Groups of three or more individuals:

• Wishing to become arts & culture nonprofit organizations
• That have produced at least one project in the past three years
• That have worked together for one or more years to produce community arts events
• That have an annual operating budget of up to or less than $50,000.
• That are producing projects or events that:
  • Have arts and culture as a primary component
  • Are open to the public
  • Provide public benefit as defined by the ReNew Washington guidelines.
• That have a minimum one-year history of arts and/or relevant programming that demonstrates the capacity to produce the proposed project or event.

To receive funds, groups must have 501(c)3 nonprofit status or Fiscal Sponsorship by a 501c3 nonprofit with arts, heritage, or culture in their mission statement. If you are not a 501c3 arts nonprofit, and you do not have fiscal sponsorship, you can apply for fiscal sponsorship through Shunpike within the ReNew application.

Who Is Not Eligible to Apply?

• Individuals
• For-profit organizations
• Political or advocacy organizations
• Organizations based outside of Washington

Screening for Eligibility

• ArtsWA Staff screen applications to ensure eligibility requirements are met.

Evaluation and Application Scoring Panel

·       A panel of arts professionals, ArtsWA commissioners, and staff review applications alongside other applications in the same category.

Panel Recommendations and Board Approval

• The panel scores applications online and in person (if possible, during the pandemic) and makes funding recommendations.
• Recommendations go to the ArtsWA Board of Commissioners for approval.

Notification of Award

• Once approved by the board, notifications will be sent to applicants.

Review Criteria are standards used to score applications. Strong applications will demonstrate strengths in:

Objectives (10 points)

• Project has arts, culture, and creativity as a primary or significant element.
• Provides arts experiences and opportunities for artists and non-artists alike within the group’s community.

Public Benefit (10 points)

• ·       Project offers public access through strategic and meaningful inclusion, and project delivery for and with historically excluded communities, accessibility for people with disabilities, and/or to populations representative of cultures experiencing significant social inequities especially during the pandemic.
• This includes communities whose access to arts is affected by geography, structural inequity, and marginalization due to race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender identity, economics, disability, or other social or institutionally imposed barriers.
• See some examples of public benefit here 

Management (10 points)

Project proposal:

• Describes ability to deliver project effectively
• Indicates project will be complete by June 30, 2023
• Includes a budget appropriate to project
• Includes minimum of one past similar and/or relevant event produced by applicant organization
• Will deliver one or more accessible public event(s) in Washington State.

• To apply, you will need your or your fiscal sponsor’s Federal Tax ID (EIN)
  • You may enter 00-000000 if you do not yet have a fiscal sponsor.
• Your organization’s last completed-year, board-approved, operating budget
  • If you already have a fiscal sponsor, you will also need your fiscal sponsor’s last completed-year, board approved, operating budget showing annual cash income.
• If you already have a fiscal sponsor, a completed Fiscal Sponsor Information Form
• Your project’s budget
• Work Sample – a minimum of 1 and a maximum of 10 samples to support your project proposal.
  • You may upload images, video, audio, or other documents in any combination – but no more than 10 work samples will be reviewed by panelists. Your video and audio samples should be no longer than 3 minutes.
  • Please note that these work samples do not need to be professionally produced or polished. A simple snapshot of a past event works great!
  • Click here to see our Work Sample Guidelines 
• Optional: Video introducing your project
  • You can add an introductory video to your application if you want to. We suggest making a short video (no longer than two minutes) specifically for this application that features the leadership of your group speaking directly to the review panel about your project.
• Optional: Support Letters – if you have any community members, collaborators, or others that support your work and would like to provide a short letter of support (no more than one page).
• Optional: Support documentation— newspaper articles, promotional materials (such as brochures, posters, or programs), etc.