Creative Start Project Grant

The Creative Start Project Grant provides funding for innovative projects that engage preschool to 3rd grade students in arts-integrated learning. This one-year grant prioritizes creative and emotional growth while fostering collaboration among educators, families, and artists. With funding ranging from $5,000 to $15,000, it aims to enhance culturally relevant learning experiences in Washington's distressed areas, focusing on sequential arts integration that benefits young learners.

About this Grant
The Creative Start Project Grant supports projects that engage preschool to 3rd grade students in arts integrated learning. This one-year grant prioritizes the students’ creative, academic, and social emotional growth. It supports collaborations between early learning educators, schools, families, arts specialists, teaching artists, and organizations. Proposed projects should increase culturally relevant student learning in and through the arts.
As a statewide program, our goal is to better support projects that reach Washington’s distressed counties, as defined by Washington State Employment Security.
Funding request amounts
Single-Site: $5,000 – $10,000 (the project will take place at one location)Multi-Site: $10,000 – $15,000 (the project will take place at more than one location, school building or school district)
No matching funds required
Eligible projects:
Projects that focus on PreK to grade 3 students, families, and educatorsProjects that focus on arts integration: teaching and learning that connects an arts discipline with non-arts curriculum in a way that meets standards and objectives for both
In-school and/or out-of-school projects that strategically increase public access to arts integration for PreK to grade 3 students
Projects that focus on sequential arts integration teaching and learning (not one-time arts experiences/performances/assemblies, product creation without links to student learning outcomes)

Eligibility

Any Washington State:Head Start, ECEAP, public school, school district, or Educational Service District (ESD)
Tribal, state, or municipal government agency
Non-profit organization with 501(c)(3) statusServe students and families in one of the 17 counties identified by the state as a “distressed area:” Clallam, Cowlitz, Ferry, Franklin, Grant, Grays Harbor, Jefferson, Lewis, Mason, Okanogan, Pacific, Pend Oreille, Skagit, Skamania, Stevens, Wahkiakum, Yakima.

Ineligibility

Political or advocacy organizations
Organizations seeking to fund projects or programs that promote religious content or observance
Organizations based outside of Washington StateIneligible projects:Materials and equipment only (although this can be a percentage of your project budget)One-time events, assemblies, or performances without links to sequential, interactive learning experiencesTuition-based programming that does not outline no-cost or low-cost options for public access for early learning students. If projects are tuition-based, the applicant must provide an equity and accessibility plan that includes full scholarships, reduced fees, transportation access, and/or collaboration with local public schools for outreach and partnershipProjects or programs that promote religious content or observanceProjects focused on grades 4 & up