North Carolina Arts Council awards nearly $11 million in 340 grants reaching all 100 counties
More than half, $6.3 million, goes to one partner organization in each county through the Grassroots Arts Program. The council also facilitated $1.1 million in direct appropriations to the Lost Colony, the outdoor drama in Manteo.
Raleigh. The North Carolina Arts Council, a division of the state Department of Natural and Cultural Resources, is distributing $10,990,208 in 340 grants for the 2026-27 fiscal year, which began July 1. The money goes to nonprofit arts organizations, schools, after-school programs, municipalities and artists in all 100 counties, in grants of $2,000 to $354,262, the council announced on Sept. 10.
Separately, the council facilitated $1,118,957 in direct appropriations to the Lost Colony, the outdoor drama performed in Manteo since 1937.
One partner in every county
More than half of the total, $6,303,708, goes through the Grassroots Arts Program, which the General Assembly established in 1977. It pays one organization in each county, usually a local arts agency, on a modified per capita basis. Where no strong arts organization can serve, the council works for a time with a county government or a school system.
The largest grants are Grassroots awards: $354,262 to the United Arts Council of Raleigh and Wake County, $340,178 to the council serving Charlotte and Mecklenburg County and $316,562 to the United Arts Council of Greater Greensboro. The smallest Grassroots grant, $14,855, goes to Pocosin Arts in Tyrrell County. A partner may spend up to half on its own operations, and in counties of more than 50,000 people at least half must be passed on as subgrants. The money must be matched dollar for dollar in cash.
Operating grants on a three-year cycle
Sustaining Support, flexible money for the artistic and administrative work of arts organizations, accounts for 136 grants worth $3,379,500. It is reviewed on a three-year cycle by discipline: this year literature, visual arts, film and dance organizations filed full applications, due March 2, for three-year awards, and others filed updates. Theater and multi-arts organizations apply next, in March 2027.
Applicants must be 501(c)(3) arts organizations with average expenses of at least $75,000 over three years and at least one paid staff member working half time. This year's awards run from $8,000 to $62,500, and none may exceed 10 percent of an organization's average cash operating expenses.
The other 104 grants, worth $1,307,000, pay for projects, statewide organizations and initiatives, artist support, traditional arts for students, teaching artists and the 2027 North Carolina Heritage Awards. To receive any council grant, an organization must be a nonprofit in good standing with the state that has produced arts programs for at least two years and spent at least $20,000 in cash on operations the year before. Most must match their grants, though applicants in rural and low-wealth counties that the state Commerce Department designates Tier 1 may ask for 75 to 100 percent of project costs in some categories.
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