Providing 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.
Important Information for 2027
This fiscal year, MRAC will not have an open call for new applications for Next Step Fund. Instead, MRAC will award grants to 2026 applicants with the next highest scores that did not receive funding. In 2026, we received 57% more applications than the previous year, with a record high number of 636 applications. Closing applications for 2027 will allow us to fund more artists in that record-breaking pool of applications, while giving us time to evaluate the program priorities, and grant processes.
MRAC will reach out to qualifying applicants from 2026 by September 28, 2026.