To All RISCA Grant Applicants in the Spring of 2012

There are a number of important things for you to know if you intend to apply for a RISCA grant to support programs or activities during the period from July 1, 2012 to June 30, 2013.

If you are an individual artist or an applicant to RISCA’s Education Program, the deadline for applications has been extended to May 1, 2012. RISCA has switched to a new online grant application system, and we are allowing more time to get this application up and running and for you to familiarize yourself with this new system. Go to the RISCA Grants for Artists page or the RISCA Education page for information on applying and links to the new application forms.

If you are a non-profit organization other than a school, and whose primary mission is arts and culture, the system for applying has changed. The Project Grants to Organizations (PGO) and General Operating Support (GOS) categories are transitioning into a new Investments in Arts and Culture (IAC) operating support grant that will look at what you have done over the past year, not what you propose to do in the year to come. There will be no application required from those organizations that have regularly received support from RISCA over the past three years. We will, instead, require a final report on your activities over the past year, which will be due in late July. Organizations receiving IAC support will be required to participate in the Rhode Island Cultural Data Project and we recommend that you begin that process if you have not already. There will be additional criteria for arts and cultural organizations to apply in the new IAC category which we will publish by May 15, 2012. More detail on this change in support for organizations can be found on our RISCA Organizations page.

For new organizations or organizations interested in receiving RISCA support for programs in the coming year, there will also be a new grant called the Arts Access Grant (AAG). These will be smaller grants on a rolling deadline with a quick turnaround time. Applications for AAG Grants will be available soon. Organizations applying for AAG support are not required to take part in the Cultural Data Project. We expect to have the guidelines and application ready for review by mid-May, with applications due the first business day in July (July 2nd), and on the first business day of each following month. One application per year will be accepted from each organization applying in this category.

If you have questions please contact the appropriate RISCA staff person.