House of Representatives

State of Tennessee

 

Contact: Kara Watkins (615) 741-1975

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Dear Friends:

I thought the following information might be of interest to you or someone you know.

Sincerely,

Donna Rowland
State Representative
34th Legislative District

News Release

For Immediate Release

GRANTS AVAILABLE FROM THE TENNESSEE ARTS COMMISSION

Fiscal Year 2008 Guidelines and Grant Applications Available Online

NASHVILLE – The Tennessee Arts Commission has announced availability of grants in the small grant categories.  Grant categories include Touring Arts, Professional Development Support, Technical Assistance, Special Opportunities, Arts Education Mini-Grants and Arts Education Teacher Incentive.  Applications and guidelines are now available online (www.arts.state.tn.us) through the Commission’s eGRANT system.  The grants will be available for Fiscal Year 2008 which begins July 1, 2007 and ends on June 30, 2008.  Deadline for each grant is 30 days prior to the event.

A brief description of each grant category is listed below:

Arts Education Grants
Mini-grants are smaller grants 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 (maximum one week) or one-day arts education projects.  Projects must utilize a Commission-approved Artist-in-Residence.

The Teacher Incentive Grant category is designed to help full-time educators, including arts specialists, general classroom teachers, principals and roster teaching artists who work in K-12 schools to take advantage of unique opportunities that will significantly benefit their work or career development in arts integration.  Individuals may apply for activities occurring between July 1, 2007-May 31, 2008.

Professional Development Support
The Professional Development Support (PDS) 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 2008.

Special Opportunities Grants
This grant category provides funds for unexpected, but important arts activities.  No grant may exceed $750, which must be matched with an equal amount of income/expenditure from the applicant.  The applicant organization must be a nonprofit arts organization chartered in Tennessee or an entity of government with an arts focus.

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 Performing Arts Touring 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 - $3,500.  The General Technical Assistance grant category is available to nonprofit arts organizations.  Grants in this category range from $500 - $3,500.

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

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

For more information about Arts Access Touring Grants, contact Lisa Hester at (615) 532-9797 or email:  lisa.hester@state.tn.us

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