An applicant must meet the following criteria:

• Applicants: Community representatives, individual artists, collectives, or organizations based in Colorado.
• Residency and Age: Must be a Colorado resident, at least 18 years old.
• Community Involvement: The project should be led by or engage members of the community whose traditions are being presented or documented.
• Payments: To individuals (not businesses), 501(c)(3) nonprofit organizations, units of state or local government, institutions of higher education, or Federally-recognized Indian tribal governments. Grants are taxable income.
• Applicants may apply using a fiscal sponsor. Associated costs should not be more than 10% of the funding request.  
• For this program, Colorado Creative Industries is looking for projects with completion dates by June 31, 2025

Eligible Individual Subrecipients:

Awards to individuals may include funding for the creation, presentation, or teaching  of folk and traditional arts projects and or funding for documenting folk or traditional arts and cultural heritage through the creation of  community archiving, oral histories, or photojournalism. This is considered a stipend to the artist/individual for the work undertaken and completed. 

Eligible Organizational Subrecipients: 

501(c)(3) nonprofit organizations, units of state or local government, institutions of higher education, or Federally-recognized Indian tribal governments are eligible to receive funds sub awarded through an Arts Endowment award. 

Additional Requirements:

• Compliance with state and federal regulations.
• Documentary works and or visuals from the creative project must be made available for submission to the online digital Archives, a joint collaboration between Colorado Creative Industries, Colorado State Archives, and History Colorado. 
• Acknowledgment of Colorado Creative Industries' support in materials.

Awards to individuals must be used solely as an artist and or individual fee/stipend for the grantee to carry out the specific project/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. 

• Ineligibility: Re-granting of grant funds

The Folk and Traditional Arts Project Grant applications will open in July of 2024 and will close in early fall. We recommend that you register in the Colorado Creative Industries Grant portal several weeks before the application deadline. This will help you become familiar with the online grant system with plenty of time before the deadline.

The application process is:

1. If you are applying as an organization, register for a UEI number through Sam.gov. The federal government uses the UEI number to track how federal money is allocated. Our National Endowment for the Arts funding requires us to collect this information. If you are applying as an individual, you do not need to submit a UEI number.

Apply for the grant through the Colorado Creative Industries Grant portal. Log in to your account or create a new account. Paste answers to the narrative questions.

Application materials consist of:

• Narrative questions
• Budget
• Support materials

Translation

CCI provides the grant guidelines and rubric in Spanish and other languages on our website through the translation feature at the top right of the page. 
If you have language translation or access needs in order to be able to apply, please contact Emma Acheson at emma.acheson@state.co.us well in advance of the application deadline. CCI will do our best to accommodate language needs.

Accessibility

Colorado Creative Industries is committed to ensuring that all individuals, including those with disabilities, have equal access to our grant opportunities. We strive to make our grant application process, events, and activities accessible to all individuals, including those with disabilities. We are committed to compliance with state and federal laws regarding accessibility and non-discrimination, and we will take appropriate steps to ensure that our grant program is inclusive and accessible to all individuals. Read the CCI Accessibility and Belonging Statement/Policy.

The grant application process is available online. If you have any questions or concerns about accessibility or if you require accommodations to complete the application, please contact Emma Acheson at emma.acheson@state.co.us at least two weeks before the application deadline. We will make every effort to provide reasonable accommodations for individuals with disabilities who wish to participate in our grants.

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.

Proposals will be evaluated on:

• Reflection of Cultural Heritage and Alignment with Folk and Traditional Arts Definition (25% total)
• Artistic Excellence and Merit (25% total)
• Community Benefit and Project Impact (50%)

The artistic excellence of the project includes the:

• Quality of the artists/individuals, works, or services that the project will involve, as appropriate to the project.
• Relevance of the artists/individuals, works, or services to a Colorado community, as defined by the applicant.

The artistic merit of the project includes the:

• 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.
• 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

Reflection of Cultural Heritage and Alignment with Folk and Traditional Arts Definition
(25% of total score) Scored 1-10

• Reflection of Community and Cultural Heritage 
  • The project deeply resonates with and reflects the community's cultural heritage.
  • Engages community members in a manner that honors their cultural legacy and encourages active participation.
• Alignment with Folk and Traditional Arts Definition
  • Clearly aligns with the defined characteristics of folk and traditional arts, including the transmission of knowledge, community significance, and traditional practices.
  • Demonstrates a strong connection to and respect for the historical and cultural roots of the art form.

Artistic Excellence and Merit 
(25% of total score) Scored 1-10

• Artistic Merit
  • Project reaches one or more populations that are underserved—those whose opportunities to experience the arts are limited by geography, ethnicity, economics, or disability.
  • Project has strong potential to make quality arts or cultural resources more widely available.
• Artistic Excellence
  • Materials show evidence that the artists/individuals, works, or services are of exceptional quality, as appropriate to the project, culture, and artform.

Community Benefit and Project Impact
(50% of total score) Scored 1-10

• Demonstrated community benefit and clarity of intent
  • The project clearly and convincingly demonstrates significant benefits to the community.
  • The application clearly communicates how the funded activities or documentary products will be made accessible to the community, either through physical location, free or reduced admission, online engagement, marketing and outreach, or other methods of distribution and outreach. 
• Appropriate scope of project and capacity of applicant to complete project
  • Strong evidence of appropriate timescale, budget, and staff capacity to successfully complete the project. 
  • The partners and artists included in this project are highly qualified for their roles and a good fit for the project.
  • The scale of the project is appropriate for the stated  goals and for engagement of the intended community/audience.

All funding must be used by June 30, 2025. If you are awarded funds, you will be required to submit a final report no more than 30 days after the completion of the project. The report will consist of narrative questions and documentation to be made available for inclusion in the Colorado State Archives.

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

• Federal data reporting (FDR) questions (required).
• Briefly describe the funded activity, including the artists/practitioners and art form(s) involved, the participants engaged, and the significance of the artform to the community engaged. 
• Discuss the community impact and engagement that occurred as a result of this project (required).
• If additional local, state, private support or cash resources were leveraged please include a numerical amount (optional).
• If additional in-kind commitments or resources of another nature were leveraged please include an estimated numerical amount (optional).