Note: This grant program has been suspended for FY21. We will not be accepting applications to this grant program from July 1, 2020- June 30, 2021.
In years when the Arts Access for Small Towns Grant is available, the following information is applicable:
Maximum Award: $6,000
Online grants open for application approximately one month before the deadline date.
If you have applied before read about changes from last year’s grants.
Eligible Proposals
Arts Access Grants for Small Towns (population under 2,000) support the creation, production, and presentation of high quality arts activities that help instill the arts into the community and public life in our region by removing barriers that audiences may have to accessing these activities. Eligible grant proposals must display a commitment to reaching wider audiences through providing new and/or expanded arts programming to residents of our region’s counties, and/or by supporting accessibility initiatives through the project. These grants offer funding for a variety of arts projects and programming including costs associated with public art, arts festivals, engagement of guest artists, arts field trips, workshops, exhibitions, presentations, or performances that will benefit the residents of Beltrami, Hubbard, Clearwater, Lake of the Woods, or Mahnomen counties. Arts activities proposed for funding must be accessible by the public, displaying a strong community component.
Watch a tutorial video on how to start an application
Create a Login and apply online
Eligible Organizations
Organizations must be nonprofit and physically located in a town with under 2,000 population within one of the five Region 2 Arts Council counties of Beltrami, Clearwater, Lake of the Woods, Mahnomen, or Hubbard. Eligible organizations include:
- schools (parochial schools are ineligible)
- community education programs*
- institutions of higher learning (colleges or universities)
- non-profits providing arts programming
- local city, town, county government entities
- tribal government entities
- Groups without 501(c)3 nonprofit tax status are eligible to apply, but must be formed for non-profit purposes, must have the equivalent of a governing body similar to a board of directors or advisory council, and must use a a Minnesota-based non-profit, tax-exempt 501(c)3 organization, or other tax exempt entity such as a school, institution of higher learning, or city, town, county, or tribal government as a fiscal sponsor.
*Based on Minnesota Statute 124D.19, Community Education Programs will be assumed to be operated by the school district and will be subject to all grant guidelines that apply to schools.
Is your grant project eligible? Is your organization? Check out our eligibility section: Arts Access Grant for Small Towns Eligibility Requirements. If you can answer true to all these statements, then you should be eligible to apply. If you answer false to one of the statements, contact us to discuss eligibility.
The Grant Application
The online grant application will ask questions about demographics which we use for reporting to the Minnesota State Arts Board (see our Data Privacy Policy), and questions based on our scoring criteria. (see rubric) There are also pieces needed for the grant application that you should gather before you apply, such as work samples (Work Sample Submission Policy), resumes, and a list of all project costs.
Budget Guidelines and Budget Template
IMPORTANT FOR ALL APPLICANTS: Project specific costs incurred and paid prior to a project’s Earliest Start Date will make a project ineligible for funding. Read about this and more:
R2AC FY20 Budget Guidelines for Organizations
R2AC FY20 Arts Access Grant Budget Template
Arts Access Grant for Small Towns Application (Sample only – cannot be submitted – only online submissions are accepted)
r2arts.org 