TAC Rural Arts Project Support Grant

The TAC Rural Arts Project Support offers funding for diverse arts projects that enhance community engagement and vitality in rural Tennessee. Eligible applicants include local nonprofits and government entities. Projects can involve professional artists, workshops, public performances, and initiatives to improve accessibility for underserved populations. Ineligible uses of funding include K-12 education projects, insurance, and capital improvements. This grant fosters artistic collaboration and innovation in rural settings.

Support for arts projects and activities across all disciplines that focus on community vitality and engagement in rural counties.
Appropriate Activities
Proposed arts projects must involve one or more Commission recognized art forms, including: visual arts, craft, media, design, music, theater, dance, folk and ethnic, or literary arts. The following are example activities and expenditures that are consistent with the funding philosophy Rural Arts Project Support:

• Projects that involve and promote professional artists, especially Tennessee artists
• Visiting artists conducting master classes
• Specific aspects of workshops, festivals, and conferences
• Public performances, productions, and exhibitions produced by the applicant
• Exhibitions of art by professional and folk artists, especially Tennessee artists
• Projects involving and promoting folk and traditional artists
• Promotion, publicity, and newsletters
• Administrative and artistic staff support
• Research and documentation as part of an arts project or program development
• Consultancies and residencies for administrative and artistic activities
• The development of long-range planning documents

Improved program accessibility for underserved constituencies, e.g. children, people living in rural communities or isolated settings, people with living with disabilities, people of color, and senior citizens
Art in public places
Extensions of literary projects, journals with continuing publication, or juried anthologies
Technical assistance projects
Touring/presenting projects that bring professional and/or traditional folk performers to communities across the state

Eligibility

Applicant organizations must be chartered in Tennessee. National or regional 501(c)3 organizations, chartered and headquartered in Tennessee, and serving as an umbrella organization applying for funds for another group are restricted to one application only per fiscal year (see below).Eligible Applicants501(c)3 Nonprofit organizations legally chartered & headquartered in Tennessee

Ineligibility

K-12 schools are not eligible under this category. Arts education-based projects, especially those primarily serving youth, must be submitted in one of the four Arts Education grant categories.Ineligible uses of funding include:Insurance premiumsEndowmentsOffice space rentalJanitorial service and general physical plant maintenanceFood and hospitalityPermanent equipment purchasesScholarshipsPayment of accumulated deficitsCapital improvementsVanity publicationsOut-of-state travelScholarly arts-related research and writingCash awardsPurchase of local public artLegal feesPlanned fundraising activitiesEvents to which the general public is not invitedPayments to members of the organization’s boardPayments to an employee or official of the State of Tennessee (exceptions exist – contact TAC for details)