Business Consortium for Arts Support Grants

The Business Consortium for Arts Support Grants aims to strengthen the South Hampton Roads arts community by providing essential funding to local non-profit arts organizations. This initiative highlights the importance of arts in economic development and cultural enrichment, reaching over 1 million audiences annually. With over 30 years of experience, the Consortium collects and distributes donations to support arts projects, ensuring a vibrant cultural landscape in Virginia's diverse communities.

Background
Arts Alliance aims to provide leadership, advocacy, services, and resources to the South Hampton Roads arts community. Communities across the nation have discovered two things: that culture is good for business and that investment in the arts makes sense. One of the greatest strengths of a vibrant arts community is its ability to attract other business. The arts in this area reach audiences of more than 1 million people annually.
For more than 30 years, the Business Consortium for Arts Support has done exactly what its name implied:

• Collected and distributed donations from businesses and foundations to fund local non-profit arts organizations through grants.

Originally based on a national “United Arts Fund” model of pooling resources, the approach became more and more dated as corporations shifted their own funding models or relocated to different areas. Simultaneously, a new need for overall regional arts leadership has emerged to view the sector as a whole and to unite and organize arts projects and local advocacy.
Arts and cultural groups that regularly perform or exhibit in the South Hampton Roads area are eligible to apply for Arts Alliance grants.

Eligibility

Applicants must perform or exhibit in Chesapeake, Franklin, Norfolk, Portsmouth, Suffolk, or Virginia Beach, or in Isle of Wight or Southampton counties.Applicants must be non-profits with 501 (c) (3) status from the Internal Revenue Service and have fine arts as their primary mission.