Project Grant

The Georgia Council for the Arts Project Grant provides support for arts projects taking place in Georgia. Georgia Council for the Arts, or GCA, states that its mission is to cultivate the growth of vibrant, thriving Georgia communities through the arts and that its grants support organizations whose work demonstrates a significant benefit to the people being served. The program supports organizations ranging from small to large, emerging to established, rural to urban, community-based to professional, and traditional to contemporary. Eligible projects may consist of one-time activities, such as a festival or exhibition, or a series of related events, such as classes or productions. Projects with multiple components must have a cohesive thread and singular goal. Arts-related capacity building projects, including work such as developing a strategic plan, fundraising plan, community engagement plan, audience development plan, or organizational development initiative, may also qualify. Eligible applicants must be located in Georgia, be registered with the Georgia Secretary of State, and have completed the requirements of any GCA or State of Georgia grant received in or prior to FY25. Eligible applicant types include nonprofit organizations registered with the IRS, government entities such as cities, counties, or local authorities, public libraries, schools, and qualifying entities within colleges or universities. A college or university entity must have its own community advisory board, receive at least 20 percent of project 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 nonprofit status, for-profit businesses, and organizations based outside Georgia are not eligible. Special requirements apply to Georgia chapters whose parent organizations are based in another state. Eligible applications must involve arts or arts-related capacity building programming in Georgia and be completed between July 1, 2026 and June 30, 2027. Arts programming must include a public component, although that requirement does not apply to capacity building projects. Eligible arts activities include performances, visual and media arts, literary arts, folk and traditional arts, public art, festivals, multidisciplinary projects, arts education, artist residencies, arts integration, STEAM, and arts programming serving populations such as seniors, veterans, people in hospitals or residential care facilities, and incarcerated individuals. The program does not support non-arts disciplines and activities identified in the guidelines, including humanities, social sciences, sciences, culinary arts, fashion, competitive dance, martial arts, certain entertainment and recreation activities, or other non-arts projects. Grant funds may support eligible project-related expenses during the funding period, including project-related salaries, rent, utilities, programming, marketing, and insurance. Numerous expenses are specifically ineligible, including qualifying capital expenditures, fundraising expenses, programming outside Georgia, scholarships and prizes, food and alcohol, debt reduction, lobbying, goods for resale, and other prohibited costs. Applicants may request between $1,000 and $5,000. The grant request may not exceed 66 percent of total project expenses, and applicants must provide a cash match equal to at least 50 percent of the requested GCA grant. For example, a $5,000 request requires at least $2,500 from other sources and project expenses of at least $7,500. In-kind contributions do not count toward the required cash match. The cash match generally may not come from another State of Georgia agency or the National Endowment for the Arts, with a stated exception for public colleges and universities subject to additional matching-source requirements. GCA awards are reimbursement grants, meaning recipients first incur eligible expenses proposed in the approved budget and then request reimbursement for a percentage of those expenses. Applications must be submitted through GCA's online grant application system at https://georgia.org/ArtsApply. Required online components include General Information and Project Details and Narrative Questions. Applicants must also upload the prescribed Budget Form, Board of Directors List or Advisory Board List, Support Material including a required work sample, and, when applicable, an IRS 501(c)(3) determination letter. Narrative content covers the organization's mission, history, services and community; the proposed project and participating artists and stakeholders; quality and implementation capacity; community impact; accessibility; and project goals and evaluation. Capacity Building and Arts Programming applicants answer different Community Impact questions. Support Material must contain at least one work sample, with stated limits of 10 pages for a single PDF and five minutes of audio or video review. Incomplete applications, late applications, or applications from ineligible applicants are not forwarded to a review panel, and applicants cannot add or correct material after the deadline. Complete eligible applications are reviewed by multidisciplinary panels organized by applicant budget size. Panelists score applications using Project, worth 20 points; Community Impact, worth 40 points; Goals, worth 20 points; and Fiscal and Organizational Stability, worth 20 points. Preliminary and final scoring procedures drop the highest and lowest panel scores and average the remaining scores. Applicants are ranked by final score within the grant type, and GCA funds the highest-scoring applicants until available grant funds are exhausted. Funding decisions are based solely on application scores. The application deadline was Friday, February 6, 2026 at 11:59 p.m.; GCA staff assistance ended at 5:00 p.m. that day. Staff eligibility checks and panel preparation occur in March, review panels and funding decisions occur from April through June, and applicants are notified by email in July. The funded project period is July 1, 2026 through June 30, 2027. Questions may be directed to Tyrone Webb, Rural and Community Programs Manager, at twebb@gaarts.org or 404-962-4044. The guidelines describe Project Grants as an annually offered GCA program, so the next cycle is anticipated around February 2027 based on the February deadline pattern; an exact next-round deadline is not stated in the supplied guidelines.

Submit well before the deadline so attachments and technical issues can be resolved; verify every required field and attachment because incomplete applications are ineligible; use the GCA-provided budget form rather than recreating it; ensure the budget contains the required cash match and expenses do not exceed income; include a qualifying work sample; make the application understandable to multidisciplinary panelists unfamiliar with the organization or community; directly address Project, Community Impact, Goals, and Fiscal and Organizational Stability criteria; do not rely on outside information because panelists score only application content.