Mid-Career Artist Grant

The East Central Regional Arts Council, or ECRAC, is an independent 501(c)(3) regional grant-making organization serving Minnesota Region 7E. ECRAC supports the arts through funding from the Minnesota State Legislature and The McKnight Foundation and provides grants, technical assistance, workshops, and other arts resources. The Mid-Career Artist Grant Program was developed with McKnight Foundation funding to provide financial support to individual mid-career artists and culture bearers who are committed to personal artistic growth. The program supports specific art projects intended to enhance an applicant's artistic skills, artwork, experimentation, collaboration, or art business career. Projects may involve any eligible visual, performing, media, literary, interdisciplinary, folk, traditional, design, craft, or other art form recognized by ECRAC. The Mid-Career Artist Grant provides a grant request of up to $3,600. Eligible uses include materials and services necessary to produce new artwork, an applicant's time devoted to creating work, costs associated with presenting artwork, portfolio or demo production, film or video activity, and training or mentoring with a professional artist. Workshops may be funded, but college or university courses for academic credit are not eligible. Equipment may be purchased when it is directly tied to clearly defined project activities and outcomes, but equipment-only requests are not eligible. The applicant must explain how funded equipment supports the project and certify that it will not be sold or transferred without prior ECRAC approval. Grant funds cannot cover expenses incurred before the approved project start date or after the project end. Partial awards and award stipulations are possible. No applicant match is required, although cash, in-kind support, earned income, and other grant support are encouraged when committed to the project. Eligible applicants are individual mid-career artists and culture bearers who are at least 18 years old. ECRAC defines a mid-career artist or culture bearer as someone recognized by peers and arts professionals who has produced an independent body of work and has a record of projects, exhibitions, or commissions. Formal training, degrees, and professional experience are not required. Applicants must have lived for at least six months in Chisago County, Isanti County, Kanabec County, Mille Lacs County, Pine County, or the sovereign Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe lands and must submit proof of residency. Applicants must be U.S. citizens or lawful permanent residents, have no overdue or incomplete ECRAC grant reports, and have no misuse of funds determination from the Minnesota State Arts Board or a Minnesota Regional Arts Council. An applicant may not have received ECRAC McKnight artist funding during the previous two years and is limited to one ECRAC artist award every two years. Applications are submitted only through ECRAC's online grant system. Application materials may not be submitted by mail, in person, or by email. The application must include all project-specific required attachments or it may be considered incomplete and ineligible. Materials identified in the guidelines include proof of residency, an artist resume, artistic work samples, a project budget, and a detailed budget explanation. Depending on the project, applicants may also need a mentor resume, workshop details and an instructor resume, project expense details, or an equipment use plan. Artistic work samples are always required and carry the greatest weight in review. The grant portal generally opens four to six weeks before a deadline. ECRAC provides technical assistance and grant information sessions, but assistance does not imply or guarantee funding. ECRAC staff first review applications for applicant and project eligibility and completeness. Eligible applications advance to review by the ECRAC Board of Directors and/or a community review panel. Applications are scored on quality of the artist's work, worth up to 30 points; quality of the proposed project, worth up to 20 points; and artistic resume and experience, worth up to 10 points. An eligible application must receive at least 40 of 60 possible points to remain eligible, although a score of 40 does not guarantee funding. Reviewers consider whether work samples demonstrate artistic merit, are generally four years old or less or include an explanation when older, accurately represent the proposed project, and whether the project will expand the artist's skills and support the artist's career. The ECRAC Board makes final funding decisions by majority vote and may fully fund, partially fund, table, stipulate, or decline an application. For Fiscal Year 2027, application deadlines are October 1, 2026 and February 1, 2027 at 11:59 p.m. If a deadline falls on a weekend or holiday, it moves to 11:59 p.m. on the next working day. For the October 1, 2026 deadline, final approval is scheduled by December 31, 2026, the earliest project start date is January 15, 2027, and the guidelines list June 30, 2028 as the latest end date. For the February 1, 2027 deadline, final approval is scheduled by April 30, 2027, the earliest start date is May 15, 2027, and the guidelines list June 30, 2028 as the latest end date. The guidelines also state that the entire project must be completed within 14 months of the grant deadline. Applicants should expect approximately two to three months between submission and ECRAC's final decision, with allocation notification sent by email within 30 days after the final funding decision. Funded applicants must execute the Notification of Grant Award and Request for Payment forms and submit a current IRS Form W-9 before payment. Grant funds are generally forwarded within 45 days after ECRAC receives the executed forms, subject to any payment schedule or interim review stipulated by the Board. Grantees must comply with project, budget, publicity, accessibility, recordkeeping, and reporting requirements, including a final report due within 30 days after the approved project end date. Questions may be directed to ECRAC at grantinfo@ecrac.org or 320-336-0200. The application materials are available through www.ecrac.org/grants and the grant management portal at https://www.ecrac.org/manage-my-grant.

Prioritize strong, representative artistic work samples because they carry the greatest review weight; use work samples four years old or less or explain why older samples are necessary; provide sufficient project detail to show how the project expands artistic skills and supports the artist's career; submit a complete and relevant artistic resume; include every required attachment because incomplete applications may be ineligible; contact ECRAC staff early for technical assistance.