ArtsEverywhere Grants

ArtsEverywhere Grants

Status: ACTIVE
Funder: Community Foundation of St. Joseph County
Amount: Up to US $10,000
Last Updated: March 21, 2026

Summary

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.

Overview

ArtsEverywhere Arts and culture have the power to transform our region, our community, and the lives of all who live here. Tremendous public benefit flows by creating a vibrant home for our citizens and a cultural destination for visitors. Arts and culture can drive economic growth, draw people together in festive spaces, stimulate neighborhood revitalization, and express the identity of our community through its creativity, diversity, and cultural variety. By actively engaging young people and adults in arts and culture, we ensure an unbroken thread of experience, learning, and participation from one generation to the next. 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. We must commit a permanent stream of resources because the benefits we envision cannot be realized overnight. We must cultivate imaginative leadership, without which we are sure to fall short. And we must bring new energy to the work ahead, which must be “over and above” business as usual. 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

We've imported the main document for this grant to give you an overview. You can learn more about this opportunity by visiting the funder's website. 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. Arts and culture includes dance, theater, music, literature, and the visual arts as well as our local cultural assets and related programming. 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)