Deadline: 1-Aug-24
South Arts is offering grants to conduct projects that promote the sharing, teaching, learning, preserving, and documenting folk arts and traditional culture of Central Appalachia.
This funding program is open to a wide variety of organizations, including community cultural organizations, schools/colleges/universities, libraries, museums, performing arts presenters, community festival organizations, faith-based organizations, etc. Organizations must be located within and serve at least one Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC) county in Kentucky, North Carolina, or Tennessee. Two projects from each eligible state (Kentucky, North Carolina, and Tennessee) will be selected, for a total of six recipient organizations.
What are Folk Arts and Cultures?
- The South is home to an abundance of folk arts and traditional culture. Folk and traditional arts share the aesthetics, practices, and values of families, geographic communities, occupational groups, ethnic heritage groups, etc. Folk and traditional arts are learned orally or by observation and imitation, often through a mentor artist instructing an apprentice. They are usually maintained without formal instruction or academic training. Some traditional arts have a deep-rooted history with little change, while others are constantly evolving and adapting to their changing environment.
- For the purposes of this application, the folk and traditional arts of Central Appalachia include music, handcrafts/material culture, and foodways. Some examples of traditional arts practiced in Central Appalachia are Cherokee stamped pottery, African American buck dancing/clogging, Anglo American ballads, Latin American foodways traditions, Bharatanatyam Indian dance, Traditional Vietnamese Medicine, and many more.
South Arts has prioritized the following:
- South Arts is committed to diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility.
- They strongly encourage applications from organizations led by and serving Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) communities, LGBTQIA+ communities, and communities of people with disabilities. They will prioritize applications that feature BIPOC and LGBTQIA+ traditional artists and traditional artists with disabilities.
- South Arts is committed to funding traditional arts projects in rural communities (with populations under 50,000).
Funding Information
- Grants are awarded in the amount of $10,000.
- Projects must take place between October 1, 2024 – June 30, 2025.
Eligible Counties
- Eligible organizations must be located within and serve at least one of the following Appalachian Regional Commission counties:
- Kentucky: Adair, Bath, Bell, Boyd, Breathitt, Carter, Casey, Clark, Clay, Clinton, Cumberland, Edmonson, Elliott, Estill, Fleming, Floyd, Garrard, Green, Greenup, Harlan, Hart, Jackson, Johnson, Knott, Knox, Laurel, Lawrence, Lee, Leslie, Letcher, Lewis, Lincoln, McCreary, Madison, Magoffin, Martin, Menifee, Metcalfe, Monroe, Montgomery, Morgan, Nicholas, Owsley, Perry, Pike, Powell, Pulaski, Robertson, Rockcastle, Rowan, Russell, Wayne, Whitley, and Wolfe.
- North Carolina: Alexander, Alleghany, Ashe, Avery, Buncombe, Burke, Caldwell, Catawba, Cherokee, Clay, Cleveland, Davie, Forsyth, Graham, Haywood, Henderson, Jackson, McDowell, Macon, Madison, Mitchell, Polk, Rutherford, Stokes, Surry, Swain, Transylvania, Watauga, Wilkes, Yadkin, and Yancey.
- Tennessee: Anderson, Bledsoe, Blount, Bradley, Campbell, Cannon, Carter, Claiborne, Clay, Cocke, Coffee, Cumberland, De Kalb, Fentress, Franklin, Grainger, Greene, Grundy, Hamblen, Hamilton, Hancock, Hawkins, Jackson, Jefferson, Johnson, Knox, Lawrence, Lewis, Loudon, McMinn, Macon, Marion, Meigs, Monroe, Morgan, Overton, Pickett, Polk, Putnam, Rhea, Roane, Scott, Sequatchie, Sevier, Smith, Sullivan, Unicoi, Union, Van Buren, Warren, Washington, and White.
Eligibility Criteria
- Nonprofit and educational organizations located in Appalachian Regional Commission counties in Kentucky, North Carolina, and Tennessee are eligible.
- Organizations must have not-for-profit, tax-exempt status, or be an official unit of local, county, or state government. Educational institutions (schools, school systems, colleges, and universities) are also eligible. South Arts does not accept applications from fiscal agents for this grant program.
- All applicants must have a Federal Employer Identification Number (FEIN).
- Organizations that have failed to submit final reports on time for any previous South Arts grants will not be considered for funding.
- Organizations that fail to properly acknowledge South Arts’ support in programs and press materials will not be considered for additional funding.
- Organizations are eligible for only one In These Mountains FY25 Project Grant during the South Arts’ 2025 fiscal year of October 1, 2024 – June 30, 2025. The project must take place by June 30, 2025.
- Previous recipients of In These Mountains Project Grants are not eligible to apply again in FY25.
For more information, visit South Arts.
