Best Grants for Visual Artists in Tennessee

With a mission to advance Southern vitality through the arts, South Arts provides Tennessee arts organizations with up to US $1,000 for professional development. Eligible 501(c)(3) nonprofits and government or tribal arts entities with budgets under $500,000 can fund staff or board training, conferences, workshops, travel, and consultant-led learning tied to their arts programming.

Company culture at Clark Associates emphasizes responsibility, sharing our success with others, and the importance of building strong communities. To help fulfill these goals, Clark Associates Charitable Foundation (CACF) was incorporated in 2001 and provides funding to organizations serving people in need and those delivering positive experiences for youth. CACF supports non-profits operating in and around its business locations and those where our employees volunteer and actively contribute. To date, CACF has distributed over $44 million in charitable contributions.

Organizations must be registered 501c3 charities serving three basic categories: people in need, innovative youth educational programs, and youth programs in music and the arts. People in need represents the largest giving category and includes homelessness, food insecurity, individuals with disabilities, victims of abuse, and people in recovery. Examples of other grant recipients include those assisting veterans, senior citizens, at-risk youth, academic enrichment, mentorship, leadership development, and those focused on the performing and visual arts.CACF evaluates grant applications submitted by non-profit organizations every month of the year.

The Arts in Rural Places Grant, offered by South Arts, aims to enhance access to the arts in rural and isolated communities across nine southern states. Grants of up to $3,000 support public activities featuring Southern artists, requiring a dollar-for-dollar cash match. Eligible organizations must host at least two public events and engage a professional artist, promoting cultural engagement and artistic expression within these communities.

Tennessee 501(c)(3) public charities and government entities can seek funding for visual arts, arts education, or art therapy programs, with grants up to US $15,000. Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee’s William N. Rollins Fund for the Arts supports organizations advancing visual arts and related educational or therapeutic initiatives in the state.

South Arts Inc

Headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, South Arts is a nonprofit regional arts organization empowering artists, organizations, and communities, and increasing access to arts and culture.

In partnership with the National Endowment for the Arts and the State Arts Agencies of Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee — with additional funding from other public and private donors such as the Doris Duke Foundation, the Ford Foundation, and Mellon Foundation — South Arts supports artists and organizations through a rich and responsive portfolio of grants, fellowships, and programs. Why? Because South Arts believes that the arts elevate the region, increasing connectedness and inspiring meaningful change in the process.

Our mission: Advancing Southern vitality through the arts.

Arts in Community Grants

Program Description

Arts in Community Grants are designed to support deeper engagements between Southern communities and artists. Through these grants supported by the National Endowment for the Arts, we aim to increase access to the arts, expand audiences for artists, and broaden our reach. Eligible projects require a Southern artist/company visiting another Southern state for public activities, offering access to arts programming by professional artists. Funding supports Southern film directors, traditional artists, visual artists, performing artists, or writers:

• film (documentary, fiction, experimental, and animation),
• traditional arts (music, dance, storytelling, and visual arts/crafts),
• visual arts (crafts, drawing, experimental, painting, photography, sculpture, and mixed media),
• performing arts (theater, music, opera, musical theater, and dance), and
• literary arts (fiction, creative nonfiction, and poetry).

Projects require an artist or artist ensemble and a host or partner organization. Project must include at least two in-person or live, virtual public activities – both a public presentation (a film screening, performance, reading, or exhibition) and an educational/community engagement activity (a workshop, demonstration, lecture, facilitated discussion, or master class). The grant requires a dollar-for-dollar cash match.

Arts for All

Support for arts projects that focus on increasing participation in the arts for all Tennesseans.

Engaging in the arts can serve as a powerful tool to improve many aspects of a person’s life including health and well-being, social connectedness, positive aging, increased learning and self-improvement, to name a few. Research shows that the benefits of participating in the arts goes beyond aesthetic enjoyment and is a valid, sustainable way of improving a person’s life.

Many people cannot participate or have limited access to the arts for several reasons. Their opportunity to experience or participate in the arts has been limited due to some type of barrier. Receiving the full benefits of the arts should be available to everyone regardless of economic condition, geographic location, or societal factors, just to name a few.

This grants category encourages applicants to use innovative ways to engage people with limited exposure to the arts in arts programming while reducing those barriers. Applicants in this category must fully explain the population they intend to reach, the limitations that are faced within this population of accessing the arts, and how their proposed arts program intervention will overcome these barriers.

Due to compliance with federal and state laws/policies, proposed programs in this category must be broadly open to the public, not give preferential treatment to any population, nor exclude any individuals from participating. Populations proposed to be reached must also be in compliance with federal and state nondiscriminatory policies and laws.

Application Guidelines

Proposed arts projects must involve one or more of these recognized art forms: visual, craft, media, design, music, theater, dance, folk or literary arts.