Flexible Support
Deadlines for Tier 1: 1st of July, August, September, October, February, March
Deadlines for Tier 2 & 3: August 1st, 2025 (Deadline extended to August 3rd) & February 1st, 2026
The Flexible Support grant provides funding to help organizations/groups create and sustain Minnesotans’ access to the arts. Eligible projects include operations, and/or organizational capacity, and/or arts programming:
Activities that support the operations of an organization/group (such as paying staff salaries or rent on a space) to provide arts access to Minnesotans in the 9-county area of Blue Earth, Brown, Faribault, LeSueur, Martin, Nicollet, Sibley, Waseca, Watonwan.
Organizational capacity activities, meaning a coordinated management effort that bolsters an organization/group’s ability to do its work (like rebranding, building a website, or overhauling financial tracking systems) to enhance Minnesotans’ access to the arts. This could also be the purchase of equipment and/or making facilities improvements to provide arts access.
Arts Programming activities in the 9-county region of Blue Earth, Brown, Faribault, LeSueur, Martin, Nicollet, Sibley, Waseca, or Watonwan, whether a single event (such as a theater production) or a series (such as a series of music workshops).
Grant Amounts:
Tier 1: Up to $5,000 grants for universities, government entities, and public libraries or arts organizations or projects with an operating budget of $0-74,999 annually or by project.
Tier 2: Up to $10,000 grants for arts organizations or projects with an operating budget of $75,000-199,999 annually or by project.
Tier 3: Up to $15,000 grants for arts organizations or projects with an operating budget of $200,000+ annually or by project.
K-12 School Arts Project
Deadline: 1st of month, July 2025 - April 2026 (DEADLINE EXTENDED!)
This program is for public and private non-parochial K-12 schools to fund residencies, live art performances, mini-workshops, or arts related field trips.
Grant Amount:
Up to $3,000 for a one-time project for a K-12 school.
Pilot Collaborative Support
(For Two Organizations)
Deadline: July 1st, 2026
Application opening May 1st, 2026.
Funds will be dispersed October 1st, 2026.
The Pilot Collaborative Support program is a new grant to encourage and support collaboration between geographic and artistic spaces in our region.
Projects must include two 501(c)3s, government entities, or universities.
Applicants must be from two separate counties in the region.
Applicants must each apply separately for up to $12,500. The applications will be considered together and either both awarded or neither. Grant money will be issued to each applicant separately.
The award must be spent on the same project(s) within the 9-county region.
The project must be complete within 2 years of funding.
Grant Amount:
$12,500 is granted to two organizations for a total of $25,000 and can be spent for two years after the award is dispersed.
Eligibility:
Arts groups and organizations
Federally tax-exempt 501(c)(3) nonprofit organizations whose missions are related to the arts.
Cultural groups and organizations
Federally tax-exempt 501(c)(3) culturally-specific non profit organizations that provide arts and non-arts programming with annual arts programming expenses.
Non-arts and non-cultural nonprofit organizations
Non-arts and non-cultural 501(c)3 nonprofit organizations with annual arts programming.
Non-arts and non-cultural nonprofit organizations must be able to isolate their arts programming revenues and expenses from non-arts and non-cultural financial activity.
A public entity such as a unit of state, local, or tribal government with arts expenses.
Community education units of a school district in the 9-county region with arts budgets of any size.
Eligible nonprofit, non-arts and non-cultural organizations must describe how this request will create access to the arts and ensure connection to audiences within the 9-county region.
K-12 public or private nonparochial schools.