The Tennessee Arts Commission is accepting applications for its Arts for All Grants.
Donor Name: Tennessee Arts Commission
State: Tennessee
County: All Counties
Type of Grant: Grant
Deadline: 01/20/2026
Size of the Grant: $10,000 to $100,000
Grant Duration: 1 Year
Details:
Engaging in the arts can serve as a powerful tool to improve many aspects of a person’s life including health and well-being, social connectedness, positive aging, increased learning and self-improvement, to name a few. Research shows that the benefits of participating in the arts goes beyond aesthetic enjoyment and is a valid, sustainable way of improving a person’s life.
This grants category encourages applicants to use innovative ways to engage people with limited exposure to the arts in arts programming while reducing those barriers. Applicants in this category must fully explain the population they intend to reach, the limitations that are faced within this population of accessing the arts, and how their proposed arts program intervention will overcome these barriers.
Proposed arts projects must involve one or more of these recognized art forms: visual, craft, media, design, music, theater, dance, folk or literary arts.
Funding Information
Funds awarded to a single organization in this category range in amounts up to $18,000 with a 1:1 match for arts organizations & for non-arts organizations.
Project Period
Projects occurring July 1, 2026 – June 15, 2027.
Activities/Expenditures
The following are examples of activities and expenditures that are consistent with the funding philosophy for Arts for All:
- Contracted artists fees for professional artists
- Master classes, workshops, programs, projects or activities involving artists
- Specific aspects of workshops, festivals and conferences
- Public performances, productions and exhibitions produced by the applicant
- Exhibitions of art by professional artists
- Promotion, publicity and newsletters
- Materials and supplies needed for participants in the proposed art project
- Administrative and artistic staff support (except for applicants who apply for or receive operating support from the TN Art Commission in other grant categories).
- Technical/production support
Eligibility Criteria
An organization is eligible to apply for funding if the organization is legally chartered in Tennessee, has an active IRS 501(c)3 status, can provide a current copy of the organization’s bylaws, and a Unique Entity Identifier (UEI). Failure to provide all nonprofit status documentation will result in the application being disqualified.
The following activities and expenditures are inappropriate for funding through this program:
- Payments to members of the organization’s board
- Insurance Premiums
- Endowments
- Honoraria or subsidies
- Office space rental
- Janitorial service and general physical plant maintenance
- Food and hospitality
- Permanent equipment purchases
- Scholarships and subsidized programming
- Payment of accumulated deficits
- Capital improvements
- New periodicals, books, etc. (such as vanity publications)
- Out-of-state travel
- Scholarly arts-related research and writing
- Cash awards
- Purchase of local public art
- Legal fees
- Planned fundraising events
- Events to which the general public is not invited
- Consultant fees for technical assistance
For more information, visit Tennessee Arts Commission.
