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Creative Intersections Grant
"Building Community Through the Arts"

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  Grant Deadlines

Please note that the guidelines currently available are from FY10, which ends on June 30, 2010. The FY11 guidelines will be available soon.

 
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Program Description
The Creative Intersections program is designed to support innovative partnerships that integrate arts and culture into plans for community development and enrichment.

The Creative Intersections grant program provides up to $10,000 for projects that will build bridges among community sectors and that have the benefit of building momentum toward strengthening the community as a whole through a quality arts development project.

This funding stream is not an alternative pathway to funding the "usual and customary" programs of your group. Please review the Creative Intersections grant guidelines and FAQ page for the specific eligibility requirements and to help you consider whether your project idea clearly meets the program intent and grant review criteria.

Program Requirements
Requirements listed here are intended to give a sense of the program. For full description of requirements and eligibility rules, see guidelines.

Cross-Sector Partnership
All applicant organizations must demonstrate that there are partners from within the three economic sectors of their community: (a) public, (b) private nonprofit, and (c) business or commercial (see guidelines page 4).

Budget
This grant can fund up to one-half of your total project costs. MRAC funds must be matched dollar for dollar. At least 50% of the match must be in cash. The remaining match may include cash and/or in-kind goods and services (for a definition of in-kind, see guidelines, page 10).

Your request may include costs for personnel, postage, supplies, equipment, printing, travel, and other activities necessary to carry out your project.

Oversight
Your group must have a board of directors or an advisory committee that provides input on your project.

Nonprofit Status
Your group must be incorporated as a nonprofit in the State of Minnesota. If you are incorporated but do not have IRS tax-exempt status, you must apply using a nonprofit, tax-exempt organization as a fiscal sponsor (see guidelines for definition, page 9).

You must be able to furnish proof of your organization's IRS tax-exempt status -or- furnish a letter of agreement with your fiscal sponsor and proof of your fiscal sponsor's IRS tax-exempt status.

Eligibility
To ensure eligibility, all applicants are strongly encouraged to discuss proposal ideas with MRAC staff before beginning an MRAC application. All eligibility requirements are fully outlined in the guidelines. For general eligibility, see the Eligibility page.

Who does the Creative Intersections grant fund?

  • State-incorporated nonprofit arts groups located in the seven-county metropolitan area with annualized operating expenses less than $300,000 and at least a one-year history of programs/services.

  • Nonprofit non-arts organizations with annualized arts programming expenses less than $300,000 may be eligible if:
    • They have at least a one-year history of arts programming, AND
    • They can demonstrate clearly that the project is specifically and primarily intended to serve an under-served community (see definition, page 9).

For a description of what the Creative Intersections grant does not fund, see the guidelines and the Eligibility page.

Deadlines
Creative Intersections grants have two deadlines per MRAC fiscal year, July 1 - June 30. See "Important Dates" at the top of this page.

Help

For answers to frequently asked questions review the Creative Intersections FAQ answer page.

Currently, there is no workshop for this grant. Organizations interested in applying should contact Gwen Cannon at 651-523-6389 or by email at gwen@mrac.org for technical support in the application process.

Application Materials

PDF Creative Intersections Grant Guidelines (94K)
  PDF Creative Intersections Grant Application (287K)

Click the links above to download the grant guidelines and form(s) in PDF format. You must have the free Adobe Acrobat Reader or the commercial Adobe Acrobat installed on your computer to view these files. Click here to download Acrobat Reader. If you have trouble downloading or reading these forms, call the MRAC office at 651-645-0402 and ask them to send you the application materials by U.S. mail.

Read the instructions carefully before filling out the grant application. You may fill out the grant application electronically by filling in the fields and printing.

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