At 5 p.m., City of Ames Commission on the Arts (COTA) staff held a grant workshop in the council chambers to review deadlines, eligibility rules and reporting requirements for the fiscal-year annual grant cycle and the spring 2026 special project grants.

The workshop summarized key dates applicants must meet: annual grant applications for fiscal year 2026–27 are due to the City Manager’s Office by 5 p.m. on Oct. 17; annual grant hearings are scheduled for Nov. 3, 2025, and attendance at that hearing is required for applicants. Special project grant applications for projects occurring Jan. 1–June 30, 2026, are due Sept. 19; COTA will hold special-project hearings at its Oct. 6 meeting. "If your application is late beyond that deadline, it will not be considered," the staff presenter said.

Why it matters: the grants distribute local-option tax funds to arts organizations that produce community programming. COTA makes funding recommendations; the City Council must approve contracts and budget amounts. The presenter said COTA typically posts its funding recommendations on Jan. 12, 2026, and staff will notify applicants by email.

Staff stressed eligibility and submission rules. Nonprofit organizations and other non-governmental, non‑for‑profit arts groups that are located in Ames and that list arts-related goals in their organizing documents are eligible; "if you're a for-profit organization or a governmental organization, you're not eligible," the presenter said. Applicants must comply with the city's nondiscrimination requirements and, where feasible, acknowledge that programming is supported in part by local-option tax funds provided through the commission.

The application packet must use the standardized forms provided by COTA; staff said applicants should not substitute their own forms or add unrelated documents because the commission compares applications on an "apples-to-apples" basis. The presenter also outlined required financial attachments: a current organization budget and a balance sheet for the most recently completed fiscal year. Payment requests for awarded grants may be submitted at any time during the grant fiscal year, but staff asked agencies to submit payment requests as soon as possible and no later than the first week of July following the grant year to avoid additional administrative justification. Final reports on programming are due by the last Monday in July following the grant year and must document attendance, demographic information where available and a financial reconciliation.

For spring 2026 special project grants, staff noted one substantive difference from the annual process: COTA grant funding may cover no more than 75% of a special-project budget. Applicants must demonstrate at least 25% of project financing comes from sources other than the COTA award. The presenter said individual awards for the spring special projects are available up to $1,000 per project and that the total fund for the cycle was "fairly substantial" though the presenter did not specify a total dollar amount.

Applicants can submit electronically to COTA’s email, cota@cityofames.org, or deliver paper applications to the City Manager’s Office. Staff recommended that applicants arrive at hearings 15 minutes early because the commission occasionally runs ahead of schedule. Jeremy Neafus in the City Manager’s Office was listed as a staff contact to sign up for hearing times or for application assistance.

Questions from the public included whether COTA funds individuals directly; Nathan Moore of Creative Artist Studios asked whether there is a "school sponsorship" option for individuals who do not want to apply on their own. Staff replied that historically COTA funds organizations rather than individuals and encouraged interested parties to contact staff with specific proposals so staff could offer guidance.

The workshop was informational; no funding decisions were made at the meeting. The presenter repeated that COTA’s recommendations require City Council approval before contracts are executed.

Materials and application forms are posted on the City of Ames website; applicants with questions were directed to cota@cityofames.org or to Jeremy Neafus in the City Manager’s Office.