Community
Community Arts Awards
Art belongs where people already are — in libraries, schools, church basements, parks, and neighborhood centers.
- Music
- Dance
- Theater
- Visual Arts
DemoApplication flow links to Contact in this concept build.
Overview
What this award does
The Community Arts Awards support organizations and artist-led initiatives that put creative experience within reach of a specific community: a school district, a neighborhood, a congregation, a senior center, a group of families.
The program is intentionally practical. Funds go toward teaching artist fees, transportation, instruments and materials, translation, accessibility accommodations, and the unglamorous costs that decide whether a program actually happens.
Reviewers look for genuine relationship with the community served, realistic scale, and a plan that respects participants as makers rather than audiences.
Program overview
Who it supports
Intended recipients
Community organizations
Nonprofits, schools, libraries, and civic groups delivering arts programming with and for the people they serve.
Teaching artists
Artists leading sustained workshop series, ensembles, or studio programs in community settings.
Access initiatives
Projects that lower a specific barrier — cost, language, transportation, disability access — to arts participation.
Who this award supports
Eligibility
Before you apply
- Applicants must be a nonprofit organization, a public institution, or an artist with a fiscal sponsor.
- Programming must be free or low-cost to participants.
- Programs must take place in the community served, not solely in a formal arts venue.
- Applicants may hold only one active Community Arts Award at a time.
- Full eligibility criteria are sample content pending Foundation review.
Application
How it works
- 01Complete the online application, including a program description and participant profile.
- 02Describe your relationship to the community served and how participants shape the program.
- 03Submit a program budget and a schedule of planned sessions.
- 04Provide one letter of support from a community partner.
- 05Applications are reviewed twice yearly by a standing committee.
Important dates
The annual cycle
February (sample)
April (sample)
August (sample)
October (sample)
Within eight weeks of each deadline
DemoDates shown as sample scheduling.
Important dates
Questions
Frequently asked
- Can an individual artist apply?
- Yes, with a fiscal sponsor or in partnership with a community organization that can receive and administer funds.
- Do you fund one-time events?
- The program favors sustained engagement, but a single significant event may be funded when it is clearly rooted in ongoing community relationship.
- Is programming for young people prioritized?
- Programs for young people are welcome and common, but the award is open to community programming for participants of any age.
- Can funds cover staff time?
- Direct program delivery time — teaching artists, coordinators on program days — is allowable. General administrative salary is not.
Frequently asked questions
Also from Masterwork
Other programs
Original Work
Premier Award
Supporting the creation of new original works across four distinct arts disciplines.
Emerging Artists
Emerging Artist Award
Celebrating and supporting promising artists at the beginning of their creative journeys.
Support
Help Masterwork keep the arts moving forward.
Your support helps fund new work, strengthen communities, and provide opportunities for emerging artists.