Arts Education Program Grant

The Georgia Council for the Arts Arts Education Program Grant supports arts education programs produced by eligible Georgia organizations, schools, libraries, and government agencies for K-12 students. Georgia Council for the Arts states that its mission is to cultivate the growth of vibrant, thriving Georgia communities through the arts and that it believes the arts can transform students, classrooms, and schools. The grant supports the meaningful intersection of excellence in the arts and education. Programs may consist of a one-time event, such as an arts assembly or visiting artist program, or a series of activities, such as a teaching artist residency, afterschool program, or summer arts program. Programs must serve K-12 students and align with Georgia Learning Standards. Programming does not have to take place at a school or during school hours. Eligible applicants must be located in Georgia and must have completed the requirements of any Georgia Council for the Arts or State of Georgia grant received in or before FY25. Eligible applicants include nonprofit organizations located in Georgia and registered with the Georgia Secretary of State and IRS, schools, public libraries, government departments or agencies, and qualifying entities within colleges or universities. A qualifying college or university entity must have its own community advisory board, receive at least 20 percent of its program income from outside the college or university, not be an academic department, and manage its own budget. Individuals, organizations using fiscal agents, organizations without their own IRS 501(c)(3) nonprofit status, corporations or for-profit businesses, and organizations based outside Georgia are not eligible. Additional rules apply to schools, school foundations, PTAs/PTOs, parent organizations, Georgia chapters of organizations based outside the state, and applicants subject to the debarment and suspension policy. Eligible projects must provide Georgia Learning Standards-aligned arts education programming for K-12 students in Georgia. Eligible disciplines and approaches include performing arts, visual arts, media arts, literary arts, folk and traditional arts, public art, multidisciplinary arts education, workshops, classes, demonstrations, field trips, artist residencies, arts integration, and STEAM. Programs must address a specific need within a school or student population, include measurable outcomes, align with the Georgia Learning Standards in Fine Arts, and include an assessment of those standards. Arts integration and STEAM programs must also align with applicable core content standards. Programs may include professional development but may not consist solely of professional development. The grant supports a specific program or project rather than all of an organization's or school's annual programming. Numerous activities and expenses are excluded, including non-arts projects, culinary arts, fashion, competitive dance, martial arts, certain capital expenditures, fundraising, programming outside Georgia, scholarships or prizes, food and alcohol, lobbying, debt reduction, regranting, and other expressly prohibited costs. Applicants may request from $1,000 through $5,000. The grant request may not exceed 66 percent of total project expenses, and a cash match equal to at least 50 percent of the requested grant amount is required. For example, an applicant requesting $5,000 must provide at least $2,500 from other sources and have total project expenses of at least $7,500. Awards are reimbursement grants, meaning recipients first expend funds for approved project expenses and then request reimbursement. The guidelines identify the FY27 program budget period as July 1, 2026, through June 30, 2027 on pages 7 and 18. Pages 10 and 11 separately state July 1, 2025, through June 30, 2026 in references to the funding or grant period, creating an internal date inconsistency in the source. Applicants should verify this inconsistency with Georgia Council for the Arts; the explicit FY27 budget section identifies July 1, 2026, through June 30, 2027. Applications must be submitted through the Georgia Council for the Arts online grant application system at http://gaarts.org/apply. Required online information includes General Information, GCA Data, Authorized Officials, Arts Education Program Details and Narrative Questions, and the Signature Page. Required attachments include the Program Budget Form, Board of Directors or Community Advisory Committee information as applicable, and Support Material. An IRS 501(c)(3) letter is required for certain nonprofit applicants. Support Material must contain a work sample demonstrating the quality of the applicant's or participating artists' work; an application without a work sample is ineligible for review. Narrative questions address program design, goals and evaluation, student impact and accessibility, program effectiveness, Georgia Learning Standards alignment, assessment, and curriculum design. The application must be received by 11:59 p.m. on February 6, 2026. No missing materials, changes, or additional information may be submitted after the deadline. Staff assistance is available only until 5 p.m. on the deadline date. After the deadline, Georgia Council for the Arts staff conduct eligibility and completeness checks before forwarding eligible applications to grant review panels. Panels are organized by program budget size, and school applications are reviewed with other school applications. Applications are scored in five areas worth 20 points each: Arts Education Program Design, Goals, and Evaluation; Student Impact and Accessibility; Program Excellence; Georgia Learning Standards Alignment, Assessment, and Curriculum Design; and Organizational Capacity and Fiscal Stability. After preliminary and final scoring, the highest and lowest panel scores are dropped and the remaining scores are averaged. Applicants are ranked by score, and the highest-scoring applicants are funded until available grant funds are exhausted. The timeline graphic indicates eligibility checks and panel preparation in March, review panels and funding decisions from April through June, and email notification to all applicants in July. The program appears to operate annually based on the guidelines' repeated references to applications and awards each year. Questions may be directed to Emily Yewell Volin, Grants and Arts Education Programs Manager, at evolin@gaarts.org or 404-962-4015.

Submit well before the deadline and verify every required component because late or incomplete applications are ineligible. Use the official GCA budget form and include all required breakdowns. Include a qualifying work sample because applications without one are ineligible. Clearly connect activities and assessments to Georgia Learning Standards, establish measurable goals, explain meaningful student impact, address underserved students and disability access, demonstrate qualified personnel and fiscal capacity, and write clearly for multidisciplinary panelists who may not know the organization or community.