The National Arts Relief Fund is a one-time rapid-response grant program created to support nonprofit organizations whose funding offer from the National Endowment for the Arts was withdrawn in 2025. The current cycle of grant applications will close on November 18, 2025.
Funding
Arts Midwest has announced that applications are now open for the 2025–26 cycle of its GIG Fund, which provides grants of up to $15,000 for nonprofit organizations to offer public-facing arts projects and activities in Midwestern communities. A mandatory Intent to Apply is due September 15, 2025.
AFS congratulates Maygan Barker, Touhidul Islam, Olivia Phillips, and Salma Valadez-Marquez on receiving the 2025 Graduate Fieldwork Grant.
Arts Midwest is now accepting applications for the 2025 Midwest Culture Bearers Award, which celebrates and supports the work of Midwest culture bearers and folk arts practitioners. Applications close at 11:59 pm CST on July 21, 2025.
The Center for Cultural Innovation's Investing in Artists: Tools & Equipment program will award grants of $1,000–$5,000 to individual craft artists to purchase artistic tools and equipment that support their ability to make object-based work. The application deadline is August 8 at 11:59 a.m. PT.
The American-Scandinavian Foundation (ASF) announced the opening of its 9th annual competition for Scandinavian Folk Arts & Cultural Traditions in the Upper Midwest (North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, and the Upper Peninsula of Michigan). The deadline for submissions is September 1, 2025.
Arts Midwest is now accepting applications for the 2025 Midwest Award for Artists with Disabilities, an award supporting accessibility in the arts and celebrating the work of disabled Midwestern visual artists. This award application will close at 11:59 pm CDT on July 10, 2025, with awardees notified in August 2025.
The Artistic Innovations Grant Program supports the development of new, original works in the Mid-America Arts Alliance (M-AAA) six-state region. This program will disburse cost-sharing grants of up to $15,000 to no fewer than 12 grantees. Application deadline is March 13, 2025.
The National Endowment for the Humanities recently updated their notices of funding to reflect recent Presidential Executive Orders.
The National Endowment for the Arts is updating its FY 2026 grant guidelines, with deadlines in March and July 2025. These changes impact organizations applying in the Grants for Arts Projects or Challenge America categories.