Missouri: Minority Arts Grants

Grantee Gitana Productions presents and creates multicultural music, dance and drama, such as “New World,” a one-act play about the true stories of three refugee women who came to St. Louis from Afghanistan, Bosnia and the Republic of the Congo. Photo courtesy of Gitana Productions

An effective way state arts agencies can help increase diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) in the arts is by funding arts and culture groups that are run by or that have a mission to serve underrepresented populations. The Missouri Arts Council (MAC), for example, designed its Minority Arts Grants program in effort to strengthen its support of Missouri’s African-American, Latino/Hispanic, Asian-American and Native American (ALANA) communities. Through the program, MAC awards annual grants of up to $30,000 as well as express grants of up to $3,000 to foster arts projects of minority-managed arts organizations, which MAC defines as those with at least 51% of staff and board members with an ALANA identity. Nonminority arts groups supporting predominately ALANA communities also are eligible to apply for funding. Grant awards may be used to cover artist fees, artist travel costs, event marketing expenses and project related educational materials, among other things. To learn more about how the Minority Arts Grant program fits into MAC’s DEI strategy, contact Program Specialist Donald Rice.