Minnesota State Arts Board

The Minnesota State Arts Board is a state agency that stimulates and
encourages the creation, performance, and appreciation of the arts in the state.

Upcoming Deadlines

FY 2016 Folk and Traditional Arts

Folk and Traditional Arts is a pilot program designed to support the artistic traditions and customs practiced within community and/or cultural groups by identifying, documenting, creating, preserving, presenting, and honoring Minnesota's folk arts and traditions.

The Folk and Traditional Arts grant application deadline is June 26, 2015; learn more and apply today.

FY 2016 Minnesota Festival Support

Minnesota Festival Support is a pilot grant program designed to engage Minnesotans in festivals that celebrate the arts, build community, and expose communities to diverse art forms including folk and traditional arts.

The program provides funding for sponsoring or presenting organizations to feature Minnesota individual artists and Minnesota arts groups in arts festivals, or in the arts components of broader, community-based festivals.

Minnesota Festival Support grant application deadline is May 22, 2015; learn more and apply today.

FY 2016 Arts Access

The Arts Access is a pilot grant program designed to broaden opportunities for Minnesotans to participate in high quality arts experiences.  Grant funds may be used by an arts organization for strategic, organic engagement with an identified group or community that is underserved by the applicant organization. The Arts Access grant application deadline is April 25, 2015; learn more and apply today.

FY 2016 Arts Learning

The Arts Learning grant program offers funding for projects that help lifelong learners acquire knowledge and understanding of and skills in the arts. Projects must provide participatory learning and engage learners with skilled teaching artists and high quality artistic experiences. The FY 2016 Arts Learning grant application deadline is February 13, 2015; learn more and apply today .

News

Help us decide

Have you ever wondered how the Arts Board decides which applications to fund?  Have you ever wanted to make those decisions?  Then you might be interested in serving as a volunteer advisor to the board.

The Arts Board uses a very rigorous, citizen-driven process to review grant applications, and to select artists to commission or work to purchase for the state’s permanent art collection.  Each year, approximately 250 individuals serve as volunteer advisors in the board’s ten grant programs and in the Minnesota Percent for Art in Public Places program.   Advisors read proposals, discuss them in a public meeting, and assign scores for each proposal.  The scores help determine which proposals will be recommended to the board for approval.

The amount of time and tasks required vary, depending on the program in which the volunteer serves.  Advisors must have experience or expertise in a particular area of the arts, arts funding, or nonprofit or public administration.

If you’d like to nominate yourself or someone you know to serve as an advisor, please complete and submit our volunteer form.

Rulemaking

The Minnesota State Arts Board is beginning a rulemaking project. The board's rules govern how the board conducts its business, including how and to whom grants are awarded. An integral part of the rulemaking process is that it is transparent and open to the public. The Arts Board therefore is asking for public comments on this project.

WebGrants

The Minnesota State Arts Board's WebGrants system is open for registration! Please view the How to Register in WebGrants tutorial, and then click Login to WebGrants to sign up.

WebGrants Overview

How to Register in WebGrants: online tutorial, PDF version
How to Use WebGrants: online tutorial, PDF version
Webgrants FAQ document: FAQ (PDF)

Login to WebGrants

Stay in Touch

If you'd like to receive information and updates from the Arts Board via e-mail, please sign-up for the board's electronic mailing list.

Arts Research / Policy / Cultural Issues

Artist Employment Projections through 2018

This National Endowment for the Arts report looks at job prospects for artists and other cultural occupations from 2008 to 2018.

 

Come as You Are: Informal Arts Participation in Urban and Rural Communities

Attendance at traditional arts venues, such as museums and performing arts centers, is greater in urbanized areas. However, when the informal arts are considered, metro and non-metro residents enjoy arts activities at the same rates. Consideration of informal arts activities—including the personal creation of artwork and attendance at community arts venues—offers a more comprehensive measure of participation. Issued by the National Endowment for the Arts.

 

Creative Placemaking

In creative placemaking, cross-sector partners strategically shape the physical and social character of locales around arts and cultural activities. This white paper summarizes two decades of creative American placemaking in a variety of communities. By Ann Markusen and Anne Gadwa.

 

The Arts and Achievement in At-Risk Youth:
Findings from Four Longitudinal Studies

At-risk students who have access to the arts in or out of school tend to have better academic results, better workforce opportunities, and more civic engagement, according to a National Endowment for the Arts report. By James Catterall.