List of Regional Grants and Awards

Regional Funding for the Arts:

Maryland State Arts Council

Founded in 1967, The Maryland State Arts Council (MSAC) is an agency of the State of Maryland's Department of Commerce that plays an essential role, ensuring every person has access to the transformative power of the arts.

MSAC advances the arts in our state by providing leadership that champions creative expression, diverse programming, equitable access, lifelong learning, and the arts as a celebrated contributor to the quality of life for all the people of Maryland.

Click here for MSAC Opportunities For Nonprofits, Government, and Universities
Click here for MSAC Opportunities for Artists
Click here for MSAC Opportunities for Arts & Entertainment Districts

Additional opportunities available at www.msac.org

Rolling Deadlines from the Maryland State Arts Council:

Creativity Grants for Artists

Professional Development Grant

Teaching Artist Roster

Touring Grant for Artists

Find more regional grans and opportunities in the Maryland State Arts Council Resource Bulletin

Mid-Atlantic Arts Foundation: Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation supports multiple funding programs. For the sake of organization, those programs are broken down into four program areas: Presenting, Touring and Exhibiting ; Artist Support, Projects and Residencies; Knowledge Building; and Special Projects.

Baker Artist Awards: Established by the William G. Baker, Jr. Memorial Fund, and managed by GBCA, The Baker Artist Awards were created to support artists and promote Greater Baltimore as a strong creative community. Through a sophisticated online portfolio and significant monetary prizes for the winners, the Baker Artist Awards serves artists of all disciplines who live and work in Baltimore City and its five surrounding counties.

Rubys Artist Project Grants: The Rubys are project-based funding for emerging and established Baltimore-regional artists for the creation of innovative and bold endeavors that will have significant impact for the artist and on the community at-large. The grants support the region’s gems – the local creative community of performing, visual, media, and literary artists.

The Jane and Walter Sondheim Artscape Prize: Managed by The Baltimore Office of Promotion & The Arts, Inc. (BOPA), The Janet & Walter Sondheim Prize awards a $25,000 fellowship to a visual artist or visual artist collaborators living and working in the Baltimore region. The six finalists have their work exhibited in the Special Exhibition Gallery at The Walters Art Museum. Semi-finalists’ work will be shown in the Decker, Meyerhoff and Pinkard galleries of MICA during the Artscape weekend.

Baltimore City Funding for The Arts:

Free Fall Baltimore: During the city-wide arts celebration, Baltimore City arts organizations present FREE arts activities including dance, music and theater performances, art exhibitions, free admission to museums, walking tours, festivals and workshops.

Creative Baltimore Fund: Creative Baltimore has two primary grant programs: Mayor’s Individual Artist Award - Project Support provides support for arts or cultural programs that promote public access and encourage the breadth of arts and/or cultural programming in our community. General Operating Support provides core support for established arts or cultural organizations that benefit the public and are artistically or culturally vibrant.

Baltimore County Funding for The Arts from the Baltimore County Comission on Arts and Sciences:

The Commission on Arts and Sciences is designed to ignite creativity in the region's cultural organizations, encourage public participation, extend outreach to students and diverse populations, and provide County residents with a range of offerings that reflect the diversity of the County's cultural heritage.

The Commission was created in 1977 by the County Council, Bill 43-77, Article XII, and consists of 17 volunteer members appointed by the County Executive or County Council for terms of three years.

Project Grants: Arts and Sciences Project Grants funded by Baltimore County government will help community-based organizations produce and present arts, science, history and humanities programs and activities in local communities in Baltimore County.

Operating Grants: Operating Grants funded through the Baltimore County Commission on Arts and Sciences provide general operating support for organizations that offer public arts, science and historic programs, performances, exhibitions and lectures that benefit Baltimore County citizens.

Howard County Funding for The Arts from the Howard County Arts Council:

Artists-in-Education Grant: The Artists-in-Education Grant Program is a partnership between the Howard County Arts Council and local PTAs which places professional artists in residence at private and public K-12 schools to help students foster creative exploration.

Community Arts Development Grant: The Community Arts Development Grant Program funds day-to-day activities for county arts organizations, as well as arts-related projects for new arts organizations or non-arts groups.

Organizational Development Grant: The Organizational Development Grant funds efforts to stabilize and support the organizational development and professional business management skills of arts organizations in Howard County.

The Jim Rouse Theatre Subsidy Program: The JRT Subsidy Program assists community arts groups by partially underwriting theatre rental fees at The Jim Rouse Theatre for the Performing Arts.

Baltimore City Arts & Cultural Organizations Grant Program: The Baltimore City Arts & Cultural Grant Program provides funding to key Baltimore City organizations that serve the citizens of Howard County. At this time, only previous recipients of HCAC’s Baltimore City Arts & Cultural Grant Program are eligible to apply to this program.

OUTREACH HOWARD Grant Program: The OUTREACH HOWARD Grant Program was established to encourage recipients of the Howard County Arts Council’s Baltimore City Arts and Cultural Organization Grant Program to extend the reach of their programs directly to Howard County residents by producing an arts and/or cultural activity at a location in Howard County.

The Mark Ryder Original Choreography Grant Program: The Mark Ryder Original Choreography Grant Program recognizes individual creative expression and provides financial assistance to choreographers to create new original work.

Arts Scholarship Program: The Arts Scholarship Program provides funding to college-bound seniors committed to pursuing a career in the arts. Last year, HCAC awarded $15,000 in scholarship funds to students entering college in the 2013-2014 academic year. Scholarships must be used for enrollment in an accredited college program for a degree in the arts.

Carroll County Funding for The Arts from the Carroll County Arts Council:

Arts Opportunity Mini-Grants: These grants are designed to support small cultural programs in the community and to provide financial assistance for Carroll County residents to participate in special arts activities. Awards range from $100 – $1,000 with most being less than $300. Organizations must have annual operating budgets of $10,000 or less and awards cannot exceed 25% of the annual budget.

Community Arts Development (CAD) Grants: CAD Grants are designed to strengthen established local arts organizations and to enhance cultural opportunities for Carroll County residents. Applicants must be non-profit organizations with an annual budget of $10,000 or more. Grants range from $500 - $5,000 and awards cannot exceed 25% of an organization’s annual budget. Commercial businesses, individuals, religious and programs within the public school system are not eligible.

Arts in Education (AiE) Grants: The CCAC provides up to $250 per school for AiE Grants. The purpose of these grants is to support bringing Maryland artists and performers into the public schools for residencies, workshops, assembly performances, Master Classes, etc. Applications are accepted on an on-going basis. There is no deadline. AiE Funding Applications are accepted on an ongoing basis. These funds are provided by the Maryland State Arts Council.

Anne Arundel County Funding for The Arts from the Arts Council of Anne Arundel County:

Arts in Education Grants: The Arts in Education Program invites registered public and private schools in Anne Arundel County to apply for one (1) Residency and one (1) Auditorium Grant per school year. These grants are used to fund artistically driven educational programs. The ACAAC will only support funding for performers listed in the ACAAC Arts in Education Directory or those on the Maryland State Arts Council (MSAC) Arts in Education registry. All applications are reviewed by the Arts in Education Committee and funding for as many programs as possible is approved based on the annual budget. It is the responsibility of the applicant to book the artists and secure any additional funding that is needed. All applications must be completed in full with the requested supplemental materials to be considered. ACAAC grants received under the Arts in Education Program should be in the school’s newsletter, giving credit to the ACAAC, the MSAC, City of Annapolis and Anne Arundel County. Please read the individual guidelines for each Grant.

Community Arts Grants: A General Operating Grant is awarded to established nonprofit cultural/arts organizations which have existed for more than one year and have IRS 501(C)(3) Tax Exempt status. A General Operating Grant supports ongoing activities of successful organizations. A Special Project Grant is awarded to established nonprofit organizations which have existed for more than one year and have IRS 501(C)(3) Tax Exempt status. A Special Project Grant is used to widen the scope, increase the impact, or significantly improve the organization’s arts programs. The intent of a Special Project Grant is to support activities which benefit the organization and county residents. The Arts Council looks with favor on projects that are new and innovative. The project must be completed within the funded year. A Founding Grant is a one-time award to new nonprofit cultural/arts organizations which have not received prior grant funding from the Arts Council. Founding Grant applicants must be non-profit Maryland corporations. IRS 501(C)(3), tax exempt status is not required for Founding Grant applicants, but they must file a request with the IRS (Form 1023) for such status.

Mini Grants: The Arts Council of Anne Arundel County, Inc. (ACAAC) Mini-Grant program helps community-based organizations produce and present arts activities in their communities. This program was created to extend the Arts Council funding to a broader range of organizations and to better reach underserved audiences.

Strategic Grants, Arts in Education Program: Strategic Impact Grants are the first Grant Awards of this type over the course of the Art Council’s history. The Strategic Impact Grants Program is specifically designed to allocate funding to Arts Organizations within the County, to enable them to impact the Arts in ways outside of their traditional programming and paradigm.

Harford County Funding from The Harford County Cultural Arts Board:

Community Arts Development

A. Arts organizations located in Harford County that have been both incorporated in Maryland as not-for-profit and received tax exempt status from the U. S. Internal Revenue Service may request support for day-to-day operating expenses. Primary activities of the organization must be categorized into one of the following disciplines:

folk & traditional arts
literary arts
media arts
performing arts
visual arts

B. Other nonprofits which are both incorporated in Maryland as not-for-profit and designated with tax exempt status from the U. S. Internal Revenue Service may receive support for direct costs of arts programming benefitting the residents and guests of Harford County, Maryland.

C. Units of government, colleges or universities, and religious institutions are also eligible for support for arts programming benefitting the residents and guests of Harford County, Maryland.

Arts in Education

Arts in Education Grants may be used by schools, or other nonprofit community-based settings, to offsets costs of Maryland-based Artists in Residence or Visiting Performers for Pre-K through 12th grade audiences.

National Funding for the Arts

Creative Capital: Creative Capital provides integrated financial and advisory support to artists pursuing adventurous projects in all disciplines.

Andy Warhol Foundation for Visual Arts: The Foundation’s grantmaking activity is focused on serving the needs of artists by funding the institutions that support them. Grants are made for scholarly exhibitions at museums; curatorial research; visual arts programming at artist-centered organizations; artist residencies and commissions; arts writing; and efforts to promote the health, welfare and first amendment rights of artists.

National Endowment for The Arts: The National Endowment for the Arts was established by Congress in 1965 as an independent agency of the federal government. To date, the NEA has awarded more than $4 billion to support artistic excellence, creativity, and innovation for the benefit of individuals and communities. The NEA extends its work through partnerships with state arts agencies, local leaders, other federal agencies, and the philanthropic sector. - See more at: http://arts.gov/about#sthash.onegfaya.dpuf

Resources for Regional/ National Funding Opportunities

Art Deadlines List: Art students, teachers, and artists of all ages can search for art contests and competitions; art jobs and internships; art scholarships, grants, and fellowships; art festivals; call for entries, proposals, and projects; and other opportunities in all disciplines. Available by free or paid subscription.

Art Funding | NYFASource: The New York Foundation for the Arts provides a national directory of awards, services, and publications for artists. Free registration is required.

Funding sources | US Regional Arts Organizations: Each of the six US Regional Arts Organizations provides support to arts organizations, artists, and communities through a wide range of regional, multi-regional, national, and international funding programs.

Grants for Artists | Michigan State University: Compilation resources for individuals seeking funding opportunities related to arts and cultural activities.

United States Artists: A grant-making, artist-advocacy organization funded by foundations and private donors and dedicated to supporting America’s finest artists in all career stages, working across diverse disciplines. Its USA Fellows program awards unrestricted $50,000 grants to 50 artists each year.