NEA Grants for Arts: Local Arts Agencies

Slots:                                                     1

Internal Deadline:                           May 8, 2020, noon PT

LOI:                                                        N/A

External Deadline:                          July 9, 2020

Award Information:                        Type: Grant

                                                                Award Amount: Cost share/matching grants will range from $10,000 to $100,000

Submission Process:                     PIs must submit their application as a Limited Submission through the Office of Research Application Portal: https://app.wizehive.com/webform/USCgrants

Materials to submit:

• Single Page Proposal Summary (0.5” margins; single-spaced; font type: Arial, Helvetica, or Georgia typeface; font size: 11 pt). Page limit includes references and illustrations. Pages that exceed the 1-page limit will be excluded from review.
• CV – (5 pages maximum)

Link to Award:                                   https://www.arts.gov/grants-organizations/gap/local-arts-agencies

Who May Serve as PI:                    Nonprofit, tax-exempt 501(c)(3), U.S. organizations; units of state or local government; or federally recognized tribal communities or tribes may apply. Applicants may be arts organizations, local arts agencies, arts service organizations, local education agencies (school districts), and other organizations that can help advance the goals of the National Endowment for the Arts.

Purpose:

Across the United States, more than 4,500 Local Arts Agencies (LAAs) provide a wide range of programs and services to help support and enable arts and culture at the local level. LAAs are intermediaries, serving artists and arts organizations, local residents, visitors, and other community partners. No two LAAs are alike ─ whether they serve a single village or town, a large city, county, or a multi-county or multi-state region. Some LAAs are departments of local government, others are nonprofit organizations, and still others are hybrids of the two.

Characteristics: LAAs may present and/or produce arts programming, commission and manage public art, administer grant programs, provide technical assistance to artists and arts organizations, and guide cultural planning efforts. Still others may own, manage, and/or operate cultural facilities and be actively engaged in community development, and partner with entities in tourism, social services, public education, housing, economic development, and public safety. All strive to enhance the quality of life in their communities by working to increase public access to the arts.

The Local Arts Agencies discipline also welcomes applications for arts projects developed and managed by:

• Non-arts departments of local government, including but not limited to economic development, parks and recreation, or planning departments. For the purposes of these guidelines, local governments are defined as counties, parishes, cities, towns, villages, or federally recognized tribal governments.
• Designated special districts, such as creative, arts and entertainment, or cultural districts.
• National and statewide service organizations that work primarily with a network of LAAs, as well as projects by organizations such as Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts or Arts and Business Councils.

All Grants for Arts Projects applications submitted by LAAs will be reviewed within the Local Arts Agencies discipline. There are only two exceptions: Projects that have a Folk & Traditional Arts focus will be reviewed under Folk & Traditional Arts, and projects with a K-12 standards-based arts education, professional development, or collective impact focus will be reviewed under Arts Education.

While we welcome applications for a variety of artistically excellent projects, we encourage projects that address any of the following activities below:

• Celebrate America’s creativity and/or cultural heritage.
• Invite a dialogue that fosters a mutual respect for the diverse beliefs and values of all persons and groups.
• Enrich our humanity by broadening our understanding of ourselves as individuals and as a society.
• In the spirit of White House Executive Orders that encourage federal agencies to engage with typically underserved constituencies, the National Endowment for the Arts encourages applications from:
  • Historically Black Colleges and Universities,
  • Tribal Colleges and Universities,
  • American Indian and Alaska Native tribes,
  • African American Serving Institutions,
  • Hispanic Serving Institutions,
  • Asian American and Pacific Islander communities, and
  • Organizations that support the independence and lifelong inclusion of people with disabilities

Project Types

Eligible project types include the full breadth of programming typically developed and managed by local arts agencies*, such as Programming and Services to the Field, including but not limited to:

• The presentation of artists, artworks, and arts programming.
• The commissioning of artists for the creation of new work.
• Projects related to public art, such as creation, installation, documentation, and preservation. See “Public Art Resources” for additional information.
• The development and/or management of cultural facilities or artist residency projects.

• Services to advance the professional skills of artists and arts organizations, such as convenings, technical assistance, and professional development opportunities.
• Coordinated arts services, such as community-wide marketing campaigns, cross-sector partnerships, or cultural planning efforts.

• Projects and initiatives that build equity and extend the reach of the arts to communities that have been historically underserved.
• Project activities that advance and/or sustain the creative work of and/or careers for people with disabilities through employment, industry training, technical assistance, organization capacity-building, and infrastructure.

• Education and related activities for youth, adults, intergenerational groups, and schools.

However, if your project is for youth, see “Choosing the Right Discipline for Youth Projects” to help you select between the Local Arts Agencies and Arts Education disciplines.

* See “We Fund/We Do Not Fund” to make sure your project is eligible.

Subgranting

To be eligible, a Local Arts Agency must be an arts agency that is a unit of city or county government or officially designated to operate as an arts agency on behalf of its local government. Non-arts departments of local government (e.g., economic development, parks and recreation, or planning departments) cannot subgrant. In addition to the “Applicant Eligibility” section for all Grants for Arts Projects applicants, applicants for subgranting projects must have completed a three-year history of subgranting in the arts prior to the application deadline. Organizations without a three-year history of grantmaking are encouraged to contact Arts Endowment staff to discuss alternative project types.

• Subgranting for programming and services to the field activities on behalf of a Local Arts Agency’s constituents.
  • Designated Local Arts Agencies that will subgrant must:
    • Require their grantees to provide DUNS numbers before a grant can be made.
    • Report subgrants of $25,000 or more in federal funds to the Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act Subaward Reporting System (FSRS).
    • Ensure that all subawards made with federal or cost share/matching funds are in compliance with the General Terms and Conditions for an award from the National Endowment for the Arts, including requirements for pass-through entities as provided for under 2 CFR 200.331 and the NHPA/NEPA and accessibility requirements described below.

We fund projects only.

A project may consist of one or more specific events or activities; it may be a part of an applicant’s regular season or activities. Organizations that undertake a single short-term project in a year — a ten-day jazz festival, for example — could apply for that event, or they could identify certain components (such as the presentation of a key artist and the associated activities) as their project. Describe the activities for which our support is requested, and provide specific information on the artists, productions, venues, distribution plans, etc., that will be involved.

Organizations may apply for any or all phases of a project, from its planning through its implementation.

A project does not have to be new. Excellent existing projects can be just as competitive as new activities.

Projects do not need to be large. We welcome small projects that can make a difference in a community or field.

Projects may be in any of the Arts Endowment’s artistic disciplines.

Budgetary Requirements:

Our grants cannot exceed 50% of the total cost of the project. All grants require a nonfederal cost share/match of at least 1 to 1. For example, if an organization receives a $10,000 grant, the total eligible project costs must be at least $20,000 and the organization must provide at least $10,000 toward the project from nonfederal sources.

Visit our Institutionally Limited Submission webpage for updates and other announcements.