Division of Arts invests $3 million in arts and culture statewide

The Delaware Division of the Arts is investing nearly $3 million in more than 100 arts and community organizations statewide. This first round of funding for FY2020 includes: General Operating Support, Project Support, Arts Stabilization, StartUp and Education Resource grants.

“The applications that come in from communities throughout the state represent the finest in arts programming and services,” said Paul Weagraff, director of the Delaware Division of the Arts. “From art leagues, museums, choral groups, and symphonies, to theaters, dance companies, and film, Delaware’s offerings are tremendous.”

Grant review panels, made up of Delaware artists, arts educators, arts and nonprofit organization administrators, corporate and fundraising managers, and interested community members, provided an impartial peer review of these grant applications based on established evaluation criteria.

The awards include:

• General Operating Support for fifty-nine (59) arts organizations.
• Project Support for twenty-five (25) community-based organizations that provide arts programming for children and adults; economically disadvantaged and at-risk students; individuals and family members dealing with cancer; and young children and community members from across Delaware.
• Five (5) Arts Stabilization Fund projects that support capital improvements and repairs to facilities owned by arts organizations.
• StartUp Support for one arts organization seeking to strengthen its management capacity prior to applying for general operating support.
• Thirteen (13) education-based partnerships between Delaware’s schools, arts organizations and artists that provide teacher training and standards-based arts learning experiences for pre K-12 students statewide, in alignment with the new Delaware Standards for Learning in the Visual and Performing Arts.

Funding for the Delaware Division of the Arts comes from the Delaware General Assembly and the National Endowment for the Arts, an independent federal agency. In addition, the funds for capital improvements grants-provided by the Arts Stabilization Fund-are drawn from the Arts Consortium of Delaware, Inc. (ArtCo) endowment. A complete list of grants for the first round of FY 2020 can be found here.

The Division also awards grants on an on-going basis throughout the year, including Arts Access grants, Artist Residencies, Individual Artist Fellowships, Individual Artist Opportunity grants, and TranspARTation grants.