Louise Lauretano DeMars Love of Art Fund

The Louise Lauretano DeMars Love of Art Fund is a grant opportunity associated with Main Street Community Foundation that supports individual artists in the Foundation's Connecticut service area. The fund honors Louise Lauretano DeMars, who died on January 9, 2023, and recognizes her extensive contributions to museums, arts, and culture. Her career included a 28-year tenure as Executive Director of the New England Carousel Museum, where her leadership helped establish the museum as a national tourist destination. The fund is intended to continue her joy and passion for art and to inspire future artists. The purpose of the Louise Lauretano DeMars Love of Art Fund is to provide financial support directly to individual artists. Awards are intended to help artists further their creativity, explore their talent, or expand their learning. Grants typically range from $1,000 to $5,000. The supplied information does not identify a total amount available for the program, a predetermined number of awards, a required project period, or detailed restrictions on how individual award funds may be spent beyond the stated purposes of supporting creativity, talent exploration, and learning. Eligibility is specifically limited to individual artists who have resided for a minimum of two years in one of six Connecticut communities: Bristol, Burlington, Plainville, Plymouth, Southington, or Wolcott. Although the supplied material also contains general Main Street Community Foundation language concerning grant requests from organizations serving the same geographic area, the grant-specific language for the Louise Lauretano DeMars Love of Art Fund expressly states that its grants are awarded to individual artists. Accordingly, individual artists meeting the two-year residency requirement are the identified eligible applicant type for this fund. No matching or cost-share requirement is stated in the supplied information. The grant cycle opens September 16 and applications are due October 28. Because the source provides month and day but not a year, these dates are normalized to September 16, 2026 and October 28, 2026 for the upcoming cycle relative to the August 20, 2026 analysis date. Before applying, potential applicants must contact the grants team at least one week prior to the application deadline to discuss eligibility. For this fund, applicants are specifically directed to contact Whitney Shufelt, Director of Grants & Programs, at whitney@mainstreetfoundation.org, or Alicia Krar, Grants Manager, at alicia@mainstreetfoundation.org, to determine eligibility before applying. Applicants determined to be eligible may submit an application through Main Street Community Foundation's Online Grants Center. The supplied source directs eligible applicants to the Online Grants Center both to apply and to obtain the program's full guidelines and eligibility criteria. Consequently, the supplied material does not provide a complete list of application questions, required attachments, narrative requirements, evaluation criteria, scoring procedures, or other application components contained in those full guidelines. The required advance eligibility discussion and subsequent use of the Online Grants Center are the submission mechanics expressly identified in the provided information. As of August 20, 2026, the September 16 opening date is still in the future, so the opportunity is treated as being in Early Engagement and Forecasted status. The application period is expected to run from September 16 through October 28, 2026. The source does not explicitly state that the fund recurs annually or at another defined frequency, so recurrence is not assumed. It also does not provide an award notification date, performance period, or future cycle schedule. Applicants should therefore rely on Main Street Community Foundation and the program's Online Grants Center for the complete current guidelines and any additional requirements or timing information.

Contact the grants team at least one week before the application deadline to determine eligibility before applying, and confirm that the individual artist meets the minimum two-year residency requirement for one of the six eligible communities.