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State Partnership Grant Program Description
Most of the fifty state and six jurisdictional arts agencies were created
in response to the national example and financial incentive provided
by the Arts Endowment. For more than 40 years the Arts Endowment's
support for SAAs has helped to attract state funding that for most agencies
now far exceeds the federal support. State government support is vital
to the arts in America.
As recipients of funding from the Arts Endowment, state
arts agencies are responsible for meeting standards of accountability
that call for:
- Inclusive planning.
- Responsive plans.
- Evaluation of performance in relation to plans.
- Fair decision-making.
- Leadership in learning in the arts, access to artistic excellence,
and partnerships for the arts.
- Reporting on funded activities, in accordance with the National Standard
for Arts Information Exchange.
As the partner agencies of the Arts Endowment, state
arts agencies greatly extend the Arts Endowment's reach and impact,
translating national leadership into local benefit. As they carry out
their state plans, they work cooperatively with the Arts Endowment to
carry out common goals. The SAAs and the Arts Endowment consult regularly
on how they can best work together to address these goals.
Changes for FY 2008
Last year, the SAAs received Partnership Agreement grant support through
six different areas:
- Basic State Plan
- Arts Education
- Arts in Underserved Communities
- Challenge America: Reaching Every Community
- American Masterpieces: Three Centuries of Artistic Genius
- Folk & Traditional Arts Infrastructure (optional)
In addition to these components, SAAs carried out activities in support
of the Poetry Out Loud: National Poetry Recitation Contest initiative.
These separate components and activities were created over the years, reflecting
various priorities and legislatively mandated accounts in the Arts Endowment's
overall grant making. This past year, NEA staff, in consultation with its
SAA partners, closely examined the structure of the Partnership Agreements
to see if improvements could be made. As a result, beginning in FY 2008
the SAAs will receive Partnership Agreement grant support through four components:
- State Arts Plan (formerly the Basic State Plan)
- Arts Education
- Arts in Underserved Communities
- Folk & Traditional Arts Infrastructure (optional)
With this consolidation:
- There will no longer be separate components for Challenge America and
American Masterpieces. Challenge America and American Masterpieces goals
will be supported through the State Arts Plan and the Arts in Underserved
Communities components, as appropriate.
Those goals are:
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Challenge America: To provide access to the arts for all Americans.
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American Masterpieces: To ensure that Americans -- in every state in
the nation and in communities of all sizes -- are provided opportunities
to celebrate the greatest American works across all the arts.
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The 40% of agency grant making funds that used to be allocated
to four separate components (Basic, Underserved, Challenge America, and
American Masterpieces) will continue to be allocated to the SAAs, but will
now be allocated entirely to the State Arts Plan and Underserved components.
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The Poetry Out Loud: National Poetry Recitation Contest initiative will
be carried out with funds, in addition to the 40%, made available through
the State Arts Plan component.
The Arts Endowment and its state partners believe that these changes will:
- Give the states greater flexibility in using federal and state resources
more strategically and more effectively.
- Provide the states with greater leverage in securing matching funds.
- Enhance opportunities for collaborative planning and grant making between
the NEA and the SAAs.
- Increase administrative efficiency for the SAAs and the NEA.
What is included in this new structure
Through State Partnership Agreements, the Arts Endowment supports state
arts agencies in four ways:
- State Arts Plan Component
This component provides funds that agencies can use to address
priorities that are identified at the state level. Activities supported
with these funds also contribute to the fulfillment of one or more
of the Arts Endowment's goals. Projects that address the NEA's
Challenge America and American Masterpieces initiatives can be included
here or as part of the Arts in Underserved Communities component,
as appropriate. Activity for the Poetry Out Loud: National Poetry
Recitation Contest should be included here as well.
- Arts Education Component
This component provides support for those elements of the plan
that address arts education, a part of the school-based area of the
Arts Endowment's Learning in the Arts goal. Funds support efforts
to achieve one or more of the following goals:
- To help ensure that the arts are basic to the education of children
and youth in grades pre-K through 12.
- To expand opportunities for children and youth to participate
in and to increase their understanding of or skills in the arts.
- To provide professional development opportunities for artists,
arts professionals, and teachers.
Each state arts agency should address these goals through strategies
and partnerships that are based on national, state, or local arts
education standards, as appropriate, and the particular needs, opportunities,
and resources of the state. See "Additional
Information on Arts Education."
- Arts in Underserved Communities Component
This component provides support for those elements of a state's
plan that foster the arts in rural, inner-city, and other underserved
communities. Funds may assist in the areas of local cultural development,
folk & traditional arts, developing arts organizations, rural
initiatives, arts programs for disadvantaged youth, presentation
of great American works of art to new audiences, and other programs
that extend the arts to underserved populations. Projects that address
the NEA's Challenge America and American Masterpieces initiatives
can be included here or as part of the State Arts Plan, as appropriate.
For the purposes of these guidelines, an underserved community
is one in which individuals lack access to arts programs due to geography,
economic conditions, ethnic background, or disability. Within this
broad definition, SAAs may identify their own underserved constituencies.
- Folk & Traditional Arts Infrastructure Component (optional)
Through this component state arts agencies can request competitive funds
for projects that strengthen a state or region's infrastructure of
support for the folk & traditional arts, thereby helping to preserve
our nation's diverse cultural heritage. For the purposes of these guidelines,
the term infrastructure refers to stable, professionally directed programs
that are responsive to a diverse folk & traditional arts heritage. This
component builds on the Arts Endowment's commitment of more than 25
years to a network of support for the folk & traditional arts.
Projects might include but are not limited to:
- Professional folk arts positions in support of the folk & traditional
arts. Such positions should have the potential to become self-sustaining
within three years.
- The creation of long-term organizational and community partnerships that
are based in the folk & traditional arts.
- Discovery research to identify and document underserved folk & traditional
artists and arts.
- Apprenticeship programs.
- Technical assistance to traditional artists and folk arts organizations.
- Festivals, exhibitions, new technology, and other presentations of folk & traditional
artists and their work.
New, expanded, or existing projects are eligible. Each state or region is
limited to one Infrastructure request. That request may come from the state
arts agency through this component or from the regional arts organization
as part of its Partnership Agreement. Applications from organizations other
than state or regional arts agencies must be submitted under the Access to Artistic Excellence category of the Grants for Arts Projects guidelines.
All organizations that will request Folk & Traditional Arts Infrastructure
component funds must submit a Statement of Intent to Apply on or before
August 15, 2007. Send an email of no more than one page to mathisa@arts.gov and bergeyb@arts.gov that includes the state(s) that will be
involved in the project and the name, telephone number, and e-mail
address of a contact person. Detailed project descriptions are not
needed.
Deadline Dates
All state arts agencies that will request Folk & Traditional Arts
Infrastructure component funds must submit a Statement of Intent to Apply
on or before August 15, 2007.
All state arts agencies must submit their applications electronically
through Grants.gov, the federal government's online application
system. The Grants.gov system must receive your application no later
than 11:59 p.m., Eastern Time, on October 5, 2007. The Arts Endowment
will not accept late applications. Please be aware that the Grants.gov
Customer Service hours are 7:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m., Eastern Time, Monday
to Friday. Should you encounter any difficulty submitting your application
right before the deadline, the Arts Endowment will not accept your inability
to contact Grants.gov after hours as a valid excuse for a late application.
Awards will support activities that are scheduled to begin on July 1,
2008, or any time thereafter.
Award Information Matching Requirement
State Partnership Agreement awards must be matched at least 1 to 1.
How Award Amounts Are Determined
A. State Arts Plan Component
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Each state arts agency with an approved state plan will be allotted
at least $200,000 out of the amount legally designated for awards
to the SAAs. If funds are insufficient to make allotments of $200,000
to each state, then those funds which are available will be divided
among the states in equal amounts.
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After $200,000 has been allotted to each state arts agency, up to
one quarter of the legally designated amount will be apportioned
by agency policy. Under current policies, part of these funds will
be available to states on the basis of population and part will be
used for Regional Partnership Agreements and National Services awards.
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Any funds that remain from the designated amount will be divided
equally among the fifty states and two jurisdictions with populations
of more than 200,000.
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Funds available for the Poetry Out Loud initiative will be allotted
equally among those agencies in the fifty states and the participating
jurisdictions.
B. Arts Education Component
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Approximately 50 percent of the funds that are available to assist
the SAAs in achieving their arts education goals will be apportioned
among agencies with plans that meet the review criteria as they relate
to arts education. Of these funds, half (or 25 percent of the total)
will be available in equal shares per state and half (or 25 percent
of the total) on the basis of school-age population. Funds apportioned
in this way to any state will not exceed $50,000.
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The remaining funds will be awarded competitively among those agencies that are found to have the strongest plans and accomplishments in relation to the review criteria.
The maximum arts education funding that any agency can receive (competitive
and noncompetitive combined) for a one-year period is $100,000.
C. Arts in Underserved Communities Component
This component utilizes a portion of the funds that are set aside by
statute for awards to the state arts agencies for projects in rural,
inner-city, or other artistically underserved areas.
Underserved set-aside funds that are available to be administered through
Partnership Agreements will be apportioned among state arts agencies
with plans that meet the review criteria. Funds will be based on equal
shares per state, state population, and competition. The competitive
funds will be awarded to those agencies that are found to have the strongest
plans and accomplishments in relation to the review criteria.
D. Folk & Traditional Arts Infrastructure Component (optional)
Funds for this component are awarded competitively among those agencies
that 1) request such funding, and 2) are found to have the strongest
plans and accomplishments in relation to the review criteria. Funding
to any state arts agency generally will range from $10,000 to $50,000.
Applicant Eligibility
Eligibility is limited to the designated fifty state and six jurisdictional
arts agencies. In order to enter into a Partnership Agreement with the
National Endowment for the Arts, a state arts agency must:
- Meet the the Arts Endowment's "Legal Requirements"
at the time of application.
- Be designated and financially supported by its state government.
- Maintain sound fiscal and administrative procedures.
- Base program funding decisions on criteria that take into account artistic excellence and merit.
- Have its own board, council, or commission.
- Have completed a comprehensive planning process, including public meetings on its state plan, and compiled a list of responses to recommendations from those meetings.
- Have submitted acceptable Final Report packages by the due date(s) for all Arts Endowment award(s) previously received.
National Endowment for the Arts · an independent federal agency
1100 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20506 |
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