ARTS PROGRAM GRANTS AVAILABLE IN NORTHWEST GEORGIA
Full Description:
The Creative Arts Guild in Dalton ,Georgia has been chosen to serve as the re-granting agency for the Grassroots Arts Program (GAP) of the Georgia Council for the Arts (GCA) for fiscal year 2010. Since 1994 GCA with the Georgia General Assembly reinvests this money across the state with the goal that every Georgian has the opportunity to experience the arts. These funds are administered by the Georgia Council for the Arts through its 16 re-granting agencies in the state in an effort to decentralize the decision-making process while empowering local communities to make decisions regarding state tax dollars.
Guild Executive Director Terry Tomasello states, “We are honored to be chosen as the re-granting agency for the state. This is an important program for our region and we are encouraged that the state continues to funnel tax dollars toward the arts.”
The maximum that each project may receive is $1500.00 with the following grant amounts available to Dade ($2131.17), Walker ($3014.23), Catoosa ($2864.72), Whitfield ($3446.57), Murray ($2541.97), Chattooga ($2329.64), Gordon ($2688.14), Floyd ($3582.01), Bartow ($3301.16) and Polk ($2573.15) counties. The GAP grant is a 50% matching grant requiring a .50 match by the grantee for each $1.00 granted. Among the types of eligible projects to consider would be visual arts exhibitions, concerts, theatrical and dance performances, readings, film productions, storytelling, folk art projects, workshops, and public art projects. Arts events must occur between July 1, 2009 and June 30, 2010 and are retroactive to July1, 2009.
The applicant must be a unit of government, a not-for-profit organization, or have a consenting non-profit agent as a sponsor. The IRS designation does not have to be 501(c)(3), but the organization must at least be incorporated in the state of Georgia as a domestic not-for-profit entity. Examples of eligible applicants, in addition to government agencies and arts organizations, include churches, libraries, senior citizen centers, social and recreational clubs, civic leagues, social welfare organizations (such as after school programs), and fraternal societies. A business or corporation which would like to provide an arts event to further employee enrichment must apply through a not-for-profit sponsor such as an arts council.
Committees of community representatives from each county meet to review grant applications to determine funding. Grant applications and instructions are available on the Guild’s website www.creativeartsguild.org. Applications must be received by 5:00 p.m. on Friday, November 4, 2009.
For additional information about the Grassroots Arts Program please visit Georgia Councitl for the Arts website wwwgaarts.org or the Creative Arts Guild’s website www.creativeartsguild.org or contact the Guild’s GAP manager, Leanne Lawson at cagarts@creativeartsguild.org.
