Miller Foundation Fast Track Arts Grants (Oregon) is a grant from the Miller Foundation that funds operating support for arts organizations throughout Oregon. The program supports organizations delivering visual, performing, media, literary, or interdisciplinary artistic programming, performances, exhibits, arts services, or arts education.

Fast Track Arts grants are designed to help small and mid-sized arts organizations thrive by funding general operations rather than project-specific work. Eligible applicants are Oregon-based arts organizations with annual operating expenses between $25,000 and $499,999. Awards range from 4 to 7 percent of annual operating expenses.

No deadline is currently listed; applicants should check the Miller Foundation portal for cycle dates.

Arts (Small Org.) | Miller Foundation Individual Artist Grants Portal Organization Grants Portal Our Fast Track Arts grant program funds organizations statewide that deliver visual, performing, media, literary, or interdisciplinary artistic programming, performances or exhibits, arts services, or arts education. Fast Track Arts grants provide Operating Support.

We know that funding general operations is the best way to help arts organizations thrive. The minimum allowable annual operating expense for eligibility is $25,000. This excludes any expenses covered through in-kind.

The Miller Foundation generally considers a 3-year average of an organization’s annual expenses (from completed fiscal years). Please consult our Arts page for details on the types of activities we fund. Also be sure to review the list of activities we don't fund below.

Specific eligibility considerations Because the Miller Foundation believes that every child should have access to a well-rounded education that includes the arts, our Arts grants also support K-12 Arts Education programs.

If you provide arts education programming, you have a greater chance of receiving Miller funding if your programs meet any of the criteria below: You provide non-school based sequential arts education specifically engaging youth who face economic, geographic, or other barriers to participation. You work in partnership with public schools to provide arts education where such programming would otherwise be unavailable.

You connect young people with professional teaching artists. You provide culturally specific arts education. Deadline and response time Apply for a Fast Track Arts grant anytime - applications are open 24/7 and accepted year-round.

There is no application deadline and requests are reviewed regularly. Typically, applicants receive a decision within 6-8 weeks of submitting their grant request. Applicants with less than 4 years of past grant funding from the Miller Foundation are eligible for one year of support.

Applicants with 4+ years of past grant funding from the Miller Foundation are eligible for two years of support. Fast Track Grant amounts are determined by the Foundation and will range from 4-7% of your annual operating expenses (generally based on an average of your last 3 years of annual operating expenses and your organization’s alignment with our funding priorities). Fast Track Arts grants provide Operating Support.

These Operating Support grants typically support organizations with missions that are focused solely in our funding areas of Arts, Arts Education, or K-12 Education.

Smaller organizations (annual expenses of less than $500,000) that have broader missions but that allocate more than 25% of their annual expenses to significant & ongoing Arts or Arts Education activities are eligible to receive Operating Support through our Fast Track Arts program. If funded, the Operating Support grant amount would be based on the percentage of their budgeted expenses related to Arts or Arts Education.

Miller Foundation operating support grants can be used for a grantee's operating expenses. Examples: Artist or Contractor fees Programming, performance, presentation, or exhibit expenses General business expenses Marketing, fundraising or technical support Addition of new paid staff Expenses not considered operating support include debt repayment and capital campaigns. We value your time.

To keep staff, grantwriters, and volunteers from applying for something we don't currently fund , please see the list below.

Activities that we do not currently fund include: ​​Capital purchase and permanently installed (non-movable) equipment Debt relief and endowment Religious institutions and programs significantly shaped by religious affiliation (with rare exceptions for religiously-affiliated schools providing tuition-free opportunities to specific student populations) Libraries or library foundations Colleges and universities ‍ Requests for individual schools or classrooms for in-school projects or programs (arts education courses, assemblies, school trips to performances, school clubs, field trips, art materials, or musical instruments) Adult education , including adult literacy programs and standalone adult arts education The Miller Foundation has collaborated with the Oregon Community Foundation and the Oregon Arts Commission to fund individual artists.

Specifically, we participated in funding the Artist Relief Program and the Artist Resilience Program as part of our COVID-19 response efforts.

Activities that we do not currently fund include: Museums whose primary focus is not art (except for culturally specific museums) Art therapy/arts programming in therapeutic settings Arts programming in residential or correctional settings Scholarships or tickets to performances After-school arts enrichment programs Recreational camps and summer programs Festivals , either single-focus or culturally specific, with the exception of festivals where the primary focus is art (film, music, visual art, literary arts, etc.) Activities that we do not currently fund include: Social service supports , including mental and behavioral health interventions, foster care and juvenile justice programs Physical education , including sports programs Environmental or ecology education , including gardening programs Special Education programs or schools focused on a single diagnosis After-school enrichment programs such as Boys & Girls Clubs Scholarships or tuition assistance Private schools with tuition-based, traditional models where most students pay tuition ‍ Pre-K/Early Learning supports (we fund these only by invited initiative) ‍ Parenting or caregiver education (as distinct from school-based family engagement) Food and housing assistance for families ‍ Recreational camps and summer programs (except for programs addressing academic disparities or summer learning loss) Museums (except statewide institutions with extensive K-12 education programming) Career pathways or workforce Development Higher Education institutions Permanent school personnel and activities that fall under public schools' core operating budgets School Foundations and school districts Create your account on our organization grants portal.

Take our Eligibility Quiz to see if you qualify. Apply for a grant if you're a fit!