materials in Braille, Large Print, or other formats with advanced notice that varies according to format, from one week to on-demand, but even if the notice timeline has elapsed, we may still be able to accommodate the request.

On each grant webpage there is a link to the guidelines in a text format that is friendly to screen readers and text resizing. The company that makes the online application software MRAC uses, Foundant Technologies, suggests using NVDA, a screen reader software compatible with Windows available for free download.

Applicants with disabilities wishing to use other means to apply can work with MRAC staff to adapt our typical processes to ensure you have equal opportunity to submit an application. Solutions we have previously implemented include filling out an adapted form in Microsoft Word, and providing verbal responses that MRAC will share via audio recording or transcription.

Contact us as early as possible to begin a conversation about how to make sure you have an equal opportunity to apply.

Contacts

Questions about the grantmaking process in general and technical assistance with the grant interface (such as trouble logging in), please contact us at mrac@mrac.org or 651-645-0402.

Questions and assistance related to eligibility and/or preparing an application:

For Flexible Support Round 1 (deadline August 1, 2022), please contact Masami Kawazato (masami@mrac.org or 651-523-6386).

For Flexible Support Round 2 (deadline February 13, 2023), please contact Scott Artley (scott@mrac.org or 651-523-6384).

For both rounds, fill out the application assistance meeting request form to schedule a time to meet with a staff member who can assist you.

Please do your best to read these guidelines thoroughly before reaching out with questions.

We strongly encourage new applicants, and applicants who have awarded grants or plan to apply for multiple MRAC grants this fiscal year to request a meeting to discuss your specific situation further.

Apply here

Deadlines

Round 1: August 1, 2022 at 11:59 PM
Round 2: February 13, 2023 at 11:59 PM

Program directors

Masami Kawazato
Contact for Round 1
651-523-6386| masami@mrac.org

Scott Artley
Contact for Round 2
651-523-6384| scott@mrac.org

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