Only one week left until the February 1 grant deadlines!

(if you aren't ready don't worry, these deadlines repeat on April 1)

• Art In Our Schools - for schools only
• Small/Art Project Grants & ACHF Legacy Grants - for organizations
• ACHF Legacy Grants & Mid-Career Grants - for individual artists

March 1 Applications are also open now for arts funding from the East Central Regional Arts Council!

In addition to the February and April 1 deadlines named above, the East Central Regional Arts Council (ECRAC) is currently also accepting applications for the March 1st2023 grant deadline. Funding is available to artists, k-12 students, and eligible arts organizations located in Chisago, Isanti, Kanabec, Mille Lacs and Pine Counties. Available grants include:

Essential Artist Award: this $8,000 Essential Artist Award program is designed to recognize, reward, and encourage outstanding professional artists. The Council will fund artists at various stages in their professional careers. The Essential Artist Award will allow artists to set aside time to work, purchase supplies and materials, undertake advanced study (not related to a degree) or to pursue other artistic career goals.

K-12 Student Art Scholarship: this $500 arts scholarship funding is for special arts learning projects or programs for kids. The program provides at least one student award annually, based upon a competitive review of submitted applications. Applications must be for a specific art project that will advance the skills of the student in their art form. The Arts Council is interested in funding projects such as training with a mentor or summer art programs such as music or visual art camps. All young artists in kindergarten through 12th grade who strive to improve their artistic abilities can apply.

Essential Support Grant: This program provides general operating support to high quality, established arts organizations that produce, present, or exhibit works of art; to organizations that provide a broad range of services to artists; and to community arts groups that make arts learning available to regional individuals of all ages and abilities. The Essential Support grant program offers $3,000 to $5,000 of funding to qualified organizations to maintain their ongoing organizational operating needs. This program recognizes that organizations with an established record of programmatic service and administrative stability should have access to funds to support their organizational goals and objectives, and to maintain their ongoing programs, services, and facilities without any emphasis on new initiatives or programs as justification for funding.

Find out more about all these opportunities: ECRAC is hosting online zoom and in person grant information sessions for anyone interested in learning more about ECRAC and these grant programs. These sessions cover basic information about ECRAC grant programs, as well as recent changes to the grant application processes. Check out the ECRAC Events Calendar for dates and times for these grant information sessions and to register. https://www.ecrac.org/art-community/events-calendar

For further details on eligibility and how to apply, please check out the ECRAC website. If you have questions about which grant application is a good fit for your art project, please contact the Grant Program Officer at grantinfo@ecrac.org or call 320-591-7034.

Reminders from past updates:

ECRAC has Board Member openings for Mille Lacs and Kanabec Counties and for a Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe member! If you are interested, please fill out the Board Member Application. 

What else is new? ECRAC updated the event calendar! Check it out to find out about upcoming art events or to add your own or your organizations art event.