Grant Amounts and Matching Funds

Applicants may request a fixed grant amount for: $50,000, $100,000 or $150,000. Cost share/matching funds are not required.

Applications will be reviewed and considered for recommendation at the requested amount only. Applicants may not request a grant amount other than $50,000, $100,000, or $150,000.

A grant period of up to two years is allowed.

We encourage applicants to select a grant amount that is reflective of their overall organization size and internal capacity.

Because Congress envisioned this aid to support the arts community, grant funds must be allocated to the arts program/departments/section/office or arts-related activities of the grant recipient.

If you are a parent organization applying on behalf of separately identifiable and independent components, grant funds can only support eligible costs incurred by the smaller entity/independent component. When selecting a grant amount, base your decision on the overall size and capacity of the independent component.

If your organization is a smaller entity that exists within a larger organization (such as an academic department, a literary organization housed at a college or university, or an office, facility, or department of local government), base your selection on the overall size and capacity of the smaller entity, not the size of the larger organization.

Period of Performance

The Arts Endowment’s grant support may start no earlier than January 1, 2022. A grant period of up to two years is allowed.

Costs that are included as part of your proposal must be incurred during the grant’s established period of performance. No pre-award costs are allowable in the proposal budget. Costs that are incurred before the “Earliest Start Date for Proposed Period of Performance” will be removed from the budget.

A grantee may receive more than one federal grant during overlapping periods of performance, HOWEVER those grants must cover different costs and/or activities. If multiple grants are awarded, grantees will be required to keep documentation to show which employees are being paid from each funding source so that the federal government isn't paying more than 100 percent of a salary.