Established Regional Artist Grant
The Established Regional Artist Grant Program provides larger project grants to working professional artists that represent the diversity of our region. The criteria for this program includes artistic quality of both past and current work, the ability of the artist to complete the work, and a determination by the panel evaluating the grants that the slate of grants reflects the diversity of our region (with diversity as defined by the state’s Office of Grants Management best practices for competitive grants review). This grant will be funded by our support from the McKnight Foundation.
Important Deadlines:
Friday, May 27, 2022 at 4:30 p.m. for projects beginning August 1, 2022
Applications open six weeks prior to the deadline.
For 2022 (Our Fiscal Year 2023), we plan to award 6 grants of $8,000
Our staff is available to help you sort through your ideas, give feedback on your application, as well as encourage you.
Feel free to contact our staff to receive feedback. Our grants manager can serve as a sounding board for all parts of the process. We’re also happy to help you navigate through the application and any technical questions that come up.
If you are unfamiliar with us, the staff serves as advocates for all artists. Decisions about the grants are made by panels of artists and ARAC Board members.
We are here to help and assist you with the application process.
Criteria
Criteria:
Artistic Quality, both of past work and of the proposal presented
Ability to carry out the project
Your strategy to know whether you accomplished what you set out to do (evaluation and assessment of the project)
The committee will also consider how the grants selected would impact our goal of making sure our funds reach a diverse pool of artists. For this purpose, we are using both the goal of reaching a variety of artistic disciplines and the State of Minnesota’s definition of diverse populations as stated in their competitive grant review policy:
“Diverse populations” include:
Racial and ethnic communities, including American Indians
LGBTQI communities
Disability status
Veterans
Geographic diversity within and across Minnesota”
To encourage geographic diversity, only two grants each year can go to any one geographic area within our region, which we define as each county but with St. Louis County divided into two areas: Duluth and the remainder of the county.
Eligibility:
To be eligible to apply for this program, you must be at least eighteen years old, a U.S. citizen or have permanent resident status, and be a resident of Aitkin, Carlton, Cook, Itasca, Koochiching, Lake, or St. Louis County for at least six months, and remain a Minnesota resident for the duration of the project. Individuals enrolled in arts-related degree programs are INELIGIBLE to apply. (See other details below about items that are not eligible in this program or if you are also seeking funding from the Minnesota State Arts Board.)
How to Apply:
Please read the guidelines completely before beginning your application, and feel free to contact the Director of Grants and Outreach with questions.
Established Regional Artist Grant Guidelines
Applications must be completed and submitted using the ARAC Grant Portal. Submissions in any other format, including email, will not be accepted. Instructions for navigating the online system can be found in both the guidelines and by clicking on the ‘Apply Now’ button below.
The online application process will walk you through submitting your application.
To be eligible, your application must include all materials listed as required in the online application.
Applications must be received into the online system by 4:30 p.m. on the deadline date. Applications received after this time are ineligible and will not be reviewed. There are no exceptions to this policy.
Grant Questions
Artistic Quality
Reviewers will use your answers in this section to assess the quality of the work you have completed to date and the quality of the work you propose to do. Use the first question to tell us about your previous work. The second is to help us understand the significance of what you propose to do.
Please tell us about your past work. Include how you place your work within your discipline or medium.
Please tell us about the project you want to do.
What can you tell us about the artistic vision for this project? Does is continue the type of work you've completed in the past or are you heading in a different direction?
You’ll be asked to attach a sample of your work.
Assessment & Evaluation
This section is for you to tell us about your goals and how you plan to know whether you succeeded in reaching them. The first section is really about your conception of the work. If you don't know how to answer this question, please contact us and talk the issue through with our Grants Manager. Don't wait until the final two weeks before the deadline, as they may be too busy to provide much help. Know that goal statements such as "I want to finish a set of paintings," are acceptable, but might receive a very low score. Outcomes such as, "I finished the performance," are also potentially low scoring.
Goal Statement. What are you trying to accomplish with this work? What are your measurable outcomes?
How do you plan to know if the work was a success? Please tell us about how you will assess this work. How will you measure the outcomes stated above?
Ability
ARAC looks at a variety of factors as our panels assess your ability to carry out your project. One of those is a realistic budget. Even if ARAC funding is only a small part of the complete project, it is important that we see a realistic budget that takes into account the time that you estimate it will take to complete the project. We also look at timetables, past work successes, assessment strategies, and confirmation of partnerships (if applicable).
What is your timetable for completing this project?
How would you use this grant to complete the project? Be specific about how you would use the funds.
Tell us about why we should have confidence that you can execute this project.
You’ll be asked to attach an artistic resume, and if applicable, resumes for other individuals participating in your project.
Public Benefit
ARAC receives money from both the state and McKnight Foundation because they believe the arts are good for our communities.
In your own words, what is the benefit to your community of your project?
You’ll be asked to attach a sample of your work.
Diversity
The committee is also to consider how the grants selected would impact our goal of making sure our funds reach a diverse pool of artists. For this purpose, we are using both:
the goal of reaching a variety of artistic disciplines; and
the State of Minnesota's definition of diverse populations as stated in their competitive grant review policy:
Racial and ethnic communities, including American Indians
LGBTQI communities
Disability status
Veterans
Geographic diversity within and across Minnesota
Optional Questions:
Please feel free to speak to how you bring diversity to the arts of the region. [See our definition of the diversity we are looking for in the grant criteria above.]
Is there anything else you would like to tell us about yourself or your proposal?
If your project involves a partner or a specific gallery or event space, please attach letters or emails of confirmation from that/those partner(s).