Minnesota Festival Support

Minnesota Festival Support is sponsored by Minnesota State Arts Board. Project grants to engage Minnesotans in festivals that celebrate the arts, build community, and expose communities to diverse art forms including folk and traditional arts.

Minnesota State Arts Board Grant opportunities for arts organizations, other nonprofit organizations, and public entities Current grant programs, offered in the fiscal year 2027 grant cycle (*) An organization may submit an application in only one of these programs. Accessible Arts —People with disabilities face significant barriers to the arts as creators, participants, and attendees.

This pilot program offers project grants to increase the capacity of the arts sector to make arts experiences more accessible.

Funds may be used for investments that will have a longer-term impact on the applicant, such as professional development related to accessibility (i.e., staff or volunteer training, etc.), hiring accessibility consultants to conduct accessibility audits and/or develop accessibility plans, etc. Funds may also be used for small equipment investments (costing less than $5,000) that will make programming more accessible over time (i.e. assisted listening or captioning equipment, handrails, grab bars, etc.).

(*) Arts Education —Project grants to help Minnesotans develop personal relationships with an art form(s) by supporting learning experiences for individuals of all ages and abilities.

Project grant funds may be used for age-appropriate classes, workshops, camps, after-school programs, online education programs, community arts education, school residences or partnerships, etc. (*) Arts Experiences —Project grants to support individuals and organizations in providing meaningful arts experiences for Minnesotans within their communities.

Funds may be used for a variety of arts programming such as creating and/or presenting concerts, plays, tours, exhibitions, arts festivals, public art, or other kinds of activities that provide Minnesotans opportunities to engage in arts activities that are instilled into community or public life.

(*) Cultural Expression —Project grants to supports activities that share, explore, pass on, express, or celebrate the culture of a community through the arts. Cultural communities may be defined by a common ethnicity, tribal affiliation, geographic or regional identity, language, or other significant characteristics, and will have shared beliefs, customs, traditions, and ways of life as a community.

Projects may be designed to explore or pass on culture within a community, or to share or celebrate culture with Minnesotans outside the community. The program supports projects that express culture through traditional art forms that have been passed down within a community, and contemporary art forms rooted in cultural traditions.

Operating Support —This program provides general operating support to high quality, established arts organizations that produce, present, or exhibit works of art; to organizations that provide a broad range of services to artists; and to community arts schools and conservatories that make arts learning available to Minnesotans of all ages and abilities.

Grant programs offered in previous fiscal years American Rescue Plan —American Rescue Plan Grants will help small and midsized Minnesota nonprofit arts organizations and arts affiliates support costs related to their employees or contractors, facilities, health and safety, and marketing or promotion. These are general operating funds that can be used to help organizations rebuild and reopen as the COVID-19 pandemic wanes.

Arts Access —Project grants to help arts organizations identify underserved groups or communities, identify the barriers that keep them from engaging in the arts, and develop and implement strategies to reduce or eliminate the barriers. Arts Learning —Project grants to provide opportunities for lifelong learners to acquire knowledge and understanding of and skills in the arts.

Arts Tour Minnesota —Project grants to support touring performances, exhibitions, and other related arts activities throughout the state.

Community Arts Education Support —This program provides operating support to build and strengthen the capacity of exceptional arts education organizations, or of arts education programs of public or nonprofit organizations that have a sustained commitment to providing ongoing, rigorous arts education opportunities in community settings.

Creative Support for Organizations —This program is designed to help arts organizations and nonarts organizations that regularly offer arts programming as an integral part of their mission adapt to the changing environment caused by the global pandemic.

Grantees will be able to use funds to support people and activities that will be needed to stay relevant and connected to audiences, participants, students, or communities now and in the future. Cultural Community Partnership —Project grants, to enhance the careers of individual artists of color. Artists, at any stage in their career, can apply for a grant to help support a collaborative project.

Folk and Traditional Arts —Project grants to support the artistic traditions and customs practiced within community and/or cultural groups by identifying, documenting, preserving, presenting, and honoring Minnesota's folk arts and traditions.

Minnesota Festival Support —Project grants to engage Minnesotansin festivals that celebrate the arts, build community, and expose communities to diverse art forms including folk and traditional arts.

MN CARES Act Grants —With CARES Act funding from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Minnesota State Arts Board will award MN CARES Act Grants to arts organizations across the state to help these entities, their employees, and their contracted artists and workers weather the economic hardships caused by the forced cancellation of their activities or closure of their operations due to the spread of COVID-19.

Partners in Arts Participation —Project grants to human service organizations to enable people of all abilities, economic backgrounds, cultural heritages, and geographic areas to participate in the arts.