Folk & Traditional Arts Major Grant & Mini Grant

Notice:  State budget reductions have impacted Mini Grants for the rest of the current fiscal year.  The following changes are effective immediately:

1. Maximum Mini Grant request is $1,000 (even though the eGrant form indicates $1,500)
2. NO Mini Grant applications will be accepted on December 1, 2009, February 1, 2010, or April 1, 2010.  January, March, and May Mini Grant deadlines will proceed as scheduled.

Notice: Look for NEW/REVISED Major Grant criteria and application questions for this category for applications due April 1, 2010. The new information will be posted in January 2010.

Note: All Major and Mini Grant applications must be submitted online using the eGRANT system. (But plan ahead – some portions must be sent or delivered, as well!)

Download the eGRANT tutorial for instructions on how to use the new system (4 MG ).

Iowa Arts Council grants for Folk and Traditional Arts projects encourage or support activities and projects that document, preserve, and promote the living traditional culture of Iowa's diverse residents. These projects may focus on but are not limited to the traditions of ethnic groups, occupational groups, religious groups, and distinct geographical regions.

What are Folk & Traditional Arts?

Folk & Traditional arts are practices that have a community base and express that community's aesthetics and heritage. They encompass the everyday knowledge, art, and lore that are passed from one member of the community to another through imitation, observation, or word-of-mouth. Skills and traditions are often learned informally rather than through academic or formal means. Most traditional arts have endured through several generations. Typical communities include ethnic, tribal, occupational, regional, or religious groups.

For a more complete definition of Folk & Traditional Arts, please go to: http://www.iowaartscouncil.org/programs/folk-and-traditional-arts/purpose-and-services.shtml.

Who are folk and traditional artists?
Folk and traditional artists are individuals from a particular cultural, ethnic, occupational, regional, religious or other self-identified group who produce, pass on, and preserve living folk and traditional art forms that reflect the identity of that group, e.g. Meskwaki dancers, Lao weavers, Mennonite quilters, or Irish bagpipers.

What is folk-inspired art?
Folk-inspired art is produced by individuals and groups who are not part of the culture group that originally produced the art form at issue, regardless of the quality of the art.

Folk-inspired art projects are not eligible in the Folk & Traditional Arts Major and Mini Grants category. Folk-inspired art and artists, including revivalist projects, artists presenting or performing work from a culture/community other than their own, etc., should select a different grant category. If you are unsure of the appropriate category, contact the IAC’s Folklife Coordinator (contact information at top of this page).

Eligible types of requests
Projects may include but are not limited to:
o Folk & Traditional Arts apprenticeships, which assist in preserving Iowa’s living traditional arts by providing grants to Master Artists to teach qualified Iowa apprentices (must be planned using the structure of the IAC Folk & Traditional Arts Apprenticeship Model ).(Note: Folk and traditional artists interested in applying for apprenticeship funding are strongly urged to contact the folklife coordinator before applying.);
o Documention of a particular living musical style, craft tradition, or other folk art in Iowa (Hint: Documentation projects should focus on a recognized living folk & traditional art and have a public component such as a performance, exhibit, archival collection, or publication.);
o Production costs for a quality produced audio CD or video recording;
o Fees and related costs for presenting a traditional artist in a school or community; or
o The presentation of a folklife festival, multicultural day, or diversity day that focuses on living folk and traditional art forms.

Grant Amount
You may request up to $10,000 for a Major Grant or up to $1,500 for a Mini Grant, but no more than 50 percent of the total expenses of the project.
Apprenticeship applications may use both the Master Artist’s and the Apprentice’s time as inkind match in lieu of cash.