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Colorado Creative Corps ARP Grant

The Colorado Creative Corps ARP Grant provides funds to individual artists for specific, definable projects that connect artists and organizations to local initiatives. Funded by the American Rescue Plan (ARP), a total of $500,000 is dedicated to support employment opportunities for artists impacted by COVID-19 through this funding by building new structures and partnerships that will help to sustain Colorado’s creative sector.

Grant awards are one-time flat amounts between $2,500 to $25,000. This grant may be used to fully fund a project. Matching funds are not required. Grant amounts will be determined and distributed based on the submitted budget and scope of the project and may differ from the requested amount.

 Applications are closed. 

Overview

Type: Grant

For: Artists and artist collectives

Amount: $2,500 to $25,000

Application periods: Closed

OEDIT division: Colorado Creative Industries

Download Grant Guidelines   

The timeline for this program is outlined in the table below. The funding period is from the date the funds are distributed to June 30, 2022. Projects need to occur and be completed within this time frame. 

September 2021 Applications open, staff support available
Mid September to November 1, 2021 Cycle A application round
November 2, 2021 to January 13, 2022 Cycle B application round
January 13, 2022 Final deadline to submit application at 4 pm MST
October 2021 to February 2022 Funding decisions announced on a rolling basis 
Through June 30, 2022 Funding period
July 15, 2022 Final report deadline at 4 pm MST

Eligible artists

To be eligible, you need to:

  • be an individual artist or part of an artist collective (collectives should apply under the name of an individual member of the applying collective)
  • be a current Colorado resident and plan to be a Colorado resident through the funding period
  • be at least 18 years old
  • partner or plan to partner with an organization or community partner on the project

Eligible projects

Projects should have a completion date of June 30, 2022. Projects need to be defined and impact areas including, but not limited to:

  • community development
  • sustainability and climate justice
  • youth development
  • mental health
  • cultural heritage
  • food justice
  • prison reform
  • place keeping
  • other civic engagements with the aim of fostering healthy communities

Virtual and online projects are eligible. Projects might include: 

  • art exhibitions
  • performances
  • readings
  • concerts
  • the creation of art
  • portfolio creation
  • murals in public spaces
  • arts education programs
  • creative-focused public events
  • other arts centric, community-building projects that will help art and artists to survive, and also embed the arts more deeply into communities

Funds need to be used solely as an artist fee or stipend for the grantee to carry out the specific project or activity. The cost of materials and supplies to carry out the project, as well as providing presentations, workshops, and research with tangible outcomes required by the project are allowable and considered part of the artist fee or stipend.

Funds cannot be used for re-granting.

Applications will be distributed in two cycles on a first-come, first-served basis:

  • Cycle A: Mid September, 2021 to November 1, 2021 at 4 pm MST
  • Cycle B: November 2, 2021 to Thursday, January 13, 2022 at 4 pm MST

Applications will be accepted and reviewed on a rolling basis during each cycle. No extensions will be granted, so we encourage all applicants to submit applications with plenty of time before the deadline.

Application and award process

  1. Review eligibility criteria and confirm that you and your project are eligible.
  2. Create or update your account information in the Colorado Creative Industries Grant portal.
  3. Prepare your application by gathering required documents and prepare your answers to narrative questions. Use the Colorado Creative Corps ARP Grant Application Materials document to help you.
  4. Review your application thoroughly and submit the application through the Colorado Creative Industries Grant portal. Call us with any questions at least a day or two prior to the deadline.
  5. Grants will be paid in two installments: 90% at the time of the award and 10% upon completion of the project.

Application materials

You will need to include:

  • proposal budget
  • up to five artistic samples

You will need to answer these narrative questions (limit of 350 words per response):

  • Describe the project and the community that will benefit from it.
  • Describe your artistic practice and interest in this project.
  • List the partners involved (ie artist(s), local organizations, advisors, etc.) and describe their roles. If certain partners have not yet been identified, describe the process for selecting partners.
  • Describe where the proposed artwork will be located or occur. How will the artwork product and/or creation process be accessible to the public or a defined community?
  • Please outline the timeline for the project with milestones?
  • How will success be determined?

 Colorado Creative Corps ARP Grant Application Materials     

Applications will be reviewed by a panel. Panelists will score applications with a standardized rubric and make recommendations to staff for approval by the Colorado Creative Industries Advisory Council on a rolling basis. The Colorado Creative Industries Council will then provide final approval. You will be notified via email, through the online grant portal, of your application status and how much funding you were approved for.

Colorado Creative Corps ARP Grant Rubric  

Proposals will be evaluated based on community engagement, impact, partnerships, and artistic excellence, and artistic merit.

The artistic excellence of the project will be measured by: 

  • quality of the artists, works of art, or services that the project will involve, as appropriate to the project
  • relevance of the artists, works of art, or services to a Colorado community, as defined by the applicant

The artistic merit of the project will be measured by: 

  • potential of the project to reach populations that are underserved—those whose opportunities to experience the arts are limited by geography, ethnicity, economics, or disability
  • potential to make quality arts or cultural resources more widely available
  • appropriateness of the project to the artist’s and/or partnering organization's mission, audience, community, and/or constituency
  • ability of the project to grow the artist’s capacity and experience, as appropriate
  • ability to carry out the project based on such factors as the appropriateness of the budget, the quality and clarity of the project activities and goals, the resources involved, and the qualifications of the project's personnel
  • evidence of direct compensation to artists, art collectives, and/or art workers
  • as appropriate, engagement with the following constituencies as encouraged by White House Executive Orders:
    • historically black colleges and universities
    • Tribal colleges and universities
    • American Indian and Alaska Native tribes
    • African American serving institutions
    • Hispanic serving institutions
    • Asian American and Pacific Islander communities
    • organizations that support the independence and lifelong inclusion of people with disabilities

All funding needs to be used by June 30, 2022. If you were awarded funds, you will be required to submit a final report no more than 30 days after the completion of the project.

The FDR (Final Descriptive Report) will ask you the following questions:

  • Discuss the community impact and engagement that occurred as a result of this project (required)
  • Number of artists and/or creative workers employed during the project. (required)
  • Total estimated paid hours of artist and/or creative worker employment during the project. (required)
  • Would this employment opportunity have been available without support from the Colorado Creative Corps ARP grant? (required)
  • A summary of other uses of the grant budget. (required)
  • If additional cash resources were leveraged, please include a numerical amount. (optional)
  • If additional in-kind commitments or resources of another nature were leveraged, please describe. (optional).
  • Documentation of project completion, such as images, press articles, promotional materials, video, etc. If providing high resolution images, please indicate if CCI can use. (required

 Failure to submit a final report will make you ineligible for funding for all Colorado Creative Industries grants for one full year after the fiscal year in which the grant was awarded.

Cycle A

sean boggs, $8,000 - Eagle County: For "Dear Dad," a suicide prevention movie filmed in Eagle, CO.

Tammi Brazee, $20,000 - Ouray County: For "Tame Your Marmots," a series of paintings and cast marmot sculptures that will be used in the development of a fine arts-based mental health therapy tool.

R. Alan Brooks, $25,000 - Denver County: For the development of a BIPOC graphic novel in the genre of a sci-fi/futuristic-Western focused on teaching youth to avoid radicalization.

Katy Casper, $12,000 - Arapahoe County:   For "Edible Artscapes," a regenerative urban farming installation with integrated public art elements to be created in collaboration with youth participants of Denver Youth Employment Academy's Arts Street program.

Lauren Czaplicki, $15,000 - Conejos County:   For the development of pop-up exhibitions and the installation of pocket gardens exploring themes of sustainability, mental health, and cultural heritage in Alamosa, Costilla, La Plata, Ouray and Mineral Counties.

Adrienne Garbini, $25,000 - Saguache County:   For the creation and exhibition of artworks by an intergenerational group of artists working in colcha embroidery in the San Luis Valley.

Maureen Hearty, $6,500 - Yuma County:   For "Prairie Past and Futures," a multi-media creative place-making project featuring work from Yuma and Washington County youth that involves oral histories, artifacts, photography, sculpture and upcycling to create a cross-cultural, inter-generational exhibit connecting the community's past to ideas for it’s future.

Sonja Horoshko, $15,000 - Montezuma County:   For "Satchel," a collaborative project in Montezuma county that will explore migration and immigration in the United States.

Julio Mendoza, $15,000 - Denver County:   For the development of artistic lighting and mural installations under the Colfax Viaduct to enhance visitor experience and create a welcoming and safe environment.

David Montgomery, $11,000 - Alamosa County:   For the creation of a mural in downtown Alamosa that celebrates the unique culture, traditions, and agricultural heritage of the San Luis Valley.

Summer Nettles, $20,000 - Denver County:   For “She Quit," a six episode series focusing on the workplace’s impact on Black women.

Grace Noel, $25,000 - Denver County:   For “We’re All In This Together,” a public sculpture spanning Grand Lake’s iconic boardwalk that will represent the Ute Creation Story.

Shannon Palmer, $6,000 - Pueblo County:   For the creation of a mural exploring the history of Saint Mary Corwin Hospital to be painted on Pueblo's Arkansas River Levee.

Tara Rynders, $10,000 - Jefferson County:   For "The Clinic" monthly workshops for health care providers, which offers ongoing and sustained time and space for healthcare providers to reflect, process, and heal through music, dance, art and collective sharing.

Daniel Salazar, $15,000 - Denver County:   For "Movimiento Elders: What We Lived Here," a multimedia performance and dramatic reading incorporating music, dance, photography, video and animation based on audio interviews of native Coloradans who were active participants in the Chicano Movement (El Movimiento) of the late 1960’s and early 1970s.

Lisa C. Taylor, $17,000 - Montezuma County:   For "Writing for Resilience," a youth writing program in Montezuma county.

Brijetta Waller, $15,000 - Pitkin County:   For the "Love Notes Project," an interactive art project aiming to bring support, love, and healing to LGBTQ youth in the Roaring Fork Valley.

Becky Wareing Steele, $12,500 - Denver County:   For "¿Qué significa para ti la comunidad? (What does community mean to you?)," a series of diorama-based installations to be created in collaboration with Munroe Elementary students and installed in the Westwood neighborhood of Denver.

Helanius Wiklins, $10,000 - Boulder County:   For "The Conversation Series: Stitching the Geopolitical Quilt to Re-Body Belonging," which will include multimedia performances, facilitated discourse, and conversations with community members exploring what it means to be Black and queer in America today.

Cycle B

Jennifer Dempsey, $15,000 - Chaffee County: For "White Bear Woman," an original one-woman theater-in-education production that tells the story of 23 year old Lori Piestewa, the first Native American woman to lose her life as a member of the US military.

Andre Carbonell, $12,000 - Denver County: For the creation of the Slam Nuba artist residency, which will provide 6-week residencies to literary performance artists who identify as Black, Indigenous, or persons of color.

Brian Corrigan, $20,000 - Denver County: For the Farm-To-Spaceship x San Luis Experience Accelerator, which seeks to address persistent poverty, division, and inequity in San Luis, Colorado’s “Oldest Town,” by activating the community to co-design creative placemaking activities that both enhance the public realm and create experiential offerings for visitors and locals.

Victor Ngo-Smith, $18,000 - Denver County: For the "Refuge Arts" program, which offers immigrant and refugee women and girls, and queer minority youth free, weekly group music and art experiences, including weekly community choir and orchestra, drum line and world percussion ensemble, and visual art and mural design.

Gregg Ziemba, $18,000 - Denver County: For the creation of a visual album of the Alice in Wonderland (All is Wonder) soundtrack written, recorded, produced, and released by the Denver band Wheelchair Sports Camp.

Bernadette Salem, $15,000 - Gunnison County: For the creation and subsequent screening at the Peace Museum CO (Gunnison) of a four-part Navajo language documentary series centered around the Navajo musical ceremonies that accompany each of the four seasons.

Yul Jorgensen, $18,000 - Huerfano County: For the creation of murals and programming, including community art workshops and public events, for the second annual FAROUT Mural program in Walsenburg.

Emilie Odeile, $23,000 - Huerfano County: For "FROG: A Fiber Situation," a multi-sensory fiber art exhibition and Lifelong Colorado webinar series that educates and informs municipal leaders across the state on the benefits of pursuing and achieving Age-Friendly designation.

James Bruenger-Arreguin, $12,000 - Jefferson County: For “Coyota in the Kitchen,” a new one-woman theatre piece created by Colorado director James Bruenger-Arreguin and Colorado writer Jessica Kahkoska, produced in partnership wish the the Colorado Fine Arts Center at Colorado College, and adapted from Anita Rodriguez’ award-winning book of the same name.

Tony Diego, $17,000 - Jefferson County: For a community-based art exhibit led by Los Fantasmas artist collective in collaboration with the State Office of Juvenile Diversion, GRASP (Gang Rescue and Support Project), and Colorado Circles for Change,  which will engage students and families that identify as Chicano, Indigenous, Native or Raza.

Amelia Furman, $4,000 - Larimer County: For “Uniquely Us: Identity in Community," a collaborative project supporting art exploration and expression for young adults in the disability community in Larimer and Weld counties by providing art workshops and the creation of a collaborative artwork.

Chelsea Gilmore, $21,000 - Larimer County: For the creation of community developed sculptural installations in vacant storefronts along the Pawnee Pioneer Scenic and Historic Byway in Morgan County, as well as the installation of a mural at the end of the byway in Fort Morgan.

Will Campbell, $18,000 - Mesa County: For a film and mural project that will highlight the efforts of high school age students in Grand Junction who are working collaboratively on suicide prevention and postvention advocacy.

Briana Harris, $6,000 - Weld County: For the Bands Give Back program, which is organized by the band "The Burroughs," and will pair professional musicians and bands with high school music programs in Greeley-Evans School District 6 to deliver guest artist workshops.

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