Sustainability: Small Arts Nonprofits
Sustainability: Small Arts Nonprofits supports Ohio’s small-budget arts organizations with general operating funds to sustain local arts programming and strengthen connections with their communities.
Funder: Ohio Arts Council
Due Dates: February 1, 2027, 5 p.m. ET (FY 2028 applications/updates) | February 1, 2028, 5 p.m. ET (FY 2029 off-year updates)
Funding Amounts: Requests up to $10,000; four-year operating support with a 1:1 cash match
Summary: General operating support sustains Ohio’s smallest-budgeted arts nonprofits and their local arts programming across all artistic genres.
Key Information: Applicants must have received qualifying OAC grants in each of the previous two fiscal years.
Description
The Ohio Arts Council’s Sustainability: Small Arts Nonprofits program provides four-year general operating support for Ohio arts organizations with small budgets. It recognizes their deep community roots and role in providing local arts experiences. Stable public funding supports connections between organizations and the people they serve, while helping sustain Ohio’s arts sector.
Awards support core staff, facilities, and programming costs. The program values artistic, educational, and cultural quality, programming responsive to community needs, and outreach beyond existing audiences. It also emphasizes effective promotion, broad community benefit, planning informed by varied perspectives, clear goals, measurable results, sustainable spending, and responsible organizational leadership.
