ArtsEverywhere Grants

The ArtsEverywhere Grants, funded by the Community Foundation of St. Joseph County, aim to enrich local arts and culture through substantial support for innovative projects. With a focus on capacity building, the initiative encourages organizations to enhance their effectiveness and community engagement. Grants of up to $10,000 are available for various programs, fostering collaboration and sustainability. By investing in local talent and artistic quality, the program seeks to inspire community pride and ensure lasting contributions to the cultural landscape.

At the center of this transformation are arts and cultural organizations and the artists they present in dance, theater, music, literature, and the visual arts. The ArtsEverywhere Fund has been established on the principal that asking more of them – asking them to be agents for change – requires more of us as well.
To these ends, the Community Foundation of St. Joseph County launched the ArtsEverywhere Initiative in December 2004. To facilitate high aspirations and a vision that is both compelling and credible, the Leighton-Oare Foundation awarded a $3 million challenge grant to establish an endowed ArtsEverywhere Fund, a substantial, permanent, and growing resource to advance local arts and culture.
Grant Goals
The goals of the ArtsEverywhere Fund are to:

• Raise artistic quality Strengthen volunteer and staff leadership
• Enhance the capacity of arts organizations and the arts communityBroaden, deepen and diversify citizen participation
• Foster and support local talent, and
• Inspire community pride
• In pursuing these goals, the ArtsEverywhere Fund will encourage applicants to be innovative, collaborative, and to model best practices.
• ArtsEverywhere promises a larger, more visible role for arts and culture in our region and a richer, more beautiful quality of life for our citizens.
• Funding Categories:

Capacity Building (matching grants of up to $10,000): Support for strategic activities designed to improve the quality, effectiveness, efficiency and financial stability of the organization and its programs. Expenses may include, but are not limited to, strategic planning, board and staff training, site visits to leading peer organizations, technological advancements, consultant and professional services, and executive leadership training. Capacity building grants may prove useful in the design and development of Major Venture Funding applications.
Program or Project Support (matching grants of up to $10,000): Support for specific arts-related programs and projects which may include, but are not limited to, concerts, theater productions, visual art exhibits, presenter touring programs, artist residencies in schools or other community settings, or a broad range of arts-related services for St. Joseph County citizens, artists, arts organizations, and communities.
Major Venture Funding: Support to help implement high quality programs or projects that represent a significant and sustainable contribution to local arts and culture. The ArtsEverywhere Fund encourages projects that are innovative, collaborative, and model best practices. Efforts that draw larger, more diverse audiences, deepen levels of arts participation, build public participation in the arts, involve synergistic  collaboration, and raise artistic quality through the cultivation and support of local talent are of special interest. Up to half of the amount requested may be used for endowment matching funds to provide sustaining revenue. Other means of achieving program or project sustainability will also be considered.

Eligibility

Any St. Joseph County 501(c)(3) or public agency with a demonstrated, substantial (though not necessarily exclusive) commitment to arts and culture as part of its overall mission. Active participation in the ArtsEverywhere initiative, which may include, for example, staff support as necessary for ArtsEverywhere communications or promotion, participation in ArtsEverywhere executive meetings and trainings, and generous contributions of knowledge, ideas, talent and experience.

Ineligibility

What Project are Generally Not Eligible for Funding:School or church performing or visual arts productions/exhibitions.
College or university arts programs with limited community involvement or impact.
General public relations/communications activities (e.g. literature, videos, etc.)Proposals from other area nonprofit agencies for partnerships with organizations already receiving ArtsEverywhere support.Professional conference attendancePost-event or after-the-fact situationsComputers (unless presented as a necessary component of larger program or objective)