Community Arts Partnership Program
Community Arts Partnership Grant applications for 2022 and 2023 now open: eligible organizations may apply for between $15,000 - $20,000 for Community Arts Partnership activity ongoing through June 30, 2023.
- Round II Application Deadline: September 30, 2022
This grant program was developed in 2022 to support and extend partnerships, advancing creativity as a core civic value and identity for Alaska. The implementation of this grant program, at this time, is intended as a response to the ongoing challenges faced by the creative sector in Alaska related to infrastructure, economics, and recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic. Our nation’s arts sector has been among the hardest hit by the COVID-19 pandemic, and this grant program is one strategy for support to the arts sector, and for helping our communities heal, unite and rebuild our connections.
The Alaska State Council on the Arts (ASCA), with support from Rasmuson Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts, has opened the Community Arts Partnership grant program for two rounds of funding for spring and fall of 2022. Community Arts Partnership activities for these two rounds of funding will be completed by June 30, 2023.
In 2021, the National Endowment for the Arts, The Kresge Foundation and other funders released research reporting titled, “WE-making: How Arts & Culture Unite People to Work Toward Community Well-Being”. The learning shared in this research, aligns with Alaska State Council on the Arts Strategic Goals to: Build an Alaskan arts and culture sector for the future, Illustrate the value of the arts through arts-integrated approaches, and Enable all Alaskans to lead expressive lives. In the Key Takeaways from the WE-making Conceptual Framework, it is noted that in communities:
“Place-based arts and cultural strategies can help grow and amplify social cohesion for community well-being for all. This is done particularly through strategies that:
- build and share power through community ownership,
- connect people across difference,
- include all types of community members,
- have a consistent presence in the community, and
- align with community change goals to reinforce desired impacts.1”
In line with these concepts, with National Endowment for the Arts | American Rescue Plan Act funding to help the arts and cultural sector recover from the pandemic, and long-term shared interest with Rasmuson Foundation in support of the arts in Alaska, ASCA is seeking applications from eligible organizations undertaking Community Arts Partnership activities through June 30, 2023.
Community Arts Partnership proposals will align with the following shared goals:
- to support new partnership and the deepening of existing partnerships, between individuals, organizations and agencies throughout Alaska, with the aim of strengthening Alaska’s arts and culture infrastructure over time.
- to bring Alaskans together in community for conversation, planning, arts creation, celebration, and inspiration as a way to build an Alaskan arts and culture sector for the future and enable all Alaskans to lead expressive lives.
- to explore the role of the arts in our communities as a support system for community vibrancy, resilience, and individual health and well-being of Alaskans; identify and define shared community goals, risks, concerns, challenges, opportunities, issues and community assets within the unique arts and cultures of our places and peoples.
1 Engh, Rachel, Ben Martin, Susannah Laramee Kidd, and Anne Gadwa Nicodemus. “WE-making: How arts & culture unite people to work toward community well-being,” Easton, PA: Metris Arts Consulting, 2021. https://communitydevelopment.art/resources/arts-and-culture-unite-people-conceptual-framework
Grant Guidelines and Eligibility
Eligible applicants
- Nonprofit, tax-exempt 501(c)(3), U.S. organizations
- Nonprofit colleges and universities
- Federally recognized tribal communities or tribes
- Units of state or local government, including institutions of higher learning
- Designated Local Arts Agencies must be an arts agency that is a unit of city or county government or officially designated to operate as an arts agency on behalf of its local government
- As noted in the American Rescue Plan Act funding source guidance from the National Endowment for the Arts, and in partnership with Rasmuson Foundation, ASCA encourages applications from: Organizations that serve populations that are underserved such as those whose opportunities to experience the arts are limited by ethnicity, economics, geography, or disability; Organizations with small and medium-sized budgets; Organizations from rural to urban communities
- Must have—or be in process of registration for—a Unique Entity Identifier Number through SAM.gov.
A note about SAM.gov unique entity identifiers: beginning in May 2022, The DUNS number will no longer be the official identifier for doing business with the U.S. Government. It will be replaced by the unique entity identifier or UEI. Because Community Arts Partnership grantees are subgrantees of the National Endowment for the Arts—through ASCA—grantees must have a UEI.
SAM.gov will issue UEIs. Organizations that are already registered with SAM.gov will automatically be assigned a new UEI which will be displayed in SAM.gov. Organizations registering with SAM.gov for the first time will request a UEI during the registration process. Registration and maintenance of your account is free.
If your organization does not yet have this identification number (or if you are uncertain about whether your organization has this identification number) visit the National Endowment for the Arts website at https://www.arts.gov/grants/changes-coming-for-federal-organizational-applicants-and-awardees for additional learning resources. The Alaska State Council on the Arts will work with our grantee organizations as this transition takes place.
While an organization proposing activity to the Community Arts Partnership Grant category may submit an application without the UEI, an award cannot be paid to a grantee in the Community Arts Partnership Grant category without registration for the UEI through SAM.gov.
Eligible funding requests
Applicants may request between $15,000 – $20,000 in support of proposed Community Arts Partnership Activity. Through 2023, Community Arts Partnership funding will emphasize support for eligible organizations in the following categories of expenditures made to implement Community Arts Partnership activities:
- Salary support, full or partial
- Fees and stipends for artists / contractual personnel
- Facilities - rent and utilities
- Health and safety supplies for staff / visitors / audiences
- Marketing and promotion costs
- Supplies directly related to the eligible project activities
Eligible Community Arts Partnership Activities will:
- Include at least two community partners
- Support at least one of the three Community Arts Partnership program goals
- Include clearly identified artists and culture bearers as leaders within the planning and implementation of the proposed activity, and compensation for these individuals is clearly described
- Exist within the scope of your organization’s mission: may include new, expanded or ongoing activities, so long as the type of activity/project/programming undertaken is already within the scope of your organization’s work.
- Examples of partnered activities might include, but are not limited to, the following types of activities (We expect that applicants will have many different ways to meet these goals; we hope that proposed activities will include many approaches.):
*Community arts-based projects, events and celebrations
*Community-based arts action research/inquiry/dialogue/network development
*Community arts planning
*Creative Place-making
*Projects that support community health and well-being through the arts
*Creative Youth Development programs
Review Process and Timeline
Following a Community Arts Partnership Grant deadline, a review of applications including ASCA Staff, Council Trustees and arts community members will take place. Once the review process is complete, award recommendations will be forwarded to the full ASCA Board of Trustees as action items for consideration. Once the ASCA Board of Trustees has completed their deliberations, applicants will be notified of award, and award agreements will be issued. Example projected review timeline:
September 30 (Deadline 1) >> October (Review complete) >> November 10 (Trustees deliberate, followed by award notification) >> end of November (Award agreements sent)
Grant Review Criteria
Community Arts Partnership grant awards are reviewed and awarded on the basis of artistic excellence and artistic merit, as relates to the grant review criteria, proposed project, and the goals of the Community Arts Partnership grant category.
- Does the project meet the goals of the Community Arts Partnership grant program?
- Does the applicant’s qualifications/description/mission suggest an established educational, professional or community art practice? Does the proposed activity align with this previously established mission and programming?
- Does the application demonstrate a developed or developing community arts partnership between at least two community partners?
- Is there a clear connection to engaging community through the proposed project, program or activity?
- Is the project/program/proposal feasible?
- Is there a clear connection to including Alaskan artists/culture bearers in planning and implementation?
How to Apply
Step 1:
Read through the Community Arts Partnership Grant Program Guidelines, completely. Whether using the online application platform or the downloadable paper application materials, it may also be helpful to download and preview a copy of the downloadable application materials.
Community Arts Partnership Grant Guidelines for download
Email asca.grants@alaska.gov or call (907) 269-6610, with questions, concerns or for technical assistance; in particular, please contact us right away if the application materials and requested submission process present a barrier to access for an eligible applicant.
Step 2:
Complete and submit the application by the appropriate deadline.
- Second Round: Applications submitted by September 30, 2022.
Fill and submit an Application online: Go to Alaska Arts & Culture Foundation and Alaska State Council on the Arts program page with Submittable at https://artsalaska.submittable.com/submit. If you have not used Submittable before, you will be asked to create a profile for yourself, or your organization.
Download, fill and submit an Application via mail or email: Application forms in PDF and Microsoft Word file formats are available to download, fill and submit, below on this page. A complete application consists of the Application with Certification and Project Budget, a Project Narrative, and Attachments as defined in the grant application. The application may be typed or legibly handwritten and submitted for review by mail or email.
Sending Mailed or Emailed Applications: Download and submit a complete application from ASCA’s website by mail, in person, or via email to:
Alaska State Council on the Arts
Attn: Community Arts Partnership Grant
161 Klevin Street, Suite 102
Anchorage, AK 99508
-or- Via email to asca.grants@alaska.gov.
We are unable to accept faxed applications. If you are sending your application via email, please include “Community Arts Partners Grant Application” the name of your organization in the email subject line. Applications may be either typed or hand-filled; please be sure the application text and any digital file of the application (pdf materials are preferred) are legible, and compatible with a Windows-based PC. If sending a digital file, it is best to attach a single file to an email, but multiple attachments will be accepted. If sending multiple email attachments, please label them in such a way that the total number of attachments is apparent. For example: “Community Arts Partnership Grant Application for XXXX-Attachment 1 of 4”
Community Arts Partnership Grant Guidelines
Guidelines for download:
Community Arts Partnership Grant Application Materials
Application Forms:
Email asca.grants@alaska.gov or call (907) 269-6610, with questions, concerns or for technical assistance; in particular, please contact us right away if the application materials and requested submission process present a barrier to access for an eligible applicant.