Through the Kentucky Arts Rising program, we strive to work in collaboration with arts organizations across the commonwealth in order to:  

• Develop and maintain strong arts organizations,  

• Increase arts participation statewide, 

• Promote diverse arts and culture, and  

• Help build an efficient arts delivery system across the state.  

Additional notes:

• The application can take several minutes to upload. We strongly advise that applicants not wait until the final hour to submit.

• Following the deadline, each application will be reviewed by the program director, who may contact the applicant if clarification is needed. 

• The Kentucky Arts Council strongly advises applicants to review all guidelines and instructions included in this document.

General Requirements:  

• Applicant must have annual operating expenses of less that $100,000.  

• Applicant must be legally chartered in Kentucky and have its headquarters and home season, or activities equivalent to a home season for nonproducing organizations, in Kentucky.  

• Applicant must be a free-standing arts group independent of any other organization.  

• Applicant must currently have, and maintain during the grant cycle, IRS tax-exempt status.  

• Applicant must be responsible for its own programming.  

• Applicant must provide a significant amount of year-round public arts-based activity and programming that impacts Kentuckians and their communities.  

• Applicant must be in good standing with the Kentucky Arts Council with no past-due final reports in any grant category.  

• Applicants must demonstrate less that $100,000 in operating expenses by submitting most recent IRS Form 990, 990-EZ, or 990-N.  

Eligible Revenue
Eligible operating revenues used to compute the funding formula include:  

• Earned revenue;  

• Unrestricted contributions;  

• Sponsorships and underwriting revenue used in the applicable fiscal year;  

• Dividends and interest on investments not from endowments;  

• Endowment withdrawals in the applicable fiscal year; and  

• Grants from government, corporate and foundation sources.  

What We Fund 

Example of eligible programming activities include, but are not limited to: 

• Creative experiences that are designed to expand access to arts and cultural activities for all Kentuckians that wish to participate, including accommodating people with disabilities and other groups that are marginalized based on age, income, gender, race, or ability.  

• Performances, exhibits, screenings, readings, festivals, etc.  

• Programs with cross-sector partners that strengthen community identity through the arts.  

• Projects that help communities reflect on, heal, and/or recover from a disaster; or that help re-envision and revitalize public spaces.  

Restrictions
Kentucky Arts Rising grant funds may not be used for the following purposes:  

• Purchase of equipment, property, library holdings or acquisitions;  

• Capital improvements, facility construction, structural renovations or restorations;  

• Publications or recordings for commercial purposes;  

• Scholarships or other activities related to academic credit or degrees;  

• Activities intended primarily for fundraising;  

• Food, beverages or other refreshments;  

• Requests designed to reduce or eliminate existing deficits;  

• Interest on loans, fines, penalties or litigation costs;  

• Expenses incurred before the starting date of the period covered in the grant request;  

• Investments of any kind;  

• Performances not available to the general public;  

• Programs that have sectarian purposes;  

• Indirect costs unless per a current federally negotiated indirect cost rate agreement (official documentation required), or de minimis indirect costs not to exceed 10 percent of total modified direct costs; or the application of new artistic work to historic buildings or structures unless approved by the state historic preservation office as being in compliance with the Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for the Treatment of Historic Properties.  

• For more information regarding historic preservation, contact the Kentucky Heritage Council at 502-564-7005 or visit https://heritage.ky.gov.

Additional notes:

• If this is your organization’s first time applying to the Kentucky Arts Rising Grant Program, contact the program manager to determine your eligibility before beginning an application.

• No arts council funds may be used to match another grant from the arts council. In addition, the same matching funds may not be used for more than one arts council grant.

• The arts council reserves the right to make special stipulations on how specific grant funds may be spent.

• With the exception of funding for capital projects (i.e., construction), organizations that receive line-item funding through any state budget bill are ineligible up to the amount designated through line-item funding. Any organization that received non-capital line-item funding in House Bill 6 or House Bill 1 are ineligible for FY27 Kentucky Arts Rising funding.

Panel Meeting

Kentucky Arts Council conducts an open panel review process for the Kentucky Arts Rising program in which a panel of arts professionals and other individuals with relevant experience will review all applications according to the scoring criteria below.   

• Panels are comprised of individuals from both inside and outside Kentucky, some who may be unfamiliar with Kentucky-based organizations, artists or communities.   

• Applicants and other interested people are invited to monitor the panel reviews via conference call. The arts council will send notification of panel dates and conference call arrangements to applicants prior to panel meetings.  

Scoring Criteria

Applications will be assessed using the following criteria:  

Applications receiving a total score of 69 points or fewer in the panel review, out of 100 possible points, will not receive an award. For more information about scoring, consult the scoring rubric.

Arts Council Board Meeting

The panel’s recommendations are forwarded to the arts council’s governing board for approval at the June 2026 board meeting.   

Appeals

Applicants may appeal adverse grant decisions if they can demonstrate any of the following:  

• The review of the application was based on criteria other than those appearing in the arts council guidelines;  

• The final decision was unduly influenced by a panelist with undisclosed conflicts of interest; or  

• Required application information submitted by the appropriate deadline was withheld from the review panel or the arts council.  

Appeals Process

Applicants must initiate a formal appeal within 30 calendar days of the date of the award-notification letter of the arts council decision.  

• Upon receipt of this award-notification letter, applicants should first consult with the program director to review the considerations that went into the arts council’s decision. If, after such consultation, applicants wish to pursue an appeal, they must do so in writing to the arts council’s executive director.   

• If applicants are unable to consult with the program director within the time limitation, the applicants must still submit a written appeal, postmarked within the 30-day period.

• In the executive director’s response to a formal appeal, a deadline date for submission of all material supporting the appeal will be established.   

• No such deadline date will be set earlier than seven days or later than 21 days from the date of the executive director’s letter.

• Failure by applicants to meet any deadline date in the appeals process will result in the loss of the right to appeal.  

• An ad hoc committee of members of the arts council board will review all appeals. Should the committee recommend a change in the applicant’s funding, the arts council board at its next regular or special meeting shall act upon the committee’s recommendations.  

• The ruling of the arts council board shall be the last administrative remedy, and there shall be no further right of appeal.   

 Sign and return Grant Agreement Form (GAF)  

• Applicant organizations that receive a favorable recommendation enter into an agreement with the Commonwealth of Kentucky. Agreements cannot be altered without prior approval from the arts council’s appropriate program manager.   

• Grant agreements must be signed and returned within 30 days.   

• Grant agreement forms received later than 30 days will cause a delay of payment. 

Kentucky Vendor Number   

• The address associated with the Grant Agreement Form must match those associated with the organizations profile and Kentucky Vendor Number.   
• This number can be looked up or requested at https://vss.ky.gov.

Project Changes   

• Grantees are required to promptly notify the arts council in writing of any changes in their grant activity. If grantees do not notify the arts council about changes before they file a final report, future funding will be jeopardized.  

Compliance Policy   

• Grants are for the period specified in the approved application. Funds must be spent or committed for activities taking place within the period stated unless an extension has been approved in writing.   

• Funds spent before the period starts are not eligible and must not be included in the budget.  

• Funds granted must be used solely for the activities described in the approved application, unless specific approval has been received in writing.   

• Any funds granted but not spent must be returned to the arts council at the conclusion of the grant period.  

Crediting Requirement   

• Grantees must clearly acknowledge support from the Kentucky Arts Council in their promotional material including publications, websites, social media, etc. Such acknowledgement should clearly indicate that funds were provided for artistic excellence and merit. Additional acknowledgment requirements may be provided later.  

• Download the Kentucky Arts Council logo here.  

• The acknowledgment line for the Kentucky Arts Partnership program is: “The Kentucky Arts Council, the state arts agency, provides operating support to {NAME OF ORGANIZATION} with state tax dollars and federal funding from the National Endowment for the Arts.”  

Final Report

• All arts council grantees must submit a final report within 30 days of completion of the grant period. The final report may be accessed through the GO Smart online grant system.   
• If a grantee fails to submit the required final report for any grant, the arts council will accept no future applications from the grantee organization until an acceptable final report is received.   

• Any grant money payable to the organization will be held until after the required final report is submitted.   

• Information from final reports will be used to meet the arts council’s reporting requirements to the National Endowment for the Arts and to create both a statewide public value report and a public value report specific to each Kentucky Arts Rising grantee.  

Program Assistance 

• The arts council staff is available to offer the following support, with prior notice and no later than two weeks before the deadline, to ensure program standards and goals are met  

• Assistance from arts council program directors in selecting appropriate program categories, and in answering questions about programs;  

• Consultation regarding applicant eligibility, competitiveness for funding, budget issues, etc.;  

• Referrals to potential partners for programs; and  

• Advice in locating appropriate technical assistance to evaluate and increase applicants’ accessibility and arts participation.