Our Grants to Individual Artists and Scholars are available for individual artists and humanities scholars. To be eligible, you must be a resident of Montgomery County for at least the past 12 months and be at least 21 years old. You also must be a practicing artist or scholar with demonstrated ability in the art or humanities discipline of your proposed project. You may also be an individual or a group of individuals who have a history of working together or collaborating on projects, such as a musical ensemble.
We offer grants to groups and organizations based in Montgomery County and serving the residents of the County. Several types of organizations are eligible, as follows:
Read the overview page and see if one of the categories seems to meet your situation. Consult the grant guidelines that appear to fit your needs.
Think about the following questions:
If you are uncertain about the answers to any of these questions, or would like to discuss your potential for a grant with a staff member, please do not hesitate to call our grants staff at 301-565-3805.
Further information and assistance are available at our grant preparation workshops. Workshops are scheduled prior to the deadline of each specific grant category. At these workshops, staff will explain how to fill out the application and how your application will be evaluated.
All AHCMC grants applications must be submitted online. Please consult the guidelines for the grant for which you are applying to verify the date and time that your application is due.
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Our grants staff is happy to answer any question, no matter how small. We realize that you may be applying for a grant for the very first time. And even if you have applied for grants before, different questions arise every time. Please call 301-565-3805 and ask to speak to a staff person with regard to grants.
Arts and Humanities Council of Montgomery County (AHCMC) is fortunate to receive regular annual funding from the Montgomery County government for grants. The amount we receive varies each year depending on the availability of funds in the County budget. However, we are very fortunate that our elected officials generously support our grants program. In each grant category, we have sufficient funds to make a significant number of grants in proportion to the number of applications. Typically, we fund from 40 to 60 percent of the applications that are submitted, although many are not funded for the total amount requested.
The staff convenes a group of people with experience and expertise in the field to review the applications. This group of people is referred to as the grants review panel. A separate review panel is organized for each type of grant. The panels usually consist of four or five people. When they meet, they review the applications based on the evaluation criteria listed in the grant guidelines. The panel scores each application and then agrees on a score below which they recommend no funding.
Panel meetings are open to the public. Applicants are notified by e-mail of the date of the panel meeting during which their applications will be considered. You also may call the office (301-565-3805) to inquire about panel meeting dates.
The staff considers the panel scores and the amount of funds available and develops funding recommendations. These recommendations are sent to AHCMC’s Grants Committee which is made up of members of AHCMC’s Board of Directors and members of the community who have grants experience in a variety of fields. The Grants Committee reviews the staff’s recommendations and evaluates them. They then approve these recommendations, or approve them with modifications, and send their action forward to AHCMC’s Board of Directors for final approval of the grants.
Your chances of receiving a grant depend on several factors. One factor is the level of competition – that is, how many other applications there are. Obviously, this is a factor you can’t control. You can control, however, the following factors:
The timeline for each grant is different. It can take several months as grants are reviewed by a panel, and recommendations must be approved by the Grants Committee and AHCMC Board of Directors. Refer to the grant guidelines for an estimate of when grant awards are announced.
Yes, all grantees are required to fill out a final report online, at https://artsandhumanities.fluidreview.com/. The final report must be completed within 30 days of the completion of the project or the end of the grant period, whichever is applicable to your grant.
With two exceptions, we do not fund scholarships for college or graduate education. The exceptions are the Ida F. Haimovicz Visual Arts Award and Fran Abrams Creative Writing Award for a High School Senior. The Ida F. Haimovicz Award is a $3,000 award given to one Montgomery County high school senior each year to support his or her pursuit of a career in the visual arts. The Fran Abrams Award is a $1,000 award given to one Montgomery County high school senior each year to support his or her pursuit of a career in creative writing. Click here for more information on the Ida F. Haimovicz Visual Art Award. Click here for more information on the Fran Abrams Creative Writing Award.
Wheaton Cultural Project Grants (WCPG) are flexible awards for projects that create impact in the Wheaton community, and provide professional opportunities for artists and scholars to work in Wheaton, MD. Montgomery County based nonprofit arts and humanities organizations, groups, artists, and scholars are invited to apply for grants of up to $10,000 for cultural projects taking place in Wheaton. Projects within the Wheaton Arts and Entertainment District are more competetive. Please find a map of Wheaton and the Arts and Entertainment District here
801 Ellsworth Drive
Silver Spring, MD 20910
T: 301-565-3805 | F: 301-565-3809
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