Deadline: 4 March 2025
Applicants are now invited to submit applications for the South Carolina Arts Commission’s Libraries Engagement Grants Program to stimulate partnerships between libraries and artists or arts organizations, and encourage communities to participate in artistic and cultural activities.
Funding Information
- Grant amount: Up to $2,500 within a fiscal year.
Eligible Expenses
- The Libraries Engagement grant can be used to fund public engagement activities involving any of the following art forms: dance, music, opera, musical theatre, theatre, visual arts, design arts (architecture, fashion, graphic, industrial, or interior), crafts, photography, media arts, literature, playwriting/screenwriting, media productions, spoken word/slam poetry, time-based art (installation, sound, experimental film, video art, computer-based technology, or performance art), and/or folklife/traditional arts.
- Funding will be considered for a broad variety of activities, including (but not limited to):
Ineligible Expenses
- This grant funding cannot be used for:
- Non-arts-related projects.
- Food and beverages, alcohol, craft or catering services.
- Activities that do not engage the public.
Eligible Projects
- Provide opportunities for participants in an activity to develop their own artistic skills and/or produce their own artistic work, or
- Offer artistic development opportunities to artists through activities such as residencies or workshops, or
- Provide opportunities for using the arts in new contexts.
Geographical Focus
- Priority will be given to individuals or organizations that have projects in SCAC’s Opportunity Initiative Counties:
- Allendale, Bamberg, Calhoun, Cherokee, Clarendon, Dillon, Edgefield, Hampton, Jasper, Laurens, Lee, Marion, Marlboro, Saluda, Williamsburg
Eligibility Criteria
- Public libraries that support and strengthen their local communities by providing services that ensure all residents have access to information, resources, and opportunities in programming and learning.
- The applicant must be a public library, public library authority, network of public library authorities, friends of S.C. libraries, or an organization managing a public library authority as defined under the Public Libraries & Museums Act 1964.
- The applicant must ALSO be:
- A unit of government, OR
- A nonprofit organization:
- Currently registered as a charity with the S.C. Secretary of State’s Office.
- Reflecting S.C. as the primary address on all current official organizational documents.
- With federal tax-exempt status with the Internal Revenue Service, or
- applying through a tax-exempt fiscal agent/receiver organization
- In accordance with federal government policy, all organizations including (but not limited to) private schools, public school districts, government entities, and nonprofit organizations must provide a valid UEI number to receive an SCAC grant award.
Ineligibility Criteria
- College/university libraries are not eligible to apply.
- Commissioners and staff of the S.C. Arts Commission and members of their immediate families are not eligible to apply for any individual SCAC programs, grants, fellowships, or services that provide financial support or career recognition.
Application Requirements
- Applicants should be prepared to tell (in a narrative section tied to project detail points):
- About the library and the community, it serves, including demographics, dynamics and key issues or challenges it faces.
- About the purpose and goal for the arts project.
- Why the project is important to the library and/or the community it serves.
- How the library and/or community benefit from the project.
- What the target audience is for the project.
- What kind of marketing/outreach is planned for the project.
For more information, visit SCAC.
