Region 2 Arts Council Season/Series Arts Support Grant

The Region 2 Arts Council Season/Series Arts Support Grant supports organizations that produce a high volume of arts activities or arts and cultural programming within the council's five-county service area in Minnesota. The program is intended to reduce the administrative burden of submitting multiple applications for individual events by allowing an eligible organization to use one application to seek support for multiple activities within an arts season or series. Region 2 Arts Council states that its broader mission is to foster a thriving arts culture that enhances quality of life in its communities. Funding for these grants is made possible by Minnesota voters through a legislative appropriation from the Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund. Each Season/Series Arts Support Grant supports the creation, production, and presentation of two or more arts activities benefiting residents of Beltrami, Clearwater, Hubbard, Lake of the Woods, and Mahnomen counties. Proposals must demonstrate a commitment to developing new or expanded arts programming compared with programming the applicant has presented in the past. Applicants are encouraged to address access by removing barriers to participation, education by developing arts knowledge and skills, arts and cultural heritage by representing Minnesota's diverse ethnic and cultural arts traditions, or the building of bridges among Minnesotans through arts and culture. Eligible activities include arts and cultural festivals, engagement of guest artists or performers, public art projects, workshops, exhibitions, arts presentations, and music, theater, or dance performances. The maximum award is $18,000. The provided information does not state a minimum award, total program funding amount, number of awards, or a required cost share or matching contribution. Project-specific costs incurred and paid before a project's Earliest Start Date will make the project ineligible for funding. Applicants are directed to the Region 2 Arts Council Budget Guidelines for Organizations and may use the council's budget planning worksheet. Organizations may either upload a budget in their own format or complete the provided budget form. Funded activities must use the Clean Water Land and Legacy Amendment Logo and the Region 2 Arts Council logo in publicity and promotion and must include the required funding credit line. Applicants must be located in Beltrami, Hubbard, Clearwater, Lake of the Woods, or Mahnomen County and must have planned and executed at least four publicly accessible arts or arts and culture activities, programs, performances, projects, or workshops during the 24 months preceding the application deadline. Eligible applicants include arts organizations, schools other than parochial schools, community education programs, colleges and universities, nonprofits providing arts programming, local city, town, and county government entities, and tribal government entities from the Red Lake, Leech Lake, or White Earth Nations. An arts affiliate may apply through a 501(c)(3) host organization or another nonprofit entity such as a school, college or university, or eligible city, town, county, or tribal government entity. Community education programs are treated as being operated by their school district and are subject to grant guidelines applicable to schools. Organizations receiving a Season/Series Arts Support Grant are ineligible to apply for the following 2027 Arts Access Grant. Applications are accepted only through the Region 2 Arts Council online grants portal. A downloadable sample application is provided for preparation purposes but cannot be submitted. The application includes demographic questions used for reporting to the Minnesota State Arts Board and questions based on the program's scoring criteria. Applicants should gather photos or links documenting their four qualifying arts activities, resumes or biographies of key staff, volunteers, or participating artists, work samples of participating artists, project timelines, and a list of all costs associated with the proposed funded arts activities or programming. New applicants may use the council's instructional resources for creating an organizational account and completing the application. A community panel reviews applications and scores them based on Creative Vision of the Season/Series, Community Impact and Evaluation of the Season/Series, and Ability to Carry Out the Season/Series based on past arts activities, the proposal, and the budget. Up to five additional percentage points may be added by the R2Arts Grants Manager for intergenerational knowledge sharing, alignment with Region 2 Arts Council values, an underserved location, inclusive outreach, and first-time recipient status. The Region 2 Arts Council board must subsequently approve the community panel recommendations with the awarded bonus points at its next board meeting. The program is currently open and applications are due September 15, 2026. Online grant review is scheduled for October 6, 2026, and the earliest start date for funded activities is November 4, 2026. No separate letter of intent, concept paper, pre-proposal, or other pre-application gating requirement is stated in the provided information. No explicit recurring schedule or future application cycle is stated. Applicants with grant-specific questions may contact the grants manager through the provided online form. For immediate staff assistance, Region 2 Arts Council provides the work phone number 218-751-5447, with staff available Tuesday through Friday.

Demonstrate that the proposed season or series develops new or expanded arts programming compared with past programming. Address Creative Vision, Community Impact and Evaluation, and Ability to Carry Out the Season/Series through past arts activities, the proposal, and the budget. Where applicable, clearly demonstrate intergenerational knowledge sharing, alignment with creativity, equity, inclusion, collaboration and accessibility values, service to an underserved location, inclusive outreach, and first-time recipient status because these criteria can add bonus points.