The National Endowment for the Arts supports the visual arts -- painting, sculpture, photography, printmaking, drawing, craft, etc. -- through grants to organizations that serve the needs of and enhance opportunities for artists and their audiences. The Arts Endowment is committed to advancing and preserving the work of contemporary visual artists that reflects serious and exceptional aesthetic investigation. Grants in the visual arts support projects undertaken by organizations that encourage individual artistic development, experimentation, and dialogue between artists and the public through exhibitions, residencies, publications, commissions, public art works, conservation, documentation, services to the field, and public programs.

The National Endowment for the Arts is committed to providing assistance to artist communities for projects that encourage and nurture the development of individual artists and foster and inspire their creative processes. For the Arts Endowment's purposes, an artist community is defined as an organization, whether focused on a single discipline or multidisciplinary, whose sole mission is to provide artist residencies. NOTE: An organization that provides residencies in addition to other functions should apply through the discipline/field of its project (e.g., dance, literature, visual arts), and not Artist Communities. Support is available for artist communities that: Foster the work of artists by providing working studio space to support the creative process and residential facilities so that artists can live where they work. Utilize a competitive application process to recruit and select participants, and rotate a wide range of artists in order to encourage the highest standards of creativity.

The National Endowment for the Arts is committed to providing leadership in arts education. The arts are an essential component of education, and all children, not only those with specific artistic talent, benefit from an education in the arts including opportunities to create, perform, and communicate through various artistic media. Today, the Arts Endowment's focus is on identifying and supporting model programs and projects that provide in-depth knowledge, skills, and understanding of the arts to children and youth in schools and communities. Research strongly suggests that young people who learn about and participate in the arts acquire skills that help them in decision making, problem solving, creative thinking, and teamwork. An increasing number of studies also find that arts programs motivate children to learn, assisting in improving performance in core academic subjects. For some children, the arts provide the impetus to stay in school until graduation and, for others, the inspiration to pursue college education. Arts education programs will continue to play a pivotal role as the nation struggles to improve high school graduation rates, develop pre-kindergarten programs, and counter the achievement gap in urban communities.

American dance is encyclopedic in scope and international in its aesthetic traditions. The National Endowment for the Arts is committed to advancing the nation's full range of dance artistry. The Arts Endowment assists all forms of professional concert dance by funding dance companies and presenters, and projects of all sizes. Dance projects funded by the Arts Endowment represent a multiplicity of forms, styles, techniques, and histories that come from every continent in the world and the many different styles -- neoclassical ballet, modern dance, jazz, folkloric, tap, hip-hop, and other contemporary forms -- that can be found in the United States.

From the typeface on this page to the neighborhood in which you live, every product crafted by humans is the result of design. Unlike many arts, design surrounds us and its quality has a direct impact on the quality of our lives. The design field encompasses many disciplines including, but not limited to, planning, urban design, architecture, landscape architecture, interior design, product design, and graphic design. The National Endowment for the Arts recognizes design's ever-present role by funding activities across the design disciplines that encourage, preserve, and disseminate the best in American and global design. The Arts Endowment often receives questions from potential applicants about the appropriate discipline for their project. Applications that address multiple design disciplines (e.g., urban design and graphics) should be submitted under Design. Similarly, historic preservation organizations that focus on architecture, landscape architecture, or designed objects also should apply under Design. Museums and visual arts venues presenting a design exhibition or installation should contact Arts Endowment staff to determine whether to apply under Design or under Museums or Visual Arts. Finally, applicants should be aware that the Arts Endowment does not fund capital campaigns, construction costs, or the purchase or leasing of sites or structures. Please contact us if you have further questions.

From the typeface on this page to the neighborhood in which you live, every product crafted by humans is the result of design. Unlike many arts, design surrounds us and its quality has a direct impact on the quality of our lives. The design field encompasses many disciplines including, but not limited to, planning, urban design, architecture, landscape architecture, interior design, product design, and graphic design. The National Endowment for the Arts recognizes design's ever-present role by funding activities across the design disciplines that encourage, preserve, and disseminate the best in American and global design. The Arts Endowment often receives questions from potential applicants about the appropriate discipline for their project. Applications that address multiple design disciplines (e.g., urban design and graphics) should be submitted under Design. Similarly, historic preservation organizations that focus on architecture, landscape architecture, or designed objects also should apply under Design. Museums and visual arts venues presenting a design exhibition or installation should contact Arts Endowment staff to determine whether to apply under Design or under Museums or Visual Arts. Finally, applicants should be aware that the Arts Endowment does not fund capital campaigns, construction costs, or the purchase or leasing of sites or structures. Please contact us if you have further questions.

The folk and traditional arts are rooted in and reflective of the cultural life of a community. Community members may share a common ethnic heritage, language, religion, occupation, or geographic region. These vital and constantly reinvigorated artistic traditions are shaped by values and standards of excellence that are passed from generation to generation, most often within family and community, through demonstration, conversation, and practice. Genres of artistic activity include, but are not limited to, music, dance, crafts, and oral expression.

Through its literature, a nation expresses its hopes and fears, and tells its stories to its citizens and to the world. The National Endowment for the Arts is committed to providing opportunities for Americans to make literature a more important part of their daily lives. The Arts Endowment seeks to sustain and nurture a multiplicity of American literary traditions by: Ensuring that literary presses and magazines, community-based organizations, and national literary centers complement the trade publishing sector in the shaping of contemporary American letters. Supporting organizations that nurture emerging and mid-career writers and provide assistance to nascent literary organizations. Supporting endeavors to provide America's readers with direct access to contemporary writers. NOTE: Literary publishing projects must focus primarily on contemporary literature and/or writers. In addition, the Arts Endowment offers fellowships to published creative writers and translators of exceptional talent in the areas of prose and poetry.

Organizations referred to as arts councils, departments of cultural affairs, or arts commissions make up the field of local arts agencies (LAAs). While the majority of LAAs are private, nonprofit entities, others are public municipal, county, or regional agencies that operate in cooperation with mayors and city managers. In addition, the LAA field includes statewide assemblies and cultural service organizations that work specifically with local arts agencies in the coordination of cultural leadership. Applicants such as arts and business councils or lawyers for the arts organizations also are included under Local Arts Agencies and should apply under the March 12 Access to Artistic Excellence deadline. Often LAAs make grant awards directly to both artists and nonprofit organizations working in a variety of artistic disciplines. Nearly all LAAs present programming to the public, manage cultural facilities, provide services to artists and arts organizations, and facilitate community cultural planning. In accomplishing this work, LAAs collaborate with other governmental departments (economic development, parks and recreation, libraries, and local education agencies/school districts), as well as with convention and visitor bureaus.

The National Endowment for the Arts supports organizations that are involved in a broad spectrum of activity in the media arts -- film, radio, and television -- including the production, exhibition, distribution, and preservation of work; the provision of services to the field; and the training of artists. The Arts Endowment is committed to encouraging the artists and organizations that participate in advancing and preserving the media arts, and primarily to supporting the production of media art works that celebrate the arts -- visual arts, music, dance, literature, design, theater, musical theater, opera, folk and traditional arts -- in an engaging and creative manner. Additionally, documentaries about artists and the impact of the arts on people's lives are encouraged.

The National Endowment for the Arts supports museums and other exhibiting institutions and organizations that serve the field and the American public through grants for projects of the highest artistic quality. The Arts Endowment is committed to supporting a broad range of activity that reflects serious and exceptional aesthetic investigation. Grants support projects undertaken by organizations that exhibit, preserve, and interpret visual material through exhibitions, residencies, publications, commissions, public art works, conservation, documentation, services to the field, and public programs.

The National Endowment for the Arts recognizes and supports a wide range of music, from classical to contemporary to America's indigenous jazz. It supports both performing ensembles and music presenting institutions including chamber music ensembles, choruses, early music programs, jazz ensembles, music festivals, and symphony orchestras. Organizations of all types and sizes may apply for a variety of music production, presentation, and service projects. The Arts Endowment is particularly interested in innovative presentation methods and the development of skills that can help organizations attract new audiences for music. In addition to projects that focus on the standard repertoire, the Arts Endowment encourages the commissioning and performance of new American works.

The National Endowment for the Arts nurtures the American musical theater field by funding the work of established musical theater organizations as well as projects by theater companies that also produce musical work. The Arts Endowment supports projects that assist musical theater organizations and artists in the creation and refinement of work, the public presentation of musicals, and opportunities for professional development. Supported projects reflect the variety and breadth of artistic endeavor within the field including production, artists' residencies, new musical development laboratories, and showcases.

Opera is a multifaceted art form that comprises music and text to move a story or dramatic concept forward. The opera genre encompasses music of all periods from the works of Monteverdi, Pergolesi, Gluck, Rossini, Mozart, Verdi, and Puccini to the works of Benjamin Britten, Carlisle Floyd, Philip Glass, and beyond. The National Endowment for the Arts supports opera companies and other organizations that professionally produce fully-staged operatic works. Projects of all sizes that involve works from the entire operatic canon are eligible. The Arts Endowment is committed to advancing the highest levels of operatic artistry across the nation's cultural landscape. Support for American opera and the creation of opportunities for American artists also are of interest.

This area is for projects and organizations that embrace multiple disciplines from the performing, visual, media, design, and literary arts. These projects and organizations support every stage of the artistic process including arts services, training, residencies, commissioning, presentations, touring and access, documentation, and preservation. Projects that present or otherwise feature a single discipline (e.g., dance, music, visual arts) should apply through that discipline. There is one exception, however, for outdoor historical dramas; for more information see the description of project types accepted under the March 12, 2009, Access to Artistic Excellence application deadline.

The National Endowment for the Arts supports American theater by funding the work of theater companies of all sizes, genres, and aesthetics. Supported projects reflect the entire spectrum of the not-for-profit theater field including the production or presentation of traditional or classical repertoire, new plays, work for young audiences, experimental work, community-based work, circus arts, and puppetry. Theater projects funded by the Arts Endowment support organizations and artists in the creation and refinement of work, the public presentation of plays from all cultures and periods, and opportunities for professional development.

The New York Folklore Society's mission is to nurture traditional arts and culture in the communities where they originate, foster the sharing of folk traditions across cultural boundaries, and further cultural equity and cross-cultural understanding. The Mentoring and Professional Development Program provides opportunities for organizations and individuals engaged in or planning folklife and traditional arts programs in New York State to work with a consultant who offers expertise in the needed area. In this way, professional staff, folk artists, and leaders of community-based cultural organizations gain knowledge and develop or improve skills that help them become more successful in their work.

Arts Community Grants Arts Community Grants (ACG) awards grants from $500 to $5000 for arts projects to not-for-profit arts and cultural organizations as well as individual artists. ACG grants are awarded annually for arts and cultural projects that are open to the public and presented in Orange County from January 1 through December 31 each year. Funds are available primarily for artist fees. Each year, the grant cycle begins in June when the ACG application (cover page and project budget) and guidelines (guidelines and application format) become available for the following calendar year. Artists and arts organizations may request a grant application from the Arts in Orange office from June through September annually. All applicants must attend one of six application workshops given between July and September of each year. The person responsible for completing the grant application must attend. These seminars, which are free and open to the public, answer questions about the application process, review the requirements, and highlight ACG's funding priorities for the year. Applications are due on September 30. Individual artists or arts and cultural organizations that do not have not-for-profit status may apply for funding in partnership with a not-for-profit sponsor organization located in Orange County. Applicants who have been awarded two (2) or more ACG grants may request up to 50% of the project expenses. Only new applicants may request up to 80% of their total project expenses. Arts Community Grants are made possible with funds from the Decentralization Program (DEC) of the New York State Council on the Arts.