Creativity Grants for Projects

Strengthening the ongoing vitality of creative communities to meet growing needs for arts projects and collaborations.

Creativity Grants for Projects are available to independent artists and arts organizations. There are two options to choose from: the Planning & Development grant is intended to support the early stages of research and development for a proposed project; the Implementation grant is intended to support the execution of a specific arts projects/event/program.

Applications are accepted through March 2027 with a monthly review period.

Applicants must:

  • Be an Independent Artist, or 
  • 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.
  • Organizations applying through fiscal sponsorships can be funded if the Fiscal Agency and the Organization operate within a Model A sponsorship. (Note: in a “Model A” sponsorship, the assets, liabilities, and exempt activities collectively referred to as the project are housed within the fiscal sponsor.)
  • Identify a specific event, activity, or project to occur within the application time frame.

See the grant guidelines for detailed eligibility requirements.

The Creativity Grant for Projects is only available to eligible independent artists and arts organizations. Please carefully review the different options available for project-based support.

Eligibility limits:

For detailed eligibility requirements and other important information, please review the grant guidelines.

Please note that application forms in SmartSimple have been updated for fiscal year (FY) 2027. Start a new application under the "Opportunities" menu in your SmartSimple account. Your application ID # should begin with '2027.' If it does not, you are working off a draft started from a previous year and will not be able to submit it.

In addition to reviewing the grant guidelines, please watch the following resources that are available to assist you during the application process:

For additional support, you can find the latest scoring rubric and other relevant documents below.

Please note that in FY 2027, program staff will no longer available to review a draft of your application prior to submission. If your application was declined for funding, you will be able to request panelist feedback when the form is available. Please allow for at least 8 weeks for processing.

Applications are accepted on an ongoing basis in SmartSimple through March 2027.

Our staff convenes a group of panelists, composed of members of the public throughout the state representing a range of discipline expertise, to electronically review and score all applications according to the review criteria. Grant applications submitted by the last day of the month will be reviewed the following month, and awards are announced shortly after. Payment for awarded activities may take up to 90 days.

See the grant guidelines for a detailed schedule.

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. The report will be added to the grantee's SmartSimple profile as soon as the Grant Agreement Form is fully executed.

The final report deadline for grant recipients who submitted applications between:

  • July 2026 and December 2026 is July 15, 2027.
  • January 2027 and March 2027 is December 31, 2027.

All grantees are required to submit a Final Report communicating data required by the National Endowment for the Arts. This required data can be found in the resource section below. For detailed reporting requirements, please see the grant guidelines.

Please note that if there are significant changes to the proposed activities for which a grant has been awarded, the grantee is responsible for communicating proposed changes to Program Directors, and they must be approved in writing before proceeding. Our staff will help ensure that any proposed changes remain in alignment with the grant guidelines; however, there is no guarantee that proposed changes will be approved. Any approved changes that result in timeline extensions that affect the final report deadline will be reflected in SmartSimple.

Grant recipient information is now available on our Grants Awarded page.

Resources

Similar Funding Opportunities