Professional Development Opportunity Grant

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 professional development opportunity to occur within the application time frame

See the grant guidelines for detailed eligibility requirements.

Applicants must be an eligible entity or individual who has identified a relevant and meaningful professional development opportunity. Review the grant guidelines for detailed information.

Please note that application forms in SmartSimple have been updated for 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, program staff will provide video resources that will be available soon to assist you during the application process. Check this page for updates.

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.

In FY 2027, we will accept applications in SmartSimple during two cycles: July 2026 through August 2026 and January 2027 through February 2027. Please note that applications will not be accepted outside of these open periods.

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. Panel review takes place the month following each cycle's open period, 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 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, visit our Payment Process page.

If awarded a Professional Development Opportunity 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: 

• Cycle One (July - August 2026) is July 15, 2027.
• Cycle Two (January - February 2027) is December 31, 2027.

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.