EMERGENCY RELIEF FUND FOR ARTISTS
About This Grant
Thanks to the generosity of a coalition of Minnesota-based funders and Springboard for the Arts, the East Central Regional Arts Council will offer Emergency Relief Funding (EFR) to artists and culture bearers who are facing unexpected expenses or loss of income due to personal/professional emergencies or natural disasters. Possible emergencies include illness or injury, loss of housing, healthcare, legal, transportation or property loss emergency, or an emergency resulting from loss of employment, contract cancellation, loss of other income, food benefits, or other disruptive events that impact an artist's wellbeing or ability to work. Artists at any professional level are welcome to apply. Projects may be in any art form or discipline.
Applications will open for submission on February 16, 2026, and will remain open until funds are no longer available. You may reference the ERF Guidelines in the green box on the right for additional information.
Requirements
The following is a list of eligibility criteria. Applicants must meet all criteria to be eligible to apply for this fund.
- Applicants must identify as an artist or culture bearer and be active in their creative practice, including current and past ECRAC grantees. You will be required to list your area of artistic practice and provide a recent work sample(s).
- Applicants must be at least 18 years old and be a U.S. citizen or have permanent resident status.
- Must be a permanent resident, for at least 6 months, in one of the East Central Minnesota Counties of Chisago, Isanti, Kanabec, Mille Lacs and Pine, or the sovereign Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe lands also known as Region 7E, at the time of submitting the application. Proof of residency will be required.
- Applicants must be applying as an individual. No organizations or LLCs will be eligible for funding.
- Applicants’ emergency must have occurred in the past twelve (12) months, and be related to healthcare, housing, equipment, or legal emergencies.
- Returning applicants must not have any outstanding or unacceptable final reports with ECRAC.
Eligible applicants will be reviewed in the order they are submitted and awards will be given until funding is no longer available. Please be aware that ECRAC is a small organization and Staff will process applications as quickly as time allows. All applicants will be contacted with the results of the review.
Where to Apply
East Central Regional Arts Council has moved to an online granting system. All applications going forward must be submitted through the ECRAC Grant Portal. Please refer to the tips below to help you navigate the new system.
Links for each grant program application will only become available about 4 weeks prior to each grant deadline.
Getting Started
On your first visit to the ECRAC Grant Portal, you will need to create a new account with a username and password. Please note that if you are applying as an organization, your organization can only have one username and password for the online system. Please be sure to keep this information as you will need it again to access the Portal for grant requirements and for all future requests.
Returning to an Application
Your application does not need to be completed in one session and can be returned to and edited until you formally submit the application. Please be sure to save your application often while working on it and before you exit the system. To return to your application, you can access the ECRAC Grant Portal through the Manage My Grant page. There you may logon using the email address and password you created the first time you entered.
Uploading Information
There are fields in the application that will require you to upload information (documents, media, etc.). Please note that your information may not be completely uploaded until you click “Save”. Be sure to save your application often so as not to lose any progress or information.
Submitting an Application
Once you have completed and reviewed your application, you may submit the application for funding consideration. Once an application has been submitted you will be able to view the application, but not edit or make any changes to it.
Additionally
Review the grant guidelines before you begin. The application also includes tips on completing a successful application. Contact ECRAC staff if you have any questions, we're here to help and support you during the grant process.
In This Section
Quick Summary
For more assistance in navigating the ECRAC Grant Portal, please refer to the ECRAC Grant Portal Tutorial.
If you need further assistance navigating the ECRAC Grant Portal or have any other questions, please feel free to contact ECRAC by email at grantinfo@ecrac.org or by calling (320) 336-0200.