Grants for Arts Projects National Endowment for the Arts

“The Arts … belong to all the people of the United States.” *

The arts are a powerful and important part of what unites us as Americans. The arts celebrate our differences while connecting us through a communal experience. For over 50 years, the National Endowment for the Arts has been healing, uniting, and lifting up communities with compassion and creativity.

Grants for Arts Projects is the National Endowment for the Arts’ principal grants program for organizations based in the United States. Through project-based funding, the program supports public engagement with, and access to, various forms of art across the nation, the creation of excellent art, learning in the arts at all stages of life, and the integration of the arts into the fabric of community life.

The Arts Endowment encourages applications from a variety of eligible organizations, e.g., with small, medium, or large budgets, and from rural to urban communities. Similarly, projects may be large or small, existing or new, and may take place in any part of the nation’s 50 states, the District of Columbia, and U.S. territories.

The National Endowment for the Arts is committed to diversity, equity, inclusion, and fostering mutual respect for the diverse beliefs and values of all individuals and groups. The Arts Endowment encourages projects that use the arts to unite and heal in response to current events, as well as address any of the following:

• 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.
• Originate from or are in collaboration with the following constituencies encouraged by White House Executive Orders:
• 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. *1965 Enabling Legislation for the National Endowment for the Arts in the National Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities Act of 1965

Projects may focus on reaching a particular constituency, however, they may not be exclusionary under national laws and policies prohibiting discrimination. This extends to hiring practices and audience engagement.

Applicants may request cost share/matching grants ranging from $10,000 to $100,000. In the past few years, well over half of the agency’s grants have been for amounts less than $25,000. Designated local arts agencies eligible to subgrant may request cost share/matching grants ranging from $10,000 to $150,000 for subgranting programs in the Local Arts Agencies discipline.

Visit the National Endowment for the Arts’ website to select your project discipline and view application deadlines and project types. For more information about what we fund, see “We Fund/Do Not Fund”.