Mid-America Arts Alliance opens applications for Artistic Innovations grants up to $15k

Dontrell, Who Kissed the Sea by Nathan Alan Davis. // Courtesy of The Black Rep, St. Louis, MO. FY22 Artistic Innovations Grantee.

Applications open today, Jan. 5, 2023, for Mid-America Arts Alliance’s annual Artistic Innovations grants. Organizations or individual artists can apply. Guidelines and application portals can be accessed online.

Since 2012, M-AAA has awarded nearly $2 million through this grant program to regional artists and creative organizations for the creation of new artwork and accompanying public programs or events.

This grant program offers up to $15,000 in support of expenses incurred in the art-making process and premiere of these endeavors. The grant is exclusive to regional artists in Missouri, Kansas, Arkansas, Nebraska, Oklahoma, and Texas. The grant fosters these oft-overlooked artistic communities while bringing art to regional audiences.

Through generous support from the National Endowment for the Arts, M-AAA supports individual artists and nonprofit organizations in Arkansas, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, Oklahoma, and Texas for projects that meet the eligibility requirements.

Last year, M-AAA awarded more than $255,000 through 19 Artistic Innovations grants for a variety of projects, including those in the disciplines of dance, film, literature, music, theater, and visual arts.

Past winners include Kansas City’s Steven Snell, a 2023 winner for his video series Adventure Art on the Mighty MO’, which documents his paddling and painting of the Missouri River. More past winners from the Kansas City area include InterUrban ArtHouse in Overland Park, KS; filmmaker Rodney Thompson of Kansas City, MO; and filmmaker Sav Rodgers of Olathe, KS. You can read more about InterUrban ArtHouse’s work with the community in this Pitch feature by David Hudnall. You can also read more about Sav Rodgers’s grant-winning film project, Chasing Chasing Amy, in this Pitch feature by Aubrie Lawrence.

Applications are due 11:59 p.m. CST, Thursday, Feb. 16, 2023. All projects must take place between July 1, 2023, and June 30, 2024, and are required to have two public-facing events. Apply online, or if you need an alternate application format, contact Angelette Sevart, Operations and Accessibility Coordinator, at (816) 421-1388, extension 216.