PITTSBORO — The Chatham Arts Council is excitedly accepting applications for its annual Grassroots Arts Grants, a program aimed to help organizations do amazing work through the arts. Since 2000, the Chatham Arts Council (CAC) has awarded more than $210,000 to nonprofits, who in turn, use the money to fund artists and carry the arts into every corner of the county. Applications are now available online.
“Grassroots Arts is such a cool statewide program, and we’ve been partnering with the N.C. Arts Council on it for more than 20 years,” Cheryl Chamblee, CAC artistic director, said. “In that time, we’ve awarded in excess of $200,000 to nonprofits in Chatham that are doing fabulous, impactful work through the arts across the entire county. We want to make sure that every single person living here has access to the arts for community-building, for self-expression and for mental health.”
The CAC serves as the Designated County Partner to the North Carolina Arts Council in awarding the funds to local organizations. The program was established to ensure that every citizen in North Carolina has access to quality arts experiences. Cash grants range from $500 to $3,000, and are typically used for program expenses (i.e., artists’ fees, space rental) or operating expenses for arts organizations. Areas of particular interest for the CAC are local artist fees/fair payment to artists and outreach to diverse or underserved communities.
New for this year’s applicants: Prior to applying for the grant, applicants are required to have a 20-minute individual prep meeting with CAC staff between May 1 and May 10 in-person or via Zoom. Visit https://bit.ly/GrassrootsGrantMeeting to sign up for an individual meeting.
Organizations applying must:
• Have been in operation for at least one year as a 501(c)(3);
• Have an arts mission, or a program that uses the arts to help accomplish the organization’s mission;
• Be based in Chatham County.
The deadline for applications and supporting materials is Tuesday, May 23.
For questions about this grant, contact Heather O’Shaughnessy by email at heather@chathamartscouncil.org
Grassroots Arts Grants are made possible by individual contributions to the Chatham Arts Council’s general operating fund and through the generous assistance of the Grassroots Arts Program of the N.C. Arts Council, a division of the Dept. of Natural and Cultural Resources, with funding from the National Endowment for the Arts.
Past recipients have included organizations such as Abundance N.C., Bynum Front Porch, Chatham Artists Guild, Chatham County Partnership for Children, Chatham Trades, Community Organizing for Racial Equality (CORE), Hispanic Liaison of North Carolina, JMArts Foundation, Main Street Pittsboro, N.C. Arts in Action, N.C. Arts Incubator, Pittsboro Elementary, Shakori Hills Community Arts Center, Smelt Art Gallery, Sprott Center for Youth (Moncure), StreetSigns and more.
For more information on the Grassroots Arts Grants, or to apply, visit www.ChathamArtsCouncil.org/grassroots-arts-grants/.