Grant Resources
Where to Start
We've produced a grantwriting handbook to assist in applying for Montana Arts Council-administered grants. It's available here.
The Montana Arts Council works in partnership with several national, regional, and state agencies to provide funding, support, and information for artists and arts organizations. Among our key partners are the following agencies.
National Endowment for the Arts
The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) is a grantmaking agency supporting America's visual, literary, design, performing arts and community arts.
National Endowment for the Humanities
The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) supports learning in history, literature, philosophy. Provides grants in research, education, museum exhibitions, documentaries, and preservation.
National Assembly of State Art Agencies
NASAA, National Assembly of State Art Agencies is made up of state arts agencies.
Creative West
Creative West (formerly WESTAF) currently administers two grant programs: Independent Music on Tour (IMTour™), for tour-ready independent musicians, and TourWest, a competitive program that provides subsidies to arts and community organizations for the presentation of out-of-state touring performers and literary artists in AK, AZ, CA, CO, ID, MT, NV, NM, OR, UT, WA, & WY.
Humanities Montana
Humanities Montana is a nonprofit affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities, one of fifty-six independent councils across the United States. Established in 1972, we were created in order to better infuse the humanities into public life.
Resources for people with disabilities
The Online College Guide for Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing Students
A resource for navigating higher education challenges for deaf and hard-of-hearing students.
Resume and Employment Guide for People With Disabilities
According to the Social Security Administration, there are over 8 million disabled workers in the United States. These workers often face challenges such as stereotyping, discrimination, and a lack of accommodations. Thankfully, there are a variety of legal protections and employment resources available that help people with disabilities overcome these challenges and advance their careers.
Mental Health Disability Rights in The Workplace: A Guide For Employees
This article is intended to help guide you through your rights and provide education on the challenges that may arise from struggling with mental health at work.
Programs for Individual Artists
Home | Artists Thrive
Artists Thrive is a national resource hub for artists, with tools and resources helps you see where you are in your work, where you want to go, what is important to measure, and how you can improve in ways that benefit you, your arts partners, and your community.
Alliance of Artists Communities
The Alliance of Artists Communities is a national and international association of artists' communities and residencies — a diverse field of more than 1,500 programs worldwide that support artists of any discipline in the development of new creative work.
WomenArts
Women Arts offers financial and other resources to women in theatre, film and video. Build your skills, build community, find funding sources, and be inspired by the women trailblazers who go before us.
Craft Emergency Relief Fund
The Craft Emergency Relief Fund gives direct financial and educational assistance to craft artists, including emergency relief assistance, business development support, and resources and referrals on topics such as health, safety, and insurance.
Creative Capital Foundation
Creative Capital Foundation uplifts risk-taking, underinvested artists with unrestricted project grants, professional development, and community-building services to advance freedom of expression and foster sustainable careers.
First Peoples Fund
First People’s Fuind supports the cultural, artistic and ancestral practices of American Indian, Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian artists, families and communities, helping them to thrive, heal and carry forward Indigenous creative expression, teachings and lifeways. They offer fellowships, grants, and professional development for Native artists.
Gottlieb Foundation
Offers grants to individual visual artists through two programs: an annual Individual Support Grant and a separate program to assist visual artists in cases of catastrophic events through an Emergency Grant program.
Harpo Foundation
The Harpo Foundation was established in 2006 to support artists who are under-recognized by the field. The foundation seeks to stimulate creative inquiry to encourage new modes of thinking about art. We view the definitions of art and artist to be open-ended and expansive.
Native Arts and Cultures Foundation
The Native Arts and Cultures Foundation (NACF) is a Native-led, 501 (c) 3 philanthropic organization dedicated exclusively to the perpetuation of American Indian, Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian arts and cultures nationwide.
Puffin Foundation
The Puffin Foundation provides grants to artists who are often excluded from mainstream opportunities due to their race, gender, or social philosophy, in the fields of fine arts, film and video, music, photography, theater, and public interest. The Foundation particularly supports creative and innovative initiatives that will advance progressive social change.
Supporting Native Arts and Artists | The Evergreen State College
The Longhouse at Evergreen State College, Olympia, WA., uplifts Indigenous artists and culture carriers through programs and grants. Their website also has other resources for Native artists.
Musicians Foundation - Grants for Musicians
The Foundation provides financial assistance to musicians who need help in meeting current living, medical and allied expenses.
National YoungArts Foundation
The National YoungArts Foundation identifies and nurtures the most accomplished young artists in the visual, literary, design and performing arts and assists them at critical junctures in their educational and professional development. YoungArts aspires to create a community of alumni that provides a lifetime of encouragement, opportunity and support.
Programs - New Music USA
New Music supports artists and organizations dedicated to the creation and performance of new work and community building throughout the country.
Pollock-Krasner Foundation
The Foundation welcomes, throughout the year, applications from visual artists who are painters, sculptors and artists who work on paper, including printmakers.
Documentary Film Program - sundance.org
The Sundance Documentary Film Program supports non-fiction filmmakers worldwide in the production of cinematic documentaries on contemporary themes.
Upstart Co-Lab
Upstart Co-Lab aims to increase opportunities for artists as innovators, catalyze more capital for creativity, and enable to support themselves sustainably.
FOR ORGANIZATIONS
Dennis & Phyllis Washington Foundation
Arts and Culture represents the innovation and creativity of a society. In the areas of theatre, art, and music, the Washington Foundation’s grants have helped organizations reach a broader audience, infused new life into programs, and create long-lasting cultural traditions within our communities.
Grants | B.W. Bastian Foundation
The B.W. Bastian Foundation strives to build community and understanding by supporting institutions in the Intermountain West. Must be invited to apply.
Classics for Kids Foundation
The mission of the Classics for Kids Foundation is to empower young people to shape positive futures through music, build sustainable stringed instrument music programs, and provide grants for high quality instruments.
J. Murdock Charitable Trust | M.J. Murdock Charitable Trust
The Trust’s mission is to enrich the quality of life in the Pacific Northwest by providing grants and enrichment programs to organizations seeking to strengthen the region’s educational, spiritual, and cultural base in creative and sustainable ways. In addition to a special interest in education and scientific research, the Trust partners with a wide variety of organizations that serve the arts, public affairs, health and medicine, human services and other areas of interest.
Grants - Pride Foundation
Pride Foundation’s ever-evolving granting program funds small projects across the Northwest focusing on equity and justice. Grants support smaller, grassroots, LGBTQ+ led and focused organizations.
Funding Areas | Getty Funding
The Getty Education Institute for the Arts provides grants for conservation, archival collections, and conservation professional development.
Tourism Grant Program | Montana Department of Commerce
The Tourism division of the Montana Dept of Commerce has an array of grants to support communities and organizations helping to achieve the state’s tourism goals.
LOR Foundation
The LOR Foundation supports livability and quality of life by improving access to nature, recreation, clean water, transportation options, cultural experiences, and economic stability. They partner with rural communities in Montana, Idaho, Wyoming, Colorado, and New Mexico to protect the character of their towns and the landscapes that surround them.
Jerry Metcalf Foundation
The Jerry Metcalf Foundation awards small grants in the areas of the arts, historical research and preservation, and education, to individuals and groups who are working to enhance Montana's diverse communities.
The Foundation for Montana History
The Foundation for Montana History provides development and advisory leadership for organizations dedicated to the preservation of Montana’s history and culture.
Sparkplug
The Sparkplug Foundation supports small organizations that are proposing start-up projects in the fields of music, education, and grassroots organizing. In the Music category, the Foundation supports emerging professional musicians or music-development programs. In Education and Teaching, the Foundation funds projects that deal with "the whole student" and with learning as a community activity.
Steele-Reese Foundation
The Steele-Reese Foundation supports small projects in rural Montana communities to advance rural education; health; human and social services; the arts and humanities; and land, water, and wildlife conservation and historic preservation.
Treacy Foundation
The Treacy Foundation supports nonprofit organizations in Montana by awarding grants to support capital campaigns, capital asset improvements, and maintenance, and by providing scholarships to students pursuing higher education.
Corporate giving programs
Grants | First Interstate Bank
The First Interstate Foundation grants in the areas of civic and community, arts and culture, K-12 and higher education, health, human services, and sustainability-related organizations. The Foundation only grants to organizations recommended by local First Interstate Bank branches.
Costco Wholesale Corporate Contributions Program
This program supports nonprofit organizations in company-operating communities. Grants and product donations are provided to nonprofit organizations and educational institutions that address children's issues, education, and health and human services.
