Eligibility Policies

Age Requirements

To be eligible for R2AC funding, an individual applicant must fulfill the following age requirements:

Be 18 or over when applying for an Artist Support Grant,  an Artists Engage Community Grant, or an Anishinaabe Arts Initiative Grant.

Be 21 years or older when applying for an Anishinaabe Arts Initiative Fellowship, or receiving an R2AC Artist Fellowship.

Residency or Location Requirements

Individuals

To be eligible for R2AC funding, an individual applicant must fulfill the following residency requirements

Be a U.S. citizen or have permanent resident alien status

Be a resident of the State of Minnesota and have established residency, as determined by address used for voting and/or payment of taxes, in one of the following counties: Beltrami, Clearwater, Hubbard, Lake of the Woods, or Mahnomen, for a minimum of six months prior to the application’s deadline date.

If applying for the Anishinaabe Arts Initiative Grant or Fellowship, an applicant must meet the criteria of the Indian Arts & Craft Act of 1990 and is required to provide information describing their status as a member or descendant of a federally recognized tribe or an individual certified as an Indian artisan by a federally recognized tribe. Eligible AAI applicants must have established residency, as determined by address used for voting and/or payment of taxes, in one of the following counties: Beltrami, Clearwater, Hubbard, Lake of the Woods, Mahnomen, Becker, Cass, Itasca, or Roseau, for a minimum of six months prior to the application’s deadline date.

If applying for the R2AC Artist Fellowship or Anishinaabe Arts Initiative Fellowship an applicant must have established residency in the five-county region for a minimum of one year prior to the application’s deadline date.

Live in the five-county region for a total of six months out of the calendar year.

If applying for the Anishinaabe Arts Initiative Grant or Fellowship, applicant must live in one of the following counties: Beltrami, Clearwater, Hubbard, Lake of the Woods, Mahnomen, Becker, Cass, Itasca, or Roseau for a total of six months out of the calendar year.

Organizations or Groups

To be eligible for R2AC funding, applicant organizations or groups must fulfill the following requirements

Have a physical address within one of the following MN counties: Beltrami, Clearwater, Hubbard, Lake of the Woods or Mahnomen.

Maintain their physical address and be located within the five-county region for the duration of the funded project beginning with the application and concluding with the submission of the final report.

If an applicant organization is applying with fiscal sponsor, the fiscal sponsor must have a physical address, as determined by address used for payment of taxes, within the state of Minnesota for the duration of the funded project concluding with the submission of the final report.

Eligible Applicant Categories for organizations or groups

To be eligible for funding, an applicant organization or group must be described by one of the following categories:

Arts Organizations with a non-profit 501(c)3 status who have the arts as a primary focus. Art groups without 501(c)3 tax exempt status must apply through a fiscal sponsor.

Arts Affiliates by definition are distinct arts programs or established arts divisions with an arts-focused mission, a distinct budget and governing or advisory board that are hosted within a Minnesota nonprofit 501(c)(3) non arts institution or public entity (such as city government or a university) or within a Minnesota nonprofit 501(c)(3), tax‐exempt, community service organization.

Non Profit 501(c)3 organizations who do not have arts as a primary focus such as, but not limited to, community centers, youth clubs, senior centers, and health care facilities can apply to fund arts focused activities.

Community groups, which are formed for non-profit purposes such as, but not limited to, art guilds/clubs, cultural heritage groups, performing groups, community bands, home-school cooperatives, social service groups, festival committees, neighborhoods, or temporary groups formed for the purpose of the art project for which they are seeking funding, may apply to fund arts focused activities. Groups without 501(c)3 tax exempt status must apply with a fiscal sponsor.

Schools and units of government may also apply for arts focused activities; this includes counties, cities, townships, parks & recreation departments, public libraries, community education offices, public elementary/middle/secondary schools including charter schools, and colleges or universities. These types of organizations are not required to submit an IRS letter proving their tax-exempt status.

The Sovereign Nations of Red Lake, Leech Lake, and White Earth may also apply for arts focused activities and are not required to submit an IRS letter proving their tax-exempt status.

Grant Specific Eligibility Requirements

Season/Series Arts Support Grant
The proposed arts programming or activities support Arts Access, Arts Education, and/or Arts and Cultural Heritage as stipulated by the Clean Water, Land, and Legacy Amendment, which provides funding for this grant.

Artists Engage Community Grant
The proposed project or activity supports Arts Access as stipulated by the Clean Water, Land, and Legacy Amendment, which provides funding for this grant.

Arts Access Grant
The proposed project or activity supports Arts Access as stipulated by the Clean Water, Land, and Legacy Amendment, which provides funding for this grant.

R2AC Artist Fellowship or Anishinaabe Arts Initiative Fellowship
Applicants must be dedicated artists that have created a substantial independent body of work and have received recognition for their work through awards, solo exhibitions, commissions, performances, publication, artist residencies, positive critical review, and/or invitations to be a juror, speaker, or presenter.

Anishinaabe Arts Initiative Grant or Fellowship
Applicants must meet the criteria of the Indian Arts & Craft Act of 1990 and are required to provide information describing their status as a member or descendant of a federally recognized tribe or an individual certified as an Indian artisan by a federally recognized tribe.

Community Arts Support Grants
Arts organizations, arts affiliates, and arts groups seeking 501(c)3 status who have arts programming at the center of their mission, and have been providing arts programming to our Region 2 Arts Council communities during two of their most recently completed fiscal years.

Ineligibility Guidelines for Applicants

Individuals, groups or organizations are NOT eligible for funding if they

Are a for-profit business.

Are a parochial school.

Are a religious organization.

Are an organization whose primary purpose is to influence public policy.

Do not have 501(c)3 tax exempt status or a fiscal sponsor with 501(c)3 tax exempt status.

Are a grant applicant who is a current member, or are using a grant writer, grant administrator, or project director who is a current member, of the R2AC Staff, Board, AAI Council or an immediate family member of an R2AC Staff, Board, or AAI Council member. (Immediate family is defined as: spouse, domestic partner, parent, child, child’s spouse/partner, brother, brother’s spouse/partner, sister, or sister’s spouse/partner.)

Are applying for either an Artist Support Grant or an Anishinaabe Arts Initiative Grant and have received an Individual Artist Grant, an R2AC Artist Fellowship, an Anishinaabe Arts Initiative Fellowship or an Anishinaabe Arts Initiative Grant within the past two years.

Are applying for an Anishinaabe Arts Initiative Fellowship and have not submitted your final report for an Individual Artist Grant or Anishinaabe Arts Initiative Grant or R2AC Artist Fellowship. Final reports must be submitted and approved before an applicant is eligible to apply.

Are nominating yourself for an R2AC Artist Fellowship and have already received an R2AC Artist Fellowship or an R2AC/McKnight Career Development Fellowship.

Are applying for an Anishinaabe Arts Initiative Fellowship and are a full or part time degree-seeking student in your artistic discipline at an institution of higher learning.

Have a grant project in the state of open modification, in which the grantee has mentioned that a project needs to be modified, but specific modifications have not been requested or approved.

Are in violation of any past contractual agreements with R2AC, such as an overdue final report or a misuse of funds.

Have had an R2AC grant contract terminated and funding revoked, but did not return funds to the R2AC.

Ineligibility Guidelines for Projects and Activities

R2AC Grants will NOT fund

Incomplete applications.

Tuition for academic course work.

Teaching licensure or continuing education requirements (CEUs) to retain teaching licensure.

Classes, workshops, or projects resulting in academic credit.

Two or more organizations applying for funding for the same project. (i.e. Multiple organizations cannot apply for grants to fund projects that include the same artists and activities and occur at the same date, time and location.)

Purchases made prior to the grant’s Earliest Start Date as posted on the application and on the R2AC website.

Relocation of the grantee’s legal address outside the geographic boundaries of Beltrami, Clearwater, Hubbard, Lake of the Woods, or Mahnoman counties or outside the geographic boundaries of the state of Minnesota.

Capital improvement projects, building renovation, or building construction costs. Note: Freestanding capital equipment, defined as equipment that does not alter the property, is not permanently affixed to the property, and does not change the value of the property, is an allowable budgetary expense for 501(c)3 nonprofit organizations only. Arts organizations or Arts Affiliates seeking funds for capital improvement projects may apply for a R2AC Community Arts Support Grant.

Projects or activities that do not have the arts or arts and culture as their primary focus.

Projects or activities that are currently being funded by an R2AC grant award.

Projects or activities intending to use funding from more than one R2AC grant.

Projects or activities which are essentially the same as a previously grant-funded project, which has either not been completed or for which the final report deadline has been extended, such as an annually occurring arts activity such as, but not limited to, Concert Series, Arts Festivals, or Arts Tours.

Projects or activities that are intended to raise funds for an organization, charity or cause.

Projects or activities intending to start or build an endowment.

Projects or activities promoting use of illegal substances, violence, and/or racism or works with pornographic content. It is at the R2AC board’s or AAI Council’s discretion to deem an activity objectionable.

Projects or activities meant to proselytize a belief or activities that involve the religious socialization of the participants or audience.

Projects or activities that attempt to influence any state or federal legislation or appropriation.

Projects or activities which are not in compliance with all applicable federal, state, and local laws, rules, regulations, and ordinances in relation to the use of our grant funds.

Projects or activities started prior to the Earliest Start Date, as posted on the grant application form and R2AC website, with the exception of auditions or rehearsals for theater projects. If auditions and rehearsals happen prior to the Earliest Start Date, those activities must be paid for with applicant’s funds.

Projects or activities that do not adhere to the Public Art Policy.

Projects or activities that do not adhere to the Literary Arts Policy.

Projects or activities that do not adhere to the Film/Television/Media Policy.

Projects or activities that do not adhere to the Plagiarism Policy.

Projects or activities that do not adhere to the Intellectual Property Policy.

Projects or activities that require artists to pay an unreasonable entry fee in order to exhibit, perform, or be included in the project.

Season/Series Arts Support Grants, Arts Access Grants, or Artists Engage Community Grant activities seeking funding to purchase food or drink for events.

Season/Series Arts Support Grants, Arts Access Grants, or Artists Engage Community Grant activities that are not accessible to the public for participation.

Season/Series Arts Support Grants, Arts Access Grants, or Artists Engage Community Grant activities that do not occur primarily in the five-county Region 2 Arts Council Area or do not primarily impact Region 2 Arts Council residents.

Ineligibility Guidelines for Project Involving Schools

R2AC Grants will NOT fund

Activities meant to supplant discontinued or non-existent arts programs in schools, colleges, or universities will not be funded.

Activities which provide essentially the same services that an arts teacher/instructor/professor or arts specialist employed by the institution would be expected to provide will not be funded.

Compensation of artists and project personnel to complete work in the school of their employment will not be funded. (k-12 schools only)

Projects that serve the students or faculty only will not be funded. All projects must include some component specifically designed for, and easily accessible to, the general public, such as an evening performance or an art exhibit.

Freestanding capital equipment (equipment that does not alter the property, is not permanently affixed to the property, and does not change the value of the property) will not be funded for public schools, colleges, or universities.

Film/Media/Television Art Policy

Film, Television, and Media projects must be creative and artistic in order to be eligible for funding. Documentary films are allowed. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences defines documentary film as a film about “cultural, artistic, historical, social, scientific, economic or other subjects. A documentary film may be photographed in actual occurrence, or may employ partial reenactment, stock footage, stills, animation, stop-motion or other techniques, as long as the emphasis is on fact and not on fiction. Works that are essentially promotional or instructional are not (considered documentaries), nor are works that are essentially unfiltered records or performances.”

Film/Media/Television works ineligible for funding include:

Media projects comprised completely of live recordings, news reports or coverage of current events, sporting events and sports activity; reality, game, quiz, and talk shows; educational or instructional videos not related to art; awards presentation shows or telethons; commercials or advertisements, music videos, tourism or other promotional media are not allowed.

Literary Art Policy

Fiction, poetry, creative non-fiction, opinion, memoir, rhetorical essay, travel writing, translation of a literary work, hiring a line editor for line edits, copy editing, fees for type-setting, cover art, promotion of a creative work, self-publishing, and use of a publishing service are eligible for funding by an R2AC grant.

Literary works ineligible for funding include:

Literary works with the primary purpose to relay information, such as journalism, history, biography, and scholarly manuscripts; translation of a work that is not a literary work of art into another language.

Anthologies or compilations of other authors’ work (individual McKnight funded grants only).

Any publication distributed only to an organization’s membership

Public Art Policy

Public Art Involves partnerships, whether it is a performance in a public park or mural on the side of a downtown establishment, understanding who is involved in the partnership is an important first step toward planning a successful public art project and securing the appropriate permissions for your project.  All necessary documents, materials, and answers to the following questions must be included in your grant application to Region 2 Arts Council.

What will the project look like, sound like, be like? Provide a preliminary sketch or a sample of kind of music or performance that is proposed for the public art project.

What is the site location? Include a photograph of the location of the project.

Who is/are the artist(s) involved? Include resumes and work samples of the artist(s).

Who is responsible for the installation of the art?

Who will maintain ownership and maintenance responsibility? Submit a short letter from the individuals who are responsible for maintenance of the artwork or the site.

What are the legal concerns or city permitting procedures? Submit copies of all secured permits

Is the site publicly owned or privately owned? Submit a letter of agreement outlining the details of the project. Obtain signatures from the artist, the project director, and the site owner or city official in charge of overseeing the site. This agreement will state their approval of the project and agreement to the terms of the project.  Include answers to the following questions:

Does the site have any special considerations, such as historical status?

Is the art permanent or temporary?

How will the site be maintained?

Who owns the artwork?

Plagiarism Policy

Any individual artist or organization found to plagiarize other artists’ work or otherwise knowingly misrepresent themselves in any way on an application to Region 2 Arts Council will be ineligible to apply for any R2AC grants for one year to the day that Region 2 gives notice of having discovered misrepresentation on an application. Said application will be deemed ineligible and removed from the grant round. If the grant writer of the application is an authorizing official, executive committee member of the applicant organization, or the project director for the proposed activity, the grant writer will also be banned from applying to any Region 2 Arts Council grants for 12 months, including any grants for individual artists. Any other applications this grant writer, organization, or artist has submitted in this grant round will be removed.

If it is discovered after grants have been awarded that an organization, artist, or grant writer has plagiarized or otherwise intentionally misrepresented themselves or an organization in any way on an awarded application, the award will be rescinded and the contract will be deemed null and void. If the grant writer is an authorizing official, executive committee member of the organization, or the project director for this grant, the grant writer along with the organization will similarly be banned from applying to any Region 2 Arts Council grants for 12 months, including any grants for individual artists. Any other applications this grant writer, organization, or artist has submitted in this grant round will lose its award status.

Collaborations

Artist teams and individual collaborators may apply for the Artist Support Grant, the Artists Engage Community Grant, the R2AC Artist Fellowship, or the Anishinaabe Arts Initiative Grant or Fellowship if they use one application and each collaborator meets all eligibility requirements.

What is a Fiscal Sponsor?

A fiscal sponsor is any non-profit, tax-exempt 501(c)3 organization, or other tax exempt entity such as school, institution of higher learning, or city, town, county, or tribal government, that agrees to provide fiduciary oversight, financial management, and sometimes other administrative services to help build the capacity of groups or individuals engaged in activities related to the fiscal sponsor organization’s mission. To be eligible for our grant funds, an applicant’s fiscal sponsor must be located in, as determined by the address used for payment of taxes, the state of Minnesota. The fiscal sponsor will receive and distribute the grant award. The fiscal sponsor is legally responsible for the completion of the project and for the proper management of the grant funds. The fiscal sponsor is also responsible for verifying that the Final Report is accurate.

The applicant, or group/organization without nonprofit status applying for a grant, must have a written contract with the fiscal sponsor that specifies the responsibilities of each party. This contract must be submitted as part of the grant application package. R2AC has a sample contract for a fiscal sponsor you may use and will provide a printed copy upon request if you visit our office. The fiscal sponsor must sign the grant application form and, if a grant is received, sign the grant contract and review and sign the final report.

Public Data Policy

Paper grant applications will be kept on file for six years from the submission date.

Grant applications and final reports are considered public documents. Individuals may request to see a copy of a grant application or final report by completing an information request form.

The information request form will be available on the R2AC website. A paper copy of the request form is available upon request.

Applicants do not need to complete an information request form to view their own applications or final reports. Prior paper applications and final reports are available for viewing in the Region 2 Arts Council office and online applications and final reports are available to the applicant with their login information and password.

Data Privacy Policy

Information from grant applications and final reports, including contact information and demographic information, is used to collect and compile statistics on grant activity from the eleven regional arts councils to our funders, the McKnight Foundation and the Minnesota State Arts Board, and also to The Legislative Coordinating Commission for the purpose of reporting back to the voters of Minnesota on the use of Legacy Amendment funding through their website, http://www.legacy.leg.mn/.

In response to requests from the public, R2AC will not provide contact information for an artist such as personal address, phone number or email address without prior permission from that artist for each request.

R2AC will not share contact lists of area artists, such as our Teaching Artists Roster, without the approval of each artist on the list.

R2AC will share names of individual artists and their areas of expertise, links to their websites, business cards, and any promotional material we have been given.

R2AC will share contact information, links to websites, business cards, and promotional materials for businesses, groups, or organizations for arts purposes.

R2AC will also provide links on our website for artists or organizations that have requested we add their website to our list of regional artists or our list of regional arts organizations.