Capacity Building for Creative Spaces
Applications now open, due September 6th.
Tuesday August 2, 2022 | Arts & Cultural Affairs
Top row L to R: Photo courtesy of Artspace; Getty Image; Photo by Pierre Ware. Bottom L to R: Getty Image; center and right photos by Pierre Ware.
The City of Minneapolis’ Arts & Cultural Affairs invites Minneapolis based small creative businesses, and arts and cultural nonprofit organizations to apply for Capacity Building for Creative Spaces.
In 2021, the City of Minneapolis’ Arts & Cultural Affairs Department received one-time Federal recovery funding from the American Rescue Plan and has partnered with Springboard for the Arts, Juxtaposition Arts and Artspace to provide business support services to creative organizations that have been economically impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. The purpose of the Arts & Cultural Affairs American Rescue Plan funded grant programing is to assist the creative sector’s recovery with an emphasis on supporting the most impacted creative sector industries and Minneapolis communities.
Business Support for Creatives will support rebuilding and improving organizational capacity to not only return to business or improve business outcomes, but to plan for the future. Arts & Cultural Affairs is committed to supporting the development and growth of the creative sector, and especially women and BIPOC creatives.
The application is now open for:
Capacity Building for Creative Spaces: This opportunity is now available to small creative businesses, and arts and arts and cultural nonprofit organizations to work with Artspace as part of a learning cohort designed to build capacity to navigate the real estate process, plan for space, and kick start a plan. In addition to the learning and coaching, selected creative enterprises will each receive cash funding. Participants can expect to spend 65-75 hours over 12 months (approximately six hours a month), including workshops, individual coaching and technical assistance.
Cash support: $5,000
Value of technical assistance: $75,000
Applications due: September 6, 2022 by 11:59 pm CT
Program start date: November 16th, 2022
Program end date: October 25, 2023
Apply here.
Interested in applying or have questions?
The information session of August 9th was video recorded and can be viewed here. Use passcode: fBvP9QV. (include the dot at the end).
The information session of August 18th was video recorded and can be viewed here. Use passcode: 9@rgF2y7
An in-person application clinic will be hosted by the ACCE office on Monday, August 29 between 9:00 am - 11:00 am for anyone with questions or in need of assistance with their application RSVP here to register. Location details to follow.
Eligibility criteria:
This opportunity is available to all small creative businesses, and arts and cultural nonprofits located in Minneapolis that are pursuing a workspace project. The following eligibility criteria is required of all applicants for this funding:
All applicants must have a primary business address in Minneapolis
Creative, artistic, and cultural organizations must be registered or in the process of registering for a business license or nonprofit status. For example 501(c)3, LLC, B-corp, fiscally sponsored organizations are all eligible. Fiscally sponsored projects, individual entrepreneurs, and informal groups are not eligible.
Workspace projects include the planning efforts to rent, buy, develop, or expand space to conduct the applicant's existing artistic, creative, and/or cultural activities. This includes space for fabrication, performance, rehearsal, teaching, creating, exhibiting, administering, etc. It does not include the creation of space solely for residential, leasing, or investment purposes.
Applicants must be able to demonstrate economic hardship due to the pandemic and must demonstrate a revenue or profit drop of at least 25% over the pandemic period, or be able to demonstrate hardships in the form of staffing and/or project changes in 2020 and 2021.
Arts and cultural nonprofit organizations with a budget size of $10,000 to $1,000,000 are eligible to apply;
Creative businesses with annual revenues of $10,000 to $500,000 are eligible to apply;
Nonprofit social service organizations serving cultural communities with affiliated arts and culture divisions are eligible to apply but only if they can provide separate budget data for their arts and culture services for the pandemic period.
Artist entrepreneurs who have received Creative Response Funding in 2020, 2021 or 2022 are NOT eligible to apply, (In order to ensure that our limited resources benefit as many individuals and organizations as possible)
To keep up to date on all Arts & Cultural Affairs grant opportunities and deadlines, sign up for the Arts & Cultural Affairs newsletter here.
Publisher's Note: The name, "The Office of Arts, Culture & the Creative Economy" has been updated on August 13, 2023 where it appeared within the content of this article to "Arts & Cultural Affairs" to reflect its new name as a department of the City of Minneapolis.
