Creativity Grants for General Operating Support

The Creativity Grant for General Operating Support is only available to arts organizations; independent artists are not eligible for this option. 

The organization:

• Be a Maryland-incorporated 501(c)3 nonprofit organization in operation for one year or more and within grant income requirements, a unit of Maryland local government, or a Maryland college/university/school.
• Must produce or present arts programs, services or projects that are relevant to its community and are available to the public. 
• may not be in the Grants for Organizations (GFO) or County Arts Development (CAD) program, or an Arts & Entertainment District (A&E).

For full eligibility criteria, please review the FY 2026 Guidelines.

Please note that application forms in Smart Simple have been updated for FY 2026. Your application ID # should begin with '2026.' If it does not, you are working off a draft started from a previous year and will not be able to submit it. Please open a new FY 2026 application under the "Opportunities" menu to begin a new application. 

In addition to reviewing the guidelines document in the "Quick Resources" box, please review the following resources that are available to assist you during the application process:

Access the meeting slides.

For additional support, you can find the FY 2026 scoring rubric, and other relevant documents in the "Resources" section below.

Arts Services Program Directors Emily Sollenberger and Laura Weiss are available to review a draft of your application prior to submission. If you are interested in this, please contact them directly (emily.sollenberger@maryland.gov or laura.weiss@maryland.gov) for assistance. Please allow for at least 6 weeks for processing.

If your application was declined for funding, you can request feedback by completing the form here. Please allow for at least 6 weeks for processing.

Applications are accepted on a rolling basis from July 2025 through December 2025. Applications are reviewed monthly, and Creativity Grants are awarded throughout the fiscal year. For awarded activities, payment may take up to 90 days. The Creativity Grant for General Operating Support will permanently close on December 31, 2025, as we transition all general operating support for arts organizations/programs to the Grants for Organizations (GFO) program.

Applications are reviewed monthly, and Creativity Grants are awarded throughout the fiscal year. For awarded activities, payment may take up to 90 days

Creativity Grant applications submitted by the last day of the month will be reviewed by the panel in the following month, with notifications to follow early the following month. Please refer to the Guidelines document in the "Quick Resources" section for a detailed schedule.

MSAC convenes a group of panelists, composed of members of the public statewide representing a range of discipline expertise, to electronically review and score all applications according to the review criteria above.

Applications must be completed in SmartSimple.

After the monthly panel review, applicants will be notified of the grant status as soon as possible, and, if approved, receive a formal grant agreement form to process the grant payment (100% of award amount).

Upon execution of the grant agreement, payment will be processed for receipt in 6-8 weeks.

All MSAC grants are paid on the same timeline. To learn more, click here.

If awarded a Creativity Grant, the recipient must file a final report online in SmartSimple. Grantee's will have access to the final report in SmartSimple as soon as the Grant Agreement Form is fully executed.

Applications submitted between July 2025 and December 2025 will have a Final Report deadline of August 15, 2026. 

For detailed reporting requirements, please see the grant guidelines.

• FY 2025
• FY 2024
• FY 2023
• FY 2022
• FY 2021
• FY 2020
• FY 2019