Grants of up to $1,000 to Mississippi nonprofit organizations and government entities to support the arts throughout the state. Funding is intended to hire professional artists for organizational and curriculum development and for conference support. Priority will be given to organizations serving underserved groups and communities.
Mini-grant priority funding will be given to organizations who have not recently received MAC funding. Priority will also be given to organizations residing in MAC’s identified underserved counties, high-poverty counties or extremely rural areas, as well as organizations led by or serving BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and/or People of Color), individuals with disabilities, veterans and those serving other typically underserved groups.
There are types of activities that may be supported through Organization Mini-grants:
Presenting/Hiring Professional Artists: Mini-grants can pay for up to half of the total fee to hire a professional artist. Those hiring members of MAC’s Artist Roster will be given funding priority.
Organizations may hire artists (Priority will be given to those hiring MAC Roster artists or MAC Teaching artists) to:
Present a performance, workshop, or other presentation
Create public art on/in your building or for your organization
To create arts curriculum
Organizational or Curriculum Development: Mini-grants can support up to half of the total fee of a consultant to support organizational capacity building, organizational professional development or curriculum development.
Organizations may hire professional consultants to provide a short-term consultancy that is focused on overall organizational development such as
Diversity Training or other professional work to diversify and organization’s Board of Directors
ADA Compliance and Accessibility Trainings
Board Member Training
Arts Related Emergency Preparation
Convening focus groups of different types of artists, stakeholders or members of the community touched by your organization
Curriculum development in a K-12 school
Conference Support: Mini-Grants can support up to half of the total cost for an arts organization to send staff or board members to an in-person or online professional conference or workshop that directly relates to the organization’s work in and through the arts.
Mississippi based non-profit organizations and government entities are eligible to receive Rapid Response Minigrants.
Organizations that can apply for a Minigrant must:
- Be based in Mississippi
- Be incorporated in Mississippi as a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization OR
- Be a unit of local government, such as a school, library, or another county or municipal agency. Units of local government may be required to provide documentation of their status as a governmental agency.
Applications from colleges, universities and other state-level schools are only eligible if they include and benefit the general public. College and university events that are considered a part of regular or extracurricular programs, or whose primary purpose is to offer academic credit, are not eligible for grants. If funding is limited, requests from public colleges and universities will receive lower priority.
Ineligible
LLC’s and other for-profit businesses are NOT eligible to apply for MAC grants.
Grant funds may not be used for the following expenditures:
- Reductions
- Contingency funds
- Activities already funded in the state’s budget (for example, an organization receiving unrestricted funds from the state of Mississippi through another agency or line item may not receive general operating support from MAC.)
- An organization receiving MAC or other state funds for a partial project cannot apply to MAC for funding of the same project
- Individuals are only eligible to receive one Mini Grant per fiscal year
- Interest on loans, fines or litigation costs
- Food or beverages for hospitality or entertainment functions
- Projects primarily planned for fundraising purposes
- Lobbying expenses or other activities that are primarily political in nature;
- Tuition or scholarships for academic study
- Monetary awards for competitions
- College and university events that are considered a part of regular or extracurricular programs
- Purchase or long-term rentals of equipment, property or collections
- Out-of-state tours or travel to competitions
- School-sponsored trips, including transportation, admission fees, and other related travel expenses
- Capital improvements, facility construction, or renovation work (except through the BFA grant program.)
- Activities where the primary focus is for therapy
- Creation of sexually explicit content.
- Programs for a religious purpose, including for the promotion of any sect, church, creed, or sectarian organization, nor to conduct any religious service or ceremony. Funds can be granted to religious organizations as long as the funds are not used for a religious purpose. This allows faith-based organizations to apply on behalf of its community for arts activities or programming where artistic expression is the primary focus.
Pre-Application Information
Mini-Grant Applications open on October 1.
Deadline for grant submission is 11:59 p.m. on November 1.
Please note: All applications will be received electronically through MAC’s eGRANT system, please contact MAC if you need additional ADA accommodations.
Applicants must have a new SAM.gov Unique Entity ID (UEI), as this is the primary means of identification required to apply for and receive federal funding.
Before submitting an application, applicants are advised to thoroughly read the Frequently Asked Questions. MAC is especially committed to assisting first-time applicants with the grants process. If your organization is applying for the first time, please contact one of the members of MAC’s Program Staff, listed below, to see if your project is eligible before submitting an application.
Grant awards to organizations, unless otherwise specified in the program guidelines, must be matched dollar-for-dollar.
Dun & Bradstreet (DUNS) number. Go to Dun & Bradstreet at http://www.dnb.com/duns-number.html to apply for a number or check to see if your organization has a number. Go here for more information on DUNS numbers
For questions about the Mini-grant program or to determine if a project is eligible to receive funding, contact the MAC Program Director who oversees the area most closely tied to your organization’s main goals or the goals of your project:
