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Applicants must be individuals and may submit only one application per cycle. Organizations are not eligible to apply. At the time an application is submitted, and the grant is awarded an applicant must be:

• 18 years of age or older and
• a resident of Arizona.

An individual may submit only one application per grant cycle and may receive only one AOG every two (2) fiscal years. An applicant may not receive both an AOG and a Research & Development Grant in the same funding period.

Grant funds may be used for any of the following (this list is not comprehensive):

• Equipment purchases, materials, or services needed to fulfill/engage in the opportunity
• Rental fees, including equipment, instruments, facility (including short-term space and studio rentals), etc., which support the artistic opportunity
• Preparation, freight, and/or shipping costs
• Costs associated with documentation of the opportunity
• Travel necessary to engage in the opportunity (see Funding Restrictions for more information)
• Registration fees
• Professional fees which support the artistic opportunity

Grant funds cannot be used for any projects, or days of a project, that take place before the start date of the cycle in which they are submitted, and/or after the end of the fiscal year (June 30, 2025). If your full project timeline starts before or ends after the funding period, you are still eligible to apply and should articulate the full timeline in your application, but should only request and use grant funds for project activities taking place within the funding period.

Applicants are encouraged to do the following prior to beginning their application:

Request Accommodations
If you require accommodation in completing this application, or otherwise participating in the grant application process, please contact Artist Programs Coordinator Delia Ibañez at dibanez@azarts.gov or (602) 771-6531.

Prepare Narrative Responses
You can type your proposal narrative or you can upload audio recordings of your responses. For each narrative question you will find a maximum word count (not character) and a maximum recording length. If you share your proposal narrative via audio recordings, keep it simple and to the point. Don’t worry about impressing the panelists with your recording technique, just make sure we can hear and understand you. All audio files must be uploaded as MP3 files (.mp3).

Some applicants find it helpful to develop the narrative portion of the application using word processing software, outside the application platform. This allows them to thoughtfully draft their responses and monitor their word counts for each question. A Word document version of the narrative questions can be downloaded here.

Create an Account
You will submit your application through an online submission platform called SurveyMonkey Apply. Prior to applying, all new applicants will need to register at https://azarts.smapply.io/.
If you already have an account, we encourage you to confirm that all information is up to date.

For instructions on how to create or update your account, visit our applicant resources page: https://azarts.gov/grants/applicant-resources/.

Click/tap the “Apply Now” button below. You do not have to complete the application in one session; at any point you can save a draft of your application and complete or submit it later.

APPLY NOW

Narrative Proposal

Answer each of the questions below. You can type up your proposal narrative or you can upload it in a video or audio recording (no more than 6 minutes in length).

1. Describe the opportunity you will engage in with the grant funds. What are your specific proposed activities? (250 words)
2. Tell us about your artistic practice and values and why this opportunity is appropriate and vital to your work at this stage of your career. (250 words)
3. How will engaging in this opportunity directly address at least one of the eligible opportunity categories (introduce your work to new audiences, develop new skills, or develop your artistic entrepreneurship)? (250 words)
4. What next steps in your artistic career would be made possible after completing this opportunity? How does it tie to your future artistic goals and trajectory? (250 words)

If you share your proposal narrative in a video or audio recording keep it simple and to the point. The re- cording should be just you, describing your proposal and answering the four questions listed above.

Please do not include edits of your work samples or special effects. Production quality of this recording will not be considered in your review. Just make sure we can hear and understand you and keep editing and post-production embellishment to a minimum.

Timeline of Proposed Activities

Provide a timeline that details the proposed activities related to your opportunity. The application includes a table with up to 15 rows for activities, asking for Activity Name and Date.
Indicate which dates are finalized with an asterisk at the end of the Name of the Activity.

Example:

Activity 1 | Preparing Sheet Music for Printing & Rehearsing Flute Solo | January-February 2024

Activity 2 | Record with Jane Doe at AZArtsy Recording Studio Solo Pieces* | March 3-5, 2024

Activity 3 | Record with Jane Doe at AZArtsy Recording Studio Finalized Group Compositions* | March 6-8, 2024

Work Samples

Submit work samples you’ve completed within the last 10 years which are relevant to the opportunity. From the list to the right, please choose the most appropriate artistic work sample format to represent your discipline:

• 3 minutes of recorded audio, or
• 3 minutes of recorded video, or
• 6 images, or
• 3 pages of double-spaced text, or
• Combination of materials listed above: Please edit accordingly for no more than a total of 3 minutes of reviewing time (2 images = 1 min. 1 page = 1 min.)

You will be asked to provide the following information (as applicable) for each work sample you submit:

• Title of work
• Date completed/premiered
• Location/site of exhibitions or presentation of work
• Dimensions of work
• Medium of work
• Collaborators

Please do not submit promotional materials.

Panelists can’t assess your work based on an exhibition poster, an event program, social media statistics, or a published review. Remember to test your work samples as you upload them.

Work Samples Description

For each work sample provide a brief description explaining how the submitted work relates to your opportunity. What is the overall relevance of these work samples to your proposal?

Experience List and Description

Provide 3 to 10 arts-based experiences you have engaged in over the past 10 years that relate to the opportunity you want to engage in and briefly describe how each experience demonstrates progression of your artistic trajectory leading to the opportunity. While this can be reflective of a resume, this can be an opportunity to share a wide breadth of experiences and assets from professional skills to personal skills to wisdom and life experiences.

The experience list helps the panel situate the opportunity you propose in a broader context; please briefly describe the overall relevancy of the experiences you listed to the opportunity. (up to 200 words)

Expenses List

List eligible expenses ONLY (equipment, materials, services, rental fees, facility fees, preparation, freight, shipping, documentation, travel, professional fees, etc.) related to your proposal. If your proposed opportunity requires funding beyond the grant amount, feel free to include those expenses in your expense list.

Grant Amount Requested

Indicate the grant amount you are requesting, based on eligible expenses, between $500 and $1,500.

Budget Narrative

If your eligible expenses exceed $1,500 please tell us how you will fund the rest of your proposed activities. (up to 200 words)

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Eligible opportunities must take place during the funding period dates of the cycle in which they are submitted.

Funds are delivered approximately 8-10 weeks after all necessary paperwork has been submitted by the grant- ee. This includes the award agreement, state W-9 and payment form. With that in mind the earliest funding could be received is October 12 for Cycle A Grantees and February 23 for Cycle B Grantees.

Your application materials will be reviewed by agency staff members according to the following criteria. Please note: need is not a criterion. Application merit is based upon strength of responses in relation to the following review criteria:

Quality of Proposed Opportunity
Application clearly outlines the specific details of the opportunity and outlines how the opportunity is unique, relevant, and specifically important in relation to applicant’s current artistic trajectory.

Is the opportunity clear and consistent throughout? Is there an understanding of the past work in relation to the current opportunity and intended future goals?  

Potential Impact to the Artist
Application clearly describes the potential impact to the artist’s work, including what next steps would be possible and its ties to their future artistic goals and clearly describes the potential of the opportunity to address at least one of the three eligible opportunity categories.

Is it clear what next steps are possible after the opportunity? Is there a clear set of activities that will allow the applicant to develop & advance their artistic trajectory? Is the potential to introduce work to new audiences, develop new artistic skills, or support the development of the entrepreneurship connected to the proposed activities? 

Feasibility
Application demonstrates substantial evidence that the proposal will be realized within the funding period and includes a reasonable expenses list for the scope and scale of the proposed activities. The experiences described in the application are relevant to the opportunity proposed.

Do the materials demonstrate that the opportunity will be completed by June 30th? Is the expense list clearly connected to the opportunity described and logical to what is proposed? Does the experience list demonstrate ability to complete the opportunity and connect to trajectory shared in narrative? 

Integrity
Application demonstrates a commitment to high ethical standards and equitable professional practices regarding proposed actions, values, methods, and goals.

Is there connection or relationship with proposed communities, collaborators, or mentors, and is there intent to compensate these parties for their contributions? Are potential barriers to access being discussed openly and intentionally within the application? 

Evaluation Rubric

To assist in their evaluation, reviewers will use a rubric. This evaluation tool can be found here. Applicants may find it helpful to refer to the rubric as they prepare their applications.

This program does not fund the following:

• Support for opportunities, activities, or projects which would otherwise be eligible for another Arts Commission grant, such as the Research & Development Grant or Festival Grant;
• Teaching artist residencies;
• Opportunities that take place outside of the funding period;
• Ongoing studio or space rental;
• Equipment not related to the opportunity;
• Costs related to activities for which the applicant is employed or contracted;
• Opportunities related to academic research or formal study toward an academic or professional degree, such as capstone projects;
• Fundraising projects, food and beverages for any purpose;
• Grant administration, overhead, or processing fees taken by an umbrella/parent organization.
• Costs for nonrefundable travel expenses which are cancelled or postponed beyond the funding period end date.

Additionally, according to the Arts Commission’s enabling statutes, “Notwithstanding any other law, no monies from the Arizona Commission on the Arts may be spent for payment to any person or entity for use in desecrating, casting contempt on, mutilating, defacing, defiling, burning, trampling or otherwise dishonoring or causing to bring dishonor on religious objects, the flag of the United States or the flag of this state.” Recipients of Arts Commission support are further instructed to “take into consideration general standards of decency and respect for the diverse beliefs and values of the American public” within funded programs.

Leading up to the application due date, the Arizona Commission on the Arts will present a webinar-style information session to help prospective applicants in preparing competitive applications.

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