Grant Opportunity

The Saints encourage theater, dance, and music organizations to apply for our grant assistance to be used for artistic development or production-related purposes. Some examples applicants can request funding for but are not limited to: Covid compliance, costumes/puppetry, the commissioning or licensing of works, improvements to applicant-owned premises, community engagement and enrichment projects, or computer and technical items such as sound or lighting needs. Budget requests for mini grants up to $2,500 will be considered for projects occurring from September 1, 2021 through May 31, 2022. Requesting organizations must be 501(c)(3) and have been established for a minimum …

Read more

The next application deadline for the MacArthur Funds for Culture, Equity, and the Arts at the Richard H. Driehaus Foundation is May 3, 2021, 6 pm CST. Groups with actual expenses between $150,000 and $500,000 may apply. This funding program, a partnership between the MacArthur and Driehaus foundations and administered by Driehaus, supports exemplary small and mid-sized cultural organizations in Chicago. It provides general operating grants that help enable groups of all artistic disciplines to present creative work to Chicago audiences as well as to sustain their operations, build their capacity, take …

Read more

Celebrity chef’s foundation makes $300,000 available to Chicago theater companies The Bayless Family Foundation is proud to announce the 2021 “Signal Grant” application is open for Chicago theaters. “We hope these grants can be a lively, bright spark to our city’s theater scene after what’s been a dark time,” said Rick Bayless, the celebrity chef behind the James Beard Award-winning restaurants Frontera Grill and Topolobampo. The “Signal Grant” is being offered in response to the COVID crisis for Chicago’s theatre community, which has been among the hardest-hit industries in the ongoing pandemic …

Read more

The Illinois Arts Council Agency announced the release of the Fiscal Year 2022 (FY22) General Operating Support Grant. Formerly known as the Program Grant, this annual program provides general operating support to eligible Illinois non-profit organizations for public arts programming of high artistic merit. The application deadline for FY22 is Wednesday, March 31, 2021. Read More.

It’s time to design an arts and culture initiative — together. Chicago’s Cultural Treasures is a four-year initiative to support our city’s BIPOC-led and -focused arts and culture organizations as they face unprecedented challenges to their decades of leadership and resiliency. This is not a standard grantmaking initiative. Yes, there will be general operating grants — but also capacity-building and technical assistance tailored to meet the needs of Chicago’s diverse arts and culture community. Yes, we will have deadlines and processes, but we will not have a one-size-fits-all approach. We will work …

Read more

Next Grant Deadline: Dec. 30, 2020 Think Grants: Think grants give arts organizations the time and space to think through a question, analyze challenges and opportunities, and develop plans or small tests of change related to the current moment and its potential impact for the future. Competitive proposals will demonstrate how and why the organization selected the challenge or the questions to be examined and how they will structure their exploration. Explore Grants: Explore grants intended to provide for arts organizations that have fully developed ideas with the resources to test and …

Read more

We all know 2020 has irrevocably changed the theatre industry in Chicago. When speaking with theatres this year, we heard that one of the biggest fears coming was the cash flow crisis around the start of a production. We hope to alleviate some of the stress of ticket pre-sales, hiring and paying artists and technicians, and acquiring the materials needed to bring a production to life. We are awarding 12 companies a one-time grant of $25,000 to defray the mounting costs for a live, multi-week production for an in-person audience. For more …

Read more