The Minnesota State Arts Board is offering a new grant program this year—Creative Support for Organizations—to help arts organizations adapt to the changing environment caused by the global pandemic.  Recognizing that many Minnesotans engage with the arts through community organizations and public entities that are not specifically arts organizations, the board will offer an additional Creative Support for Organizations application deadline in December that will be open to a wider spectrum of applicants.

For the next deadline, the following additional kinds of entities will be welcome to apply: 

• Arts affiliates of nonprofit or public institutions;
• Nonprofit organizations whose primary mission or focus is not the arts but have an ongoing commitment to arts programming and have received an Arts Board or regional arts council grant in fiscal years 2017, 2018, 2019, or 2020.
• Public entities with an ongoing commitment to arts programming that have received an Arts Board or regional arts council grant in fiscal years 2017, 2018, 2019, or 2020.

Organizations that were eligible to apply in August and September, but didn’t, will still be eligible to apply.  Organizations that have been awarded a FY 2021 Creative Support for Organizations grant will not be eligible to apply for another grant.  Organizations that submitted an application in August or September, that is being reviewed by the Arts Board, will not be eligible to submit another application.  More detailed eligibility information will be available in the application materials.

Creative Support for Organizations funds can be used to support people and activities that will be needed to keep audiences, participants, students, or communities engaged with the arts during the pandemic and beyond. This grant program aims to help Minnesota arts organizations and programs maintain their financial sustainability and long-term viability by leveraging creativity and connections to community, to ensure that the arts remain available to Minnesota residents and communities.