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APPLICANT ELIGIBILITY

Nonprofit, tax-exempt 501(c)(3), U.S. organizations; units of state or local government; or federally recognized tribal communities or tribes may apply. Applicants may be arts organizations, local arts agencies, arts service organizations, local education agencies (school districts), and other organizations that can help advance the goals of the Arts Endowment.

To be eligible, the applicant organization must:

  • Meet the Arts Endowment's "Legal Requirements" including nonprofit, tax-exempt status at the time of application. (All organizations must apply directly on their own behalf. Applications through a fiscal agent are not allowed.)

  • Have a three-year history of programming prior to the application deadline.

  • Have submitted acceptable Final Report packages by the due date(s) for all Arts Endowment grant(s) previously received.

An organization whose primary purpose is to channel resources (financial, human, or other) to an affiliated organization is not eligible to apply if the affiliated organization submits its own application. This prohibition applies even if each organization has its own 501(c)(3) status. For example, the "Friends of ABC Museum" may not apply if the ABC Museum applies.

All applicants must have a DUNS number (www.dnb.com) and be registered with the System for Award Management (SAM, www.sam.gov) and maintain an active SAM registration until the application process is complete, and should a grant be made, throughout the life of the award.

See "How to Prepare and Submit an Application" for the documentation that is required to demonstrate eligibility.

The designated state and jurisdictional arts agencies (SAAs) and their regional arts organizations (RAOs) are not eligible to apply under the Grants for Arts Projects guidelines. SAAs and RAOs are eligible to apply through the Partnership Agreements guidelines.

Ineligible applications will not be reviewed.

Application Limits

An organization may submit only one application under these FY 2014 Grants for Arts Projects guidelines, with few exceptions as listed below.

" '' Art Works

For this category, exceptions to the one-application rule are made only for:

•   Parent (and Related) Organizations

A parent organization that comprises separately identifiable and independent components (e.g., a university campus that has a presenting organization and a radio station) may submit an application for each such component. In addition, a parent organization also may submit one application on its own behalf for a distinctly different project. The parent organization must meet the eligibility requirements for all applicants. NOTE: A related organization that performs grant administration duties for a parent organization (e.g., a college foundation that administers grants awarded to a college and its components) may submit applications for components and the parent organization in lieu of such applications being submitted by the parent. The related organization must meet the eligibility requirements for all applicants.

An independent component must be a unit that is both programmatically and administratively distinct from the parent organization, have its own staff and budget, and generally have an independent board that has substantial responsibility for oversight and management. To qualify as independent, a component should be equivalent to a stand-alone institution with a separate mission.

The following do not qualify as independent components:

  • Academic departments of colleges and universities.
  • Programs and projects of organizations.

For example:

  • An art museum on a university campus serves the general public and does not grant degrees. The museum board, not the university trustees, manages the museum's budget, staff, and programming. In this example, the art museum essentially is a stand-alone organization and qualifies as an independent component.
  • A symphony association sponsors a youth orchestra in addition to its professional orchestra. Some symphony musicians serve as faculty for the youth orchestra; there is some overlap of membership between the symphony trustees and the youth orchestra's advisory board; and the executive director for the symphony association serves as CEO for both the professional and youth orchestras. In this case, while the youth orchestra may be an important program of the symphony association, it is not equivalent to a separate institution and therefore does not qualify as an independent component.

A parent organization should consult with Arts Endowment staff to verify the eligibility of its component before preparing an application.

•   Applicants to the Media Arts discipline under the August 8, 2013,
     deadline

An organization may submit more than one application under the Art Works category through the Media Arts discipline under the August 8, 2013, deadline.

Organizations that are considering more than one Media Arts Art Works project under the August deadline must consult the Media Arts staff (mediaarts@arts.gov) before applying.

If an organization applies to the Challenge America Fast-Track category, it may not submit another application to the Art Works category.

You may apply to other Arts Endowment funding opportunities, includingOur Town, in addition to Art Works. In each case, the request must be for a distinctly different project.

" '' Challenge America Fast-Track

For this category, exceptions to the one-application rule are made only for parent organizations that have separately identifiable and independent components; this includes city or county governments. See the section on "Parent (and Related) Organizations" above.

If an organization applies to the Challenge America Fast-Track category, it may not submit another application to the Art Works category.

You may apply to other Arts Endowment funding opportunities, including Our Town, in addition to Challenge America Fast-Track. In each case, the request must be for a distinctly different project.

An organization that has received Challenge America Fast-Track grants in FY 2011, 2012, and 2013 may not apply for a Challenge America Fast-Track grant under these FY 2014 guidelines. That organization may apply for FY 2014 support under other Arts Endowment funding opportunities including Art Works. See Challenge America Fast-Track for more details.


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