Char DastonWPLN
The Metro Arts Lending Library added 53 new works in July 2024, which were then put on display in the Main Library’s Mezzanine Gallery.
After months of delays, Metro Arts finally has a plan for how it will hand out grant funding in the current fiscal year.
The city agency is behind schedule because it’s still recovering from last year’s chaotic funding cycle. In 2023, a record number of artists and arts organizations applied for funding. In response, Metro Council appropriated $2 million extra to Metro Arts’ grant budget. Then, a bureaucratic tug-of-war over how to distribute funds left the arts community waiting for months to receive what they were promised. In the end, Metro Legal and Metro Finance paid out over $1 million in settlement money to grantees.
This year, neither the extra money from Metro Council nor the settlement money was on the table. That left Metro Arts with a much smaller pool of money to distribute: $3.2 million, down from over $7 million last year. And this year’s applicant pool is larger even than last year’s record high. Last cycle, the agency funded 176 grantees. This year, over 300 have applied.
Metro Arts runs two grant programs: general operating grants, which support arts nonprofits, and Thrive, which funds individual artists and projects.
More: What is Thrive? Inside Metro Arts’ closely scrutinized, equity-focused funding program
After batting around ideas for doing more with less, the agency settled on a fairly simple plan for its general operating grants. It’ll use a scaled-down version of last year’s funding formula, which was based on each nonprofit’s budget size. Smaller nonprofits will get a greater percentage of their annual budget than larger, more established institutions.
Commissioner Heather Lefkowitz said she likes the plan because it’s similar to last year’s formula, which was partially written by the arts community.
“This honors the work — the community engagement work — that happened with these previous guidelines,” she said.
The Thrive program will see more significant changes compared to last year. Thrive applicants will get the amount they asked for, or $10,000, whichever is less. And there’s a new rule for individual artists: They must partner with a nonprofit fiscal agent. This comes after Metro Finance informed Metro Arts that its previous policy, giving grant money directly to individuals, violated state law.
Applications for both general operating and Thrive will be scored by a panel of community members — applications will need to meet a certain score threshold in order to receive funding at all.
Since applications were due back in January, all applicants will be allowed to provide updates to Metro Arts before their proposals are scored. No artist or organization may receive more than one Metro Arts grant, so anyone who applied for two or more must choose the one they want the most. Thrive applications will receive extra points if they come from Metro Council districts that will receive no other Metro Arts funding this year.
Arts Commissioners approved a 60-40 between the two grant programs. General operating will receive around $1.9 million, leaving about $1.3 million for Thrive.
There’s one more step before grant proposals start being reviewed: Metro Council needs to approve the plan. It’ll take up the issue in January.
