Deadline: 3-Mar-25
Applications are now open for the Grassroots Arts Program (GAP) that provides per capita-based funding for arts programming to all 100 counties across North Carolina ensuring opportunities for citizens to experience the arts in their own communities.
Grassroots funds are distributed in every county in North Carolina through the following types of partnerships:
- Designated County Partners
- In most counties, local arts councils have been nominated by their county governments and approved by the N.C. Arts Council as Designated County Partners (DCPs) to manage and program Grassroots Funds. DCPs are required to submit a Full Designated County Partner Application on a three-year rotation, or an Update Application.
- Provisional County Partners
- In counties without DCPs, the N.C. Arts Council has selected an organization to serve as the Provisional County Partner (PCP) to oversee the distribution and management of Grassroots funds on a temporary (year-to-year) basis.
Funding Priorities
- The first priority in awarding subgrants is to provide program or operating support to qualified arts organizations. Examples are theaters, symphonies, galleries, art guilds, choral societies, dance companies, folk arts societies, writers’ groups, and arts festivals. To receive operating support from a subgrant, an arts organization may not also receive operating support directly from the N.C. Arts Council.
- The second priority in subgranting Grassroots funds is to support arts learning and arts-in-education programs conducted by qualified artists. These can be artist residencies in schools, after-school summer camps, or adult arts learning classes. Grassroots funds may not be used for activities associated with a school’s internal arts programs, such as in-school student performances, the purchase of classroom supplies, or student art competitions and publications.
- The third priority in awarding GAP subgrants is to support community, civic, and municipal organizations that provide high-quality experiences for the greater community. Qualified artists must conduct these programs.
Who can apply?
- To be eligible for Arts Council funding, organizations:
- Must be a nonprofit organization in good standing with the state of North Carolina (or an organization that has applied for non-profit status using a fiscal agent);
- Must have been producing quality arts programs for at least two consecutive years;
- Must have prior-year organizational cash operating expenses of at least $20,000.
- Tribal organizations must represent North Carolina or federally-recognized tribes.
Requirements
- Multicultural requirements
- To ensure that GAP reflects the racial and ethnic diversity of the state, each DCP is required to spend a representative percentage of its annual county allotment on programs that reflect the diverse cultures (specifically African American, Asian American, Latino, and Native American) of the county’s population.
- Matching the Grassroots grant
- The Grassroots Arts Program legislation requires that county allotments must be matched dollar for dollar with cash from local sources during the applicable fiscal year. Grassroots applicants may match the entire county allotment from within their own budget, or they may use the cash match from subgrantees to fulfill the requirement. A Designated County Partner may also partner with another organization in the county to allow its arts expenditures to be designated as a match.
- If a DCP chooses to fulfill its match with a partnering agreement, the DCP must obtain a letter from that partner stating the source, amount, use and fiscal year of the expenditures and giving the partner’s approval to designate it as a match for the Grassroots allotment. The partner should be aware that its records become part of the Grassroots contract, and should there be an audit of the Grassroots award, it must be willing to allow its records to be reviewed.
- Neither Grassroots allocations nor the matching funds may be used to match any other N.C. Arts Council grant. All matching funds must be documented as part of the final report at the end of the fiscal year.
- Subgranting requirements
- Organizations with county populations above 50,000 are required to subgrant at least 50 percent of their allocations to other organizations in their county to conduct arts programs.
For more information, visit North Carolina Arts Council.
