apply for a grant artists & organizations

Small Step Awards - Rolling Deadline

Guidelines

Program Overview
Arts and cultural heritage activities can play a part in a community’s efforts to:

diversify or strengthen local economies
improve community systems (such as transportation, urban planning, housing, safety, justice, etc)
strengthen ties within and between cultural groups

To help communities develop strategies for using arts and culture in these ways, the Colorado Council on the Arts provides Small Step Awards that support planning and development activities.
WHAT WE FUND: A Small Step Award provides up to $1,000 for planning processes, consultants, convenings, promotional activities, or other projects which:

furthers one of the three goals, above;
AND is developmental (a small step in a larger plan);
AND brings together people or organizations with a stake in reaching the goal.

Your proposal may be for such activities as planning, a consultant, meetings, promotional activities, or an arts activity that “tests the waters” of an idea.

Click on the Guidelines button above to read about Eligibility and How To Apply. CCA is especially interested in receiving Small Step proposals from the following counties: Baca, Cheyenne, Clear Creek, Conejos, Crowley, Dolores, Elbert, Fremont, Huerfano, Jackson, Kiowa, Lake, Lincoln, Moffat, Park, Prowers, Sedgwick, Washington, and Yuma.

Grants to Artists and Organizations - Deadline Passed

The original March 12 deadline for the 2009-2010 Grants to Artists and Organizations program was postponed temporarily until the CCA received confirmation of the agency’s fiscal year 2010 budget and further details were available from the National Endowment for the Arts regarding funds from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. The REVISED guidelines replace the previously released guidelines in their entirety.

Grants to Artists and Organizations (GAO), is CCA’s primary grant program. Through GAO awards, the Council partners with individuals, arts organizations, community groups, and municipal and state agencies to help achieve our mission and goals. A key aspect of the program is that applicants must have matching funding support from other sources, thus extending the impact of state dollars. Grants to Artists and Organizations are awarded annually on a competitive basis. Grant requests are reviewed by regional panels that make funding recommendations to the Council. The review criteria are:

Artistic excellence and merit of proposed activities;
Community involvement and benefit from proposed activities; and
Implementation capacity, such as effective planning, management, and budgeting of the project.

Click on the Start Here button above for application Calendar and Grant Guidelines including Award Information, Eligibility, Application Review and Award Administration. Click on the To Apply button when you are ready to begin filling out the online application. Click on Application Tools for guidance and assistance in planning your project and completing your application.

Colorado Masterpieces - Deadline Passed

Program Overview
In 2005, the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) launched American Masterpieces: Three Centuries of Artistic Genius. This major national initiative was developed to introduce all Americans to the best of their cultural and artistic legacy, through touring, local presentations, and arts education programs. The Colorado Council on the Arts has received special funding from the NEA to build on the national goals of American Masterpieces, but with a Colorado focus.

The 2009 Masterpieces of Colorado initiative will provide major support for a dance tour. The initiative will fund a dance company or dance presenter to take performances -- that otherwise would not be available – to Coloradans in communities across the state. The tour, with related educational programs, will reach large and small communities and will highlight and celebrate the extraordinary and rich evolution of choreography and dance as it relates to Colorado.