Arts Alive! is offering $50-$250 mini-grants to artists and creative businesses in the Monadnock region. Applications are open from September 1-October 15, 2021. Grants will be awarded to projects that further either the artist or creative business - expanding their professional abilities or increasing how many people they can reach with arts experiences.
“We’re going to be really flexible with how this money can be used,” says Executive Director Jessica Getler. “Supplies for a project, marketing your work, a short term studio rental or renting space for a workshop, getting work framed for an exhibit, booking time in a recording studio or performance space, hiring a babysitter and ordering takeout for several nights so you can focus on a project, gas for your car to get to a series of gigs, attending a workshop - whatever it is that will help you move towards the next level.”
The simple application is online at monadnockartsalive.org/mini-grants. Questions will include information about the artist and their project. Most questions are multiple choice or check boxes. Awardees will be chosen by a panel of local leaders in the creative community based on
How meaningful the project funding is to the applicant.
If there will be a positive impact on the fabric of the greater arts community.
The money will be given to artists, writers, performers, and creative business entrepreneurs. Grant awards will be distributed via a check. Awardees will need to fill out a W9 form to receive their payment.
To help raise the funds for this program, Arts Alive! is partnering with local creative businesses, including 17Rox, which is making a donation to the program; Robert Seaman’s Daily Doodles, which is contributing profits from sales of the prints on Etsy for the month of August; and Machina Arts, which is contributing a portion of profits from the sale of their most popular dish - potstickers - the week of Radically Rural, September 20-25th. To partner with Arts Alive! on this project, reach out to Executive Director, Jessica Gelter at jessica@monadnockartsalive.org.
Arts Alive!’s mission is to support, grow, and connect a sustainable arts landscape in the Monadnock Region. The statement says, “we want the Monadnock region to have a flourishing cultural community that values arts and culture and provides support to facilitate success.” The organization’s vision is that the greater community will take pride in the arts, which are seen as integral to a thriving society and economy.
“This is our creative way to do some research,” says Alison Wilder, Arts Alive! Board member. “We’re launching this in order to collect information about artists, performers, and other creatives whose businesses are emerging and who need a boost. That is one of the key groups we serve with our workshops and fiscal sponsorship and arts incubation programs. We want to better understand where they’re at. This just made sense, instead of paying a consultant to do research or investing in advertising an online survey, we’re going to put money into the hands of creatives in our community.”
Applications will be available on September 1st on the Arts Alive! website at monadnockartsalive.org