Get your piece of South Arts’ grants pie
One of the S.C. Arts Commission's critical partners is Atlanta-based South Arts, founded in 1975 to build on the South’s unique heritage and enhance the public value of the arts.
South Arts’ work responds to the arts environment and cultural trends with a regional perspective. They offer a portfolio of activities designed to address the issues important to our region and to link the South with the nation and the world through the arts.
In addition to the S.C. Arts Commission, they partner with the state arts agencies of Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, and Tennessee. Like SCAC, South Arts is supported by the National Endowment for the Arts, plus its member states, and foundations, businesses, and individuals.
South Arts has several grant opportunities currently available to #SCartists and arts organizations in South Carolina. We are including descriptions of some upcoming opportunities, including informational webinar details is applicable.
Southern Prize and State Fellowships – Deadline: December 3, 2018
Visual arts fellowships of up to $30,000
As mentioned before, the South Arts State Fellowships and Southern Prize acknowledge, support, and celebrate the highest quality artistic work being created in the American South. The South Arts State Fellowship is a state-specific prize awarded to the artists whose work reflects the best of the visual arts in the South. A review panel will select one winner per eligible state, with artistic excellence being the sole criterion. Each winner will be awarded a $5,000 South Arts State Fellowship, earn a spot in the Southern Prize & State Fellowships Exhibition, and compete for one of the two South Arts Prizes. A national panel will then convene to evaluate the body of work represented by the nine State Fellowship recipients and select the Southern Prize winner and finalist to receive an additional $25,000 and $10,000 respectively, based on artistic excellence. The Southern Prize winner will also receive a two-week residency at The Hambidge Center for the Creative Arts and Sciences. (These are a big deal!)
Momentum – Dance Touring Initiative for Southern Companies – Deadline: January 18, 2019
Funding and professional development over three years for modern dance/contemporary ballet companies gain touring capacity
Momentum is an intensive professional development program over a three-year period for a group of five Southern dance companies, which will include mentorship, networking, conference showcasing and exhibiting, on-site planning meetings with presenters, tour-prep residencies, and touring. If you are a modern dance or contemporary ballet company based in the South with touring aspirations but limited success, this new program is an opportunity to build both your artistic and technical capacity.
Traditional Arts Touring – Deadline: December 5, 2018
Funds up to $5,000 to support organizations presenting out-of-state, Southern traditional artists
The Traditional Arts Touring grant program works to increase the public awareness, understanding and appreciation of the traditional arts in the South, through funding projects which bring a traditional artist/ensemble and a scholar/folklorist for multi-day residencies in Southern communities. The maximum request is $5,000. For projects taking place between September 1, 2018 and June 30, 2019.
Performing Arts Touring – Deadline: March 4, 2019
Funds up to $7,500 to support organizations presenting out-of-state, Southern performers
The Performing Arts Touring program is an opportunity for presenting arts organizations in South Arts’ nine-state region to receive fee support to present Southern performing artists from outside of the presenter’s state. Touring support is awarded to theatre, music, opera, musical theatre, and dance projects that contain both a public performance and an educational component. These grants are limited and very competitive. The maximum request is 50% of the artist fee, up to $7,500 for dance projects or $5,000 for all other projects. Projects must take place between July 1, 2019 and June 30, 2020.
Literary Arts Touring – Deadline: May 1, 2019
Funds up to $2,500 to support organizations presenting out-of-state, Southern writers
The Literary Arts Touring grant program offers presenting organizations the opportunity to receive financial support to engage Southern writers (fiction, creative nonfiction, poetry) who reside outside of the presenter’s state. Support is awarded to literary projects that contain both a public reading and an educational component such as a writing workshop. The project can include a single engagement by a writer or multiple writers involved in an event (for example, writers series or festivals). The maximum request is 50% of the writers’ fees, up to a total grant of $2,500. Each writer is required to fully-participate in the reading and educational/outreach component. Projects must take place between July 1, 2019 and June 30, 2020.
Express Grants – Deadline: Year-round, at least 60 days prior to activities
Funds up to $2,000 to support rural organizations presenting out-of-state, Southern performers or writers
This new, quick turnaround grant program is an opportunity for presenting organizations in rural Southern communities (with populations of 50,000 or below) to engage Southern guest performing or literary artists from outside of the presenter’s state. Support is awarded to theatre, music, opera, musical theatre, dance, fiction, creative nonfiction and poetry projects that contain both a public performance or reading and an educational component. Grants are very limited and awarded on a first-come/first-served basis, so early submission is encouraged. The maximum request is $2,000. For projects taking place between July 1, 2018 and June 30, 2019.
Professional Development and Artistic Planning – Deadline: Year-round, at least 60 days prior to activities
Funds up to $1,000 to support organizations either attending new professional development opportunities, traveling to see new work, or hosting an artist planning visit
Funding is available for the professional development needs of Southern presenters/programmers/curators to strengthen program design and increase organizational capacity. Applications are only accepted for new professional development opportunities. Artistic planning activities can include travel to see/explore work for future public presentations or planning meetings with artists for future public presentations. Proposed projects must support or relate to the applicant’s work as a presenter. For the purposes of these guidelines, presenters are defined as organizations that present or host artists for engagements in their communities. Grants are very limited and awarded on a first-come/first-served basis, so early submission is encouraged. The maximum request is $1,000. For projects taking place between July 1, 2018 and June 30, 2019.
In addition, four honorable mentions (two for visual art and two for photography) will be featured and recognized on the Innovate Artist Grants website joining a growing community of vibrant and talented artists. Innovate Grant's commitment extends beyond the grant cycle by promoting the work of selected winners and honorable mentions into the future.
For more information and to apply visit https://innovateartistgrants.org/. You can also explore the work of all past Innovate Grant recipients and read their interviews.
Students participate in a summer STEAM camp in 2018.[/caption]
As they return to classrooms this month, around 170,000 South Carolina students will have access to the educational benefits of the arts as part of the school day thanks to Arts in Basic Curriculum Project grants to 83 schools and districts. Other grants range from operating grants and project support for organizations to seed money and fellowships for individual artists, ensuring an assortment of relevant arts experiences across South Carolina.
“This public funding approved by the legislature is vital to those who receive arts commission grants, but public support of the arts represents so much more than monetary support,” South Carolina Arts Commission Executive Director David Platts said.
“To the children who attended STEAM camps this summer in Allendale, Barnwell, and Clarendon counties, it represents exposure to a new world of possibility and engagement. It represents the lights on or rent paid to the small dance company in Columbia, small choir in Pickens, and the new orchestra in Rock Hill. It represents freedom to create for four fellowship recipients, four traditional arts mentors and their apprentices, and three artist entrepreneurs,” Platts said. “Our agency is immensely proud to help make these things possible in and for South Carolina.”
Additional grants to be awarded throughout the year offer potential for impact in all counties. Among them are Arts Project Support grants, which offer funding for projects by artists and arts organizations; and Teacher Standards Initiative grants, which help teachers acquire supplies, materials, and expertise to meet the 2017 College and Career Ready Standards for Visual and Performing Arts Proficiency. Both grants have rolling deadlines, and project support grants are designed to be accessible, streamlining the application process to remove barriers often faced by small organizations and individual artists.
In FY19, which ended June 30, the S.C. Arts Commission for the first time placed a grant in each of the state’s 46 counties in a single year. A total of $4,377,035 was awarded.
“That is a major milestone, and is the result of listening to the community, ground-level work, and sincere relationship building on the part of our team,” Platts said.
This week