Deadline: 6-Mar-25
The Laura Jane Musser Fund has launched the Rural Arts Initiative General Operating Support Program to encourage and excite a wider population to appreciate, learn, and participate in the arts.
The Musser Fund hopes to assist nonprofit arts organizations in rural communities to develop, implement or sustain exceptional artistic opportunities for adults and children in the areas of literary, visual, music, and performing arts.
Priority
- Priority is placed on organizations that:
- Increase access to the arts through scholarships, hands-on activities, community venues, workshops, discounts and other innovations
- Demonstrate capacity to engage their community in the creation of art
- Demonstrate support from their community (through volunteerism, membership, in-kind, or other types of support)
Funding Information
- Grants up to $12,000 per year
Geographical Focus
- ARTS organizations must be physically located in rural communities (population 15,000 or less) in the following geographic areas:
- Colorado (All counties)
- Hawaii (All counties)
- Wyoming (All counties)
- New York (Delaware, Greene, Otsego, Schoharie, Sullivan, and Ulster counties)
- North Carolina Mountains Region (Alleghany, Ashe, Avery, Buncombe, Burke, Caldwell, Clay, Cherokee, Graham, Haywood, Henderson, Jackson, Macon, Madison, McDowell, Mitchell, Polk, Rutherford, Swain, Transylvania, Watauga, Wilkes, and Yancey counties)
- Texas Rio Grande River Valley (Cameron, Hidalgo, Starr, and Willacy counties), Deep East Texas (Angelina, Houston, Jasper, Nacogdoches, Newton, Polk, Sabine, San Augustine, San Jacinto, Shelby, Trinity, and Tyler counties), and the Brazos Valley (Brazos, Burleson, Grimes, Leon, Madison, Robertson, and Washington counties)
Eligibility Criteria
- Organizations must meet the following criteria:
- Arts organizations that are physically located in rural communities with populations of less than 15,000. (Arts organizations that support programs in rural areas but are not physically located in those rural areas are not eligible. Organizations that are not primarily arts organizations but provide some arts programming are also not eligible.)
- Arts organizations with organizational budgets less than $350,000
- Nonprofit 501(c)(3) organizations. (Organizations with fiscal sponsors are not eligible).
- Organizations that have been in existence for at least one year at the time of application
Ineligibility Criteria
- The following will not be funded:
- Capital Campaigns
- Organizations with Festivals as their sole programming
- Advocacy
For more information, visit Laura Jane Musser Fund.