Arts Commission details Emerging Artist Grant: $1,800 awards, May 23 deadline

The Arts Commissiongrants team told prospective applicants that the Emerging Artist Grant application is due May 23, 2025, at 11:59 p.m., offers up to $1,800 for projects running July 1through Dec. 30, 2025, and includes a mentorship and cohort program for selected artists.

During a coaching call, Krista Grenza of the Arts Commissiongrants team reviewed the program and application process and artist development director Tanisha Brown described the grantas aimed at artists in the first one to five years of work in a specific discipline. "We consider emerging artists, artists that are within the first 1 to 5 years of their discipline. It's not about age," Brown said.

The program is project-based and intended to support creation or continuation of a new phase of work, staff said. The commission will accept applications only from individual artists (not ensembles or degree-seeking students) who are legal residents of the United States and South Carolina, have lived in the state at least one year prior to application, and are at least 18 years old. Relatives of Arts Commission commissioners are ineligible.

Applicants must propose specific project activities, attach work samples from the last five years (2021through 2025), provide a letter of recommendation no more than two years old and upload an artist resume. Work-sample links must be publicly viewable without creating an account; unlisted YouTube, SoundCloud or Google Drive with updated permissions are acceptable. Panelists will score applications using the published rubric; staff will review submitted applications for completeness before sending them to the panel.

Allowed expenses include supplies and materials, equipment (for example, a pottery wheel), art-related furniture and professional services such as editors or collaborators. Grant funds cannot be used for an applicant's personal living expenses, salary, honorarium or per diem. Brown emphasized that applicants may pay collaborators from the award but must apply as an individual: "we can only pay a single individual," she said.

The grant is a no-match reimbursement grant. Fifty percent of the award will be released after the grant contract packet is processed (up to $900 for a full $1,800 request); grantees may request interim drawdowns of up to 40 percent as expenses accrue; 10 percent will be held until submission of the final report. Staff asked applicants to plan purchases and collaborator payments with the reimbursement schedule in mind.

Program participation is part of the award. Selected artists will join a cohort of up to seven artists, attend six monthly cohort meetings, complete five one-on-one meetings with the artist development director and participate in an online professional-development resource (Creative Study, which has recently combined with Springboard for the Arts). Grantees will have access to Creative Study during the six-month term and for six additional months afterward.

Krista Grenza described the review timeline: panel recommendations will go to the Arts Commission board, and award notifications are expected after the commission's June board meeting. Staff will email awardees contract instructions and dates for cohort and individual meetings; any changes to approved project activities or budgets must be requested in advance and approved by staff.

In the call's Q&A, staff clarified several common issues. Residencies or short-term studio rentals may be included in a budget but should not comprise the majority of the requested amount; paying for a separate studio is allowed but paying for an applicant's personal rent is not. Work-sample production credits should list the applicant's specific role on collaborative projects. Applicants who are not awarded may request panel comments from the grants team.

For help with the portal, rubrics, work-sample formats or budget templates, Grenza asked applicants to start the application early and email the grants team or Tanisha Brown with questions. "If you have any questions, please reach out to the grants team or to Tanisha," Grenza said.

Contact details and the full guidelines are available on the Arts Commission grants webpage; applicants were reminded not to wait until the deadline to submit in case of technical problems.