Performing Arts Grants for Nonprofits

The performing arts have a uniquely important role within our communities. Not only do they expose us to an essential human heritage, but they bring us together at the same time, in a unique space. Theatre, music and dance programs can help provide education and engagement for youth, and entertainment for their communities. However, these kinds of arts initiatives often require a significant amount of support from nonprofits to operate.

These nonprofits, in turn, can only do their work through the generous funding provided by performing arts grants. These grants provide the necessary money to allow for payment of artists, renting of spaces and covering the costs of productions, set, costumes, marketing and outreach. The grants can also be used for educational purposes, bringing knowledge about the performing arts into schools and youth centers.

These grants can come from a wide variety of sources. Sometimes they will be from federal agencies, such as the National Endowment for the Arts. There are also many private foundations that specialist in performing arts grants, such as the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. It’s not uncommon to find corporate sponsorship programs and community culture organizations also providing performing arts grants.

When preparing a proposal for a performing arts grant, it's important to balance the pragmatic, with the idealistic. On one hand, you want to talk about the important cultural and community benefits from a well-supported performing acts scene. But you also want to demonstrate the data that shows that you can expect the audience engagement and ticket  sales to maintain that arts scene into the future. If you can show examples of the work your nonprofit has done before, that’s even better.

If you need more pointers on how to write award winning grants, make sure to check out our excellent overview on the topic. You can also start browsing a wide selection of performing arts grants above, all open for applications.