The Inspire Iowa Cultural Tourism Grant program supports a limited number of highly visible and high-impact arts, culture and heritage events, performances, productions or exhibitions.
Donor Name: Iowa Economic Development Authority (IEDA)
State: Iowa
County: All Counties
Type of Grant: Grant | Reimbursement
Deadline: 06/30/2025
Size of the Grant: $100,000 to $500,000
Grant Duration: Grant Duration Not Mentioned
Details:
Projects will attract new visitors to Iowa communities and showcase the state as a cultural tourism destination. This funding opportunity recognizes Iowa’s arts, cultural and heritage venues as significant tourism attractions that anchor growing communities. Iowa’s creative sector generates more than $4.5 billion of economic impact annually, while stimulating local spending, supporting the broader hospitality industry, and attracting millions of visitors to our state.
The goals of the program include to:
- Create enhanced visitor appeal to Iowa communities and elevate the perception of Iowa as a cultural destination.
- Promote out-of-county and out-of-state visits and extended stays, which in turn can generate additional local spending and support economic growth.
- Encourage Iowa’s creative sector to develop new and unique experiences, events, and attractions that appeal to tourists.
- Collaborate with recreation, hospitality, travel, and entertainment partners to amplify the impact of arts, cultural and heritage experiences, events, and attractions.
Funding Information
- A total of $250,000 in program funding is available through a Statewide Tourism Marketing Services & Efforts allocation to the Iowa Economic Development Authority for fiscal year 2025 (July 1, 2024 – June 30, 2025). The period of performance for using awarded funds is July 1, 2024- December 31, 2026.
- Individual awards are expected to range from $25,000 to $50,000, though higher individual awards may be considered for especially impactful projects. The maximum award amount is $100,000.
- Grant funds will be awarded on a reimbursement basis only.
Project Eligibility
Projects must focus on the presentation of a significant arts or cultural performance, production or special exhibition and include a specific tourism marketing strategy to attract visitors. A visitor is defined as anyone traveling 50 miles or more to visit the attraction.
Projects should relate to one the following categories:
- Visual Arts: Art Centers, Museums, Local and Community Arts Organizations
- Performing Arts: Live Music, Opera, Dance or Theatrical Productions
- History and Heritage: Historical Societies and Sites, Historical Museums, Heritage Sites
- Science and Nature: Zoos, Aquariums, Science and Nature Interpretation Centers.
Eligible projects may include the following types of projects:
- Major Traveling and Special Exhibitions
- Traveling and special exhibitions must present highly unique artistic, cultural, scientific, or heritage content and/or artifacts that are new to or infrequently seen in Iowa, broadly relevant to target audiences, and of significant visitor appeal.
- Exhibitions drawn primarily from local or regional collections and/or from a museum’s permanent collections are ineligible for funding consideration.
- Major Touring Productions and Performances
- Touring productions and performances must be unique within an organization’s ongoing programmatic offerings, have significant visitor appeal, and increase tourism to an arts, cultural, or heritage attraction and the surrounding community and/or region.
- Annual series, seasons, and engagements consisting of multiple productions or performances are ineligible for funding consideration.
Eligible Expenses
This program supports one-time costs associated with securing, presenting, and/or marketing a special arts or cultural event, performance, production or exhibition. In addition to soft costs (e.g., advertising expenses, rental fees), the grant request may include hard costs related to hosting or staging the event. Grant funds will be awarded on a reimbursement basis only.
Allowable Expenses for Reimbursement include:
- Marketing and promotional expenses including email marketing campaigns, magazines, newspapers, radio, TV, internet, direct mail, PR/media kits, and billboards, etc.
- Outside professional services specific to artist fees directly related to the funded program, including travel
- Outside professional services specific to marketing and/or public relations directly related to the funded program
- Outside professional services specific to production and technical expenses directly related to the funded program
- Marketing and advertising costs directly used on out-of-county marketing related to the funded program
- Space rental directly related to the funded program
- Project specific capital expenditures, including the purchase of tangible personal property (including information technology systems) having a useful life of less than one year and a per unit cost that is less than $5,000.
- Pre-payments made prior to the grant period may be eligible expenses under limited circumstances. The applicant must demonstrate that such expenditures were essential to the project’s effectiveness, such as a required deposit for goods/services or expenditure that resulted in significant savings. An example of an eligible pre-payment would include booking fees or a deposit necessary to secure a significant production or exhibition.
Eligibility Criteria
- All applicants must meet these requirements. Entities who do not meet these requirements are not eligible to apply.
- Must operate a facility open to the public for regular hours and provide programming of interest to a tourist for a minimum of 4 months per year.
- Organization must maintain a cash operating expense budget, exclusive of other IEDA grant support, of no less than $250,000 per year.
- Identify as either an Arts Organization, Cultural or Humanities Organization.
- Arts Organizations are defined as an organization whose primary mission and purpose is focused on the arts.
- Cultural Organizations are defined as organizations whose primary mission and purpose is culturally focused or meets the definition of the interpretive sciences.
- Humanities Organizations are defined as an organization whose primary mission and purpose is focused on the humanities.
- Eligible applicants must also be one of the following types of entities and meet all the related requirements:
- Nonprofits: Federally tax exempt 501(c)3 nonprofit organization incorporated and physically located in Iowa. An organization will be considered physically located in Iowa if the organization maintains a current home office and primary staff presence in Iowa.
- Organizations that are partly located in, or serve residents of, a border state in addition to Iowa may be considered eligible. An eligible border state organization must demonstrate that the funding request significantly impacts cultural tourism in Iowa and predominately serves Iowans.
- An organization whose primary purpose is to channel resources (financial, human, or other) to an affiliated organization may only apply if the affiliated organization does not submit its own application. This prohibition applies even if each organization has its own 501(c)3 status. For example, the “Friends of ABC Museum” may not apply if the ABC Museum applies.
- Communities: Unit of local, county or federally recognized tribal government physically located in Iowa.
- Nonprofits: Federally tax exempt 501(c)3 nonprofit organization incorporated and physically located in Iowa. An organization will be considered physically located in Iowa if the organization maintains a current home office and primary staff presence in Iowa.
For more information, visit IEDA.
