NHSCA Folklife and Traditional Arts Project Grants

The NHSCA Folklife and Traditional Arts Project Grants aim to support and preserve New Hampshire's folklife and traditional arts. By funding projects like festivals, workshops, and exhibits, this initiative seeks to deepen community appreciation and ensure that traditional artists are recognized and compensated. Grants range from $1,000 to $8,000, with a focus on local artists and cultural specialists, fostering collaboration and enriching the state's vibrant cultural landscape.

New Hampshire State Council on the Arts
The New Hampshire State Council on the Arts (NHSCA) is a Division of the Department of Natural and Cultural Resources.
The State Arts Council provides a wide variety of services, competitive grants, and technical assistance to non-profit organizations, schools, health care facilities and to individual artists, helping to ensure that the arts thrive in New Hampshire and are accessible to all. Funding for our grants and services is provided by the New Hampshire Legislature and the National Endowment for the Arts, a federal agency.
Folklife and Traditional Arts Project Grants support projects that focus on presenting and preserving folklife and traditional arts in New Hampshire. The goals of this funding category are to deepen the appreciation for and understanding of folklife and traditional arts so that they continue to be a meaningful and visible part of our community life and to support traditional artists and cultural communities so that they can continue to preserve these living traditions for future generations to benefit from.
Projects funded under this category can include festivals, workshops, conferences, lecture/performance series, media programming, and exhibits. All projects are required to:
Be open to the public Include direct participation of traditional artists and appropriately compensate them at a professional level for performing, demonstrating, and/or teaching
The State Council on the Arts recognizes that traditional art forms are often preserved regionally. Therefore, half (50%) of the traditional artists, cultural specialists, community scholars, and/or folklorists for the project need to be residing in New Hampshire (and/or on the NH Traditional Arts & Folklife Listing) and the remaining half (50%) can be from our border states: Vermont, Maine, or Massachusetts. This requirement ensures the program directly benefits individuals and communities within the state and allows for a wide range of individuals to participate.
Amount
Requests may be made for $1,000 - $8,000. All grant categories and amounts are subject to change, depending upon availability of state and federal funds in any fiscal year.