Maine Arts Commission Grant Programs
Please review individual grant program guidelines for complete eligibility and application instructions.
Assists professional, Maine arts organizations with annual operating budgets of $500,000 or greater to present a major project such as an exhibition, performance, residency or educational programs that feature American Masterpieces.
Arts and Humanities Grant
Application Deadline: 60 days prior to initiative - Applications are accepted throughout the year
Funds projects that include elements of both the arts and humanities. Jointly administered by the Maine Arts Commission and the Maine Humanities Council, with the Humanities Council serving as lead agency. For more information contact Victoria Bonebakker, Associate Director, Maine Humanities Council, 207/773-5051, or vbonebak@mainehumanities.org; or
Kathy Ann Shaw, Senior Development Associate & Accessibility Coordinator at 207/287-2750, kathy.shaw@maine.gov or 877/887-3878 – 
TTY/NexTalk User ID kathy.shaw.
Assists arts organizations, schools and other community groups to develop collaborative projects that employ Maine artists to benefit Maine communities, schools or families.
A capacity-building program for Maine local arts agencies, creative economy organizations and other community organizations that strengthen cultural organizations, artists, and the infrastructure that supports arts programming and services.
Assists professional, freestanding, Maine arts organizations in new capital projects and renovations as well as technology projects and/or improvements. Provides funding for new construction, repairs or renovations of existing facilities owned and operated by a nonprofit Maine arts organization; or repairs, upgrades or replacements of capital technology equipment for a facility operated by a nonprofit Maine arts organization.
Good Idea Grant (GIG) Programs
Application Deadlines: September 18, 2009 and March 6, 2010
- GIG Contemporary: Supports and fosters the growth of Maine’s artists. The parameters of the grant are purposefully broad. Includes any “good idea” that furthers an individual artist’s creative endeavor(s).
- GIG Arts Visibility: Assists Maine’s artists and arts organizations by providing the means with which to increase the visibility of specific artistic projects. Includes any "good idea" that supports an individual artist or organization through increased visibility.
Rewards artistic excellence, advance the careers of Maine artists, and promotes public awareness regarding the eminence of the creative sector in Maine.
Maine Arts Recovery Program
Application Deadline: If all monies are not fully expended from the May 29, 2009 deadline, a second deadline of September 11, 2009 will be offered.
This competitive grant program, presented in partnership with the National Endowment for the Arts, offers funds to subsidize the preservation of jobs within nonprofit arts organizations. These stimulus dollars intend to help arts organizations as well as Maine’s creative workers in all genres of the arts.
Organizations that have suffered critical staffing cuts or can provide proof that an important existing position is in jeopardy, or have compelling reasons why the retention of a creative worker is vital to the health of the organization, may apply for this grant. This includes the employment or commissioning of creative workers to make work in support of an organization’s mission only when the initiative can show that it is in long-term planning stages. No funds will be made available for the creation of new or previously unscheduled work.
Assists Maine’s communities to preserve valuable artistic traditions. The program provides an opportunity for master traditional artists to pass on their skills to qualified apprentices.
Rewards artistic excellence, advances the careers of Maine traditional artists, and promotes public awareness regarding the eminence of the creative sector in Maine.
Assists schools, arts institutions and community arts organizations, to develop arts in education projects in conjunction with artists for pre-K-12 students. The intention of the program is to fund both school based and after school projects that provide meaningful and lasting arts education experiences.
