House of Representatives

State of Tennessee

 

Contact: Kara Watkins (615) 741-1975

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

GRANTS AVAILABLE FROM THE TENNESSEE ARTS COMMISSION

Small Grant Categories Offer Funds For Fiscal Year 2007

NASHVILLE - - The Tennessee Arts Commission has announced availability of grants in six separate categories.  Grant categories include Professional Development Support, Special Opportunities, Touring Arts, Technical Assistance, Arts Education Mini-Grants and Teacher Incentive Grants.  The grants will be available in Fiscal Year 2007, which begins July 1, 2006 and ends on June 30, 2007.  Deadline for each grant is 30 days prior to the event.

A brief description of each grant category is listed below:

Professional Development Support (Formerly Professional Artist Support).  New for Fiscal Year 2007, this grant category has been expanded to include professional arts administrators as well as professional artists.

The Professional Development Support category is designed to help individual Tennessee professional arts administrators and artists of all disciplines take advantage of unique opportunities that will significantly benefit their work or career development.  Professional arts administrators and artists may request support ranging from $500 to $1,000 for specific, documented opportunities that will occur in Fiscal Year 2007.

Special Opportunities Grants – This grant category provides funds for unexpected, but important arts activities.  No grant may exceed $500, which must be matched with an equal amount of income/expenditure from the applicant.

Touring Arts Grants – The Touring Arts Program brings professional Tennessee artists to communities across the state by providing financial assistance to qualified presenters/sponsors.  There are two categories in this program.  The Arts Access Touring Arts category is funded in part by the National Endowment for the Arts and is designed to stimulate and encourage the presentation of performing, visual and literary arts by professional Tennessee artists of color or artists with disabilities.  The Touring Arts category supports professional Tennessee performing artists and groups.  Sponsored artists must have a history of being financially compensated for their artistic work and this compensation must be a major source of support for their livelihood.  Individual artists and groups presented under this program must also have a history of touring and high quality promotional materials.

Technical Assistance Grants – This program provides funds for technical assistance.  These funds are primarily used to bring in an outside consultant for intensive work needed to strengthen the applicant arts organization.  There are two categories in this program.  The Arts Access Technical Assistance grant category funds are only available to arts organizations of color or to arts organizations chartered to serve people with disabilities.  Grants in this category range from $500 - $3,000.  The General Technical Assistance grant category is available to nonprofit arts organizations.  Grants in this category range from $500 - $2,500.

Arts Education Mini-Grants – Mini-grants is a small grant category designed to introduce new applicants to the grant making process, assist applicants who are new arts education providers, or provide support to applicants with unanticipated short-term or one-day arts education projects.  Projects may consist of, but are not limited to, community activities for adult learners, after-school programs for at-risk youth, in-school curriculum based opportunities, or teacher training.  Deadline is ongoing until funding for Fiscal Year 2007 (FY07) has been expended.  Applications must be submitted at least 30 days prior to the proposed activity.

Teacher Incentive Grants – This grant category provides stipends to teams of educators attending Commission-approved professional development training opportunities in arts integration for the purpose of infusing the arts into the general curriculum.  Deadline is ongoing until funding for FY07 has been expended.  Applications must be submitted at least 30 days prior to the proposed activity.

Complete guidelines and applications are available online:  www.arts.state.tn.us.

For information about Professional Development Support, Special Opportunities and Technical Assistance, contact Rod Reiner at (615) 741-2093 or email: rod.reiner@state.tn.us.

Information on Touring Arts Grants is available by contacting J. Noble at (615) 532-9801 or email: j.noble@state.tn.us.

For information about Arts Education Mini-Grants and Teacher Incentive Grants, contact Kim Leavitt at (615) 532-5934 or email:  kim.leavitt@state.tn.us.