FY20 FUNDING OPPORTUNITIES
  • Regional Initiative Grants encourage and support small community arts-based projects that are relevant to a community's current society, culture, and trends. Applicants may request $1,000 up to $4,000.

  • Arts Project Grants encourage and support arts-based projects of artistic excellence. Applicants may request $5,000 up to $15,000.

  • Supporting Arts Grants provide general operating support to help support Connecticut's arts organizations and municipal arts departments as they pursue their mission. Funding allocations are made according to organizational budget size starting at $1,000 up to $15,000.

  • Arts Learning: Presentation Grants provide funding for exposure to the arts through field trips (within CT), school or classroom visits, performance(s), informance(s), and/or lecture demonstrations by artists, artist groups, or arts providers. Applicants may request $500 up to $1,000.

  • ARTE-accesible Grants (Spanish, pronounced Ar Teh Ock Seh See Bleh) provide funding to support proposals that enhance program offerings and provide greater participation in and understanding of the arts by people of all abilities. Applicants may request $500 up to $3,000.

  • Artist Fellowships are competitive grants to encourage the continuing development of Connecticut artists. These grants provide support for artists to pursue new work and achieve specific creative and career goals. Grant amounts are $1,000, $3,000, and $5,000.

See below for more information on each program!
REGIONAL INITIATIVE (REGI) GRANTS

The Regional Initiative (REGI) grant program  encourages and supports small arts-based projects that are relevant to a community's current society, culture and trends. REGI is a good fit for applicants that have a small arts-based project that targets a specific community matter, reflects on personal experience(s), and/or projects that bring neighborhoods together. REGI grants must be aligned with COA's READI framework.

Grant requests must range between $1,000 - $4,000.

Eligible Applicants:
  • Connecticut Artist - may apply independently or with a fiscal sponsor
  • Creative Entrepreneur - may apply independently or with a fiscal sponsor
  • Curator/Event Planner - may apply independently or with a fiscal sponsor
  • Arts Organization with 501(c)(3) status or with a fiscal sponsor
  • 501(c)(3) non-arts organization with a history of offering publicly accessible arts-based program(s) or project(s)projects 
  • School District or Individual PK-12 School
  • Library
  • College / University

Guidelines: PDF
Application Deadline: on or before 11:59 pm, Saturday, June 1, 2019
Funding Period: October 1, 2019 - September 30, 2020

Applicants should visit REGI's webpage for additional information and how to apply.
ARTS PROJECT GRANTS

The  Arts Project grant program  encourages and supports arts-based projects of artistic excellence that are aligned with COA's READI framework.

Grant requests must range between $5,000 - $15,000.

Eligible Applicants:
  • Connecticut Artist - must apply with a fiscal sponsor OR apply using their legal business entity
  • Arts Organization with 501(c)(3) status or with a fiscal sponsor
  • 501(c)(3) non-arts organization with a history of offering publicly accessible arts-based program(s) or project(s)projects 
  • Municipal Department
  • School District
  • College / University

Guidelines: PDF
Application Deadline: on or before 11:59 pm, Wednesday, June 19, 2019
Funding Period: October 1, 2019 - September 30, 2020

Applicants should visit Arts Project's webpage for additional information and how to apply.
SUPPORTING ARTS GRANTS

The  Supporting Arts grant program  provides unrestricted funding to help support Connecticut's arts organizations and municipal arts departments as they pursues their mission. This type of grant is flexible rather than for specific projects or programs and gives the grantee the ability to use the funds where they are most needed.

An applicant must be either an Arts Organization or a Municipal Arts Department. Please review the definition of and required criteria for an arts organization and an municipal arts department on the program's webpage.

* First-time applicants to the Supporting Arts program are required to confirm eligibility by contacting Rhonda Olisky .

Funding allocations are made according to organizational budget size:

$1,000 - Micro: Organizational budget of $1,000 and below $30,000
$3,000 - Small: Organizational budget of $30,000 and below $100,000 
$7,000 - Mid-Size A: Organizational budget of $100,000 and below $500,000
$12,500 - Mid-Size B: Organizational budget over $500,000 and below $1.5 M 
$15,000 - Large: Organizational budget over $1.5 million 

Guidelines: PDF
Application deadline: on or before 11:59 pm, Friday, June 28, 2019
Funding Period: October 1, 2019 - September 30, 2020

Applicants should visit Supporting Arts webpage for additional information and how to apply.
ARTE-accesible GRANT PROGRAM

The ARTE-accesible grant program (Spanish, pronounced Ar Teh Ock Seh See Bleh) supports activities that enhance program offerings and provide greater participation and understanding in the arts by all persons with or without disabilities and to all individuals regardless of language. 

Grant requests, which may range from $500 to $3,000, can be used to support:
  • Program and service offerings to improve the experience for audiences of all abilities
  • Staff training and internal resource support to carry out accessible programs and services
  • Support employment of Connecticut artists who identify as an individual with a disability

Guidelines: PDF
Application deadline: on or before 11:59 pm, Wednesday, September 18, 2019
Funding Period: January 1, 2020 - December 31, 2020

Applicants should visit ARTE-accesible webpage for additional information and how to apply.
ARTIST FELLOWSHIP PROGRAM

The  Artist Fellowship Program  provides competitive grants to encourage the continuing development of Connecticut artists. These grants provide support for artists to pursue new work and achieve specific creative and career goals.

There are three types of grant designations awarded under this program based on reviewer assessment:
  • Artistic Excellence grants: $5,000
  • Artist Fellowship grants: $3,000
  • Emerging Recognition grants: $1,000 

Guidelines: PDF
Application deadline: on or before 11:59 pm, Tuesday, August 20, 2019
Funding Period: January 1, 2020 - December 30, 2020

Applicants should visit Artist Fellowship webpage for additional information and how to apply.
ARTS LEARNING: PRESENTATION GRANTS - Coming soon!

Arts Learning: Presentation Grants provide funding for exposure to the arts through field trips (within CT), school or classroom visits, performance(s), and/or lecture demonstrations by artists, artist groups or arts providers. A pplicants may request $500 up to $1,000.   Guidelines coming soon!

For additional information on Arts Learning: Presentation Grants or if you have questions, contact Bonnie Koba .
IMPORTANT NOTICE

Applicants must choose between Supporting Arts, Arts Projects and Regional Initiative. An applicant must choose one of these programs and submit only one application.

Applicants may apply to the Artist Fellowship, ARTE-accesible and/or Arts Presentation programs in addition to Supporting Arts, Arts Project or Regional Initiative.

Examples:
Supporting Arts + Regional Initiative = NO
Arts Project + Regional Initiative = NO
Supporting Arts + ARTE-accesible = YES
Arts Project + Artist Fellowship = YES
Arts Presentation + ARTE-accesible = YES
Regional Initiative + Arts Presentation + ARTE-accesible = YES

*All grants funds are dependent on state and federal annual appropriations as allotted by the Governor, the Connecticut General Assembly, and the National Endowment for the Arts, therefore, all grant monies are contingent on availability.
READI FRAMEWORK

The Connecticut Office of the Arts uses the lenses of Relevance , Equity , Access , Diversity and Inclusion to guide programmatic and investment decisions within the framework of artistic excellence.