ArtsNEXT

March 24, 2023 | Agency Franklinton Arts District. Photo by Tim Evans Photography Funding for Bold, Ground-Breaking Projects The ArtsNEXT program provides competitive funding for innovative and experimental projects. Awards support big ideas that push boundaries, engage participants in unexpected ways, pilot new solutions to challenging problems, improve program design with calculated risk-taking, or result in the creation of new work. These forward-looking projects help define Ohio as an exciting, cutting-edge place to make, consume, and experience the arts. GRANT AWARDS Applicants may request up to $25,000. All awards require a 1:1 cash match. ArtsNEXT grantees generally receive a portion of their request relative to their application score. ELIGIBILITY All applicants must possess nonprofit status or nonprofit intent. Applicants may be: 1) nonprofit arts and cultural organizations in any arts discipline (literature, performing arts, visual arts, traditional arts, multidisciplinary arts, etc.); 2) other nonprofit organizations that provide arts programming (government entities, social service agencies, etc.); or 3) educational organizations (public, private, charter, and parochial schools from pre-kindergarten through university level) that demonstrate a commitment to arts programming in a larger community setting. Not all submitted projects will be deemed eligible for panel review. Projects must present a new idea or method relative to the applying organization’s past activities; requests to fund the continuation of a previously funded ArtsNEXT project, or present cosmetic changes, routine updates, or minor embellishments to existing programs will be deemed ineligible. Organizations receiving operating support as a Sustainability-Large organization or Statewide Arts Service Organizations are ineligible to apply. Organizations awarded an ArtsNEXT grant may not receive an ArtsNEXT award in the successive fiscal year (i.e., an organization awarded a FY 2025 ArtsNEXT grant is not eligible to apply for FY 2026 ArtsNEXT funds). Please refer to Appendix A for other OAC funding restrictions that may affect your project’s eligibility. HOW THE PROGRAM WORKS ArtsNEXT grants are one-year awards for organizational project support. This program supports projects that allow an organization’s programming to evolve creatively. Priority is given to projects designed to improve the community’s access to arts experiences, as well as those demonstrating risk appropriate to the organization. Funds may be used for a wide variety of expenses, including artist fees, production expenses, marketing, planning, education, and program evaluation. The budget section of the ArtsNEXT application provides a full list of allowable expense areas. Note: Organizations considering applying should be fully invested in the hard work of innovating through research, experimentation, and focus, with the goal of breaking patterns, testing ideas, and arriving at new results. The most successful ArtsNEXT projects will be those that address a specific challenge in a novel way, turn an existing idea or practice on its head, and achieve benefits impossible under the prior approach. Projects should break from past organizational activities by piloting a new program, experimenting with a new method, initiating partnerships to reach new audiences, and/or introducing arts offerings rarely available to its local community. Projects may borrow, replicate, or adapt a proven practice from another industry, organization, or community. Examples include producing a new activity that has been well-received elsewhere, modifying an idea from the private sector for use in a nonprofit setting, or experimenting with programming that has flourished in a different arts genre. Sample activities might include: exploring the intersection of the arts and healing with activities produced in partnership with a healthcare institution implementing a pilot program or activity based on a promising practice from another industry or arts genre organizing a mural project in a community where public art is limited or nonexistent developing a technology to deliver arts experiences in new and more accessible ways researching and developing environmentally conscious artmaking materials and processes An ArtsNEXT award may not be used to fund activities described in and already being supported through another OAC grant award. After accepting the grant award in ARTIE, grantees may request a partial payment of 50% of their total grant award. To request a partial payment, grantees must complete an online request certifying that the grant activity has been partially completed and expenses have been incurred. No partial payments will be made within two months of the ending date on the grant agreement. Final payment of the grant will be processed once a final report is received and approved. OAC staff may request additional information regarding grant activities prior to approving the final payment. HOW TO APPLY All applications to the ArtsNEXT program must be submitted via the ARTIE system. Please refer to Appendix F for a step-by-step look at applying for, accepting, and managing a grant award through this program. New applicants are encouraged to contact their regional program coordinator prior to applying. EVALUATION AND SCORING A panel of arts and cultural professionals, educators, innovators, artists, and other community members evaluate and score ArtsNEXT grant applications. Panel meetings are open to the public through a free video conferencing platform. Representatives of applying organizations are strongly encouraged to listen online. For details on panel meeting dates, times, and instructions for participating, visit the OAC online grants calendar. During the panel meeting, panelists discuss how well each application satisfies the program’s evaluation criteria which are aligned to the questions in the application. Panelists highlight strengths and weaknesses, discuss