The Arts Community Development Grants, managed by the Arts Council of Wilmington & New Hanover County and funded through the New Hanover Community Endowment, provide financial support to nonprofit arts organizations in New Hanover County. The program aims to enhance the local arts landscape by funding operations and programming that offer measurable and meaningful community arts experiences. A total of $170,000 is available, split between two grant pools: one for operating expenses for arts organizations with budgets of $75,000 or more, and another for programming grants of $2,000 each for smaller organizations.

Eligible applicants must be 501(c)(3) nonprofit organizations based in and conducting their projects within New Hanover County. All organizations must have been operational for at least one year, with missions explicitly centered on the arts. Individual applicants and organizations seeking funds for internal school or library programs, or religious programming within church services, are ineligible. Grant funds must be utilized between January 15, 2025, and June 30, 2025, for either operational needs or program-specific expenses, such as artist fees, marketing, venue rentals, and materials.

Applicants can apply for one of two funding streams but not both. Organizations seeking operational funding may request up to $10,000, while ten $2,000 programming grants are reserved for smaller-scale initiatives. Funding cannot be used for subgrants to individuals, prizes, tuition, or internal administrative costs for schools, libraries, or municipalities.

Applications will be evaluated on the artistic quality of the proposed programs, the community impact of the projects, the organization’s fiscal responsibility, and its capacity to execute the project successfully. Funding announcements will be made by January 15, 2025.

To support applicants, two virtual grant workshops will be held via Zoom: November 13, 2024, at 10:00 a.m., and December 2, 2024, at 6:00 p.m. Application templates and guidelines are available online, and applicants must use the provided budget template for submissions. Questions can be directed to grants@artswilmington.org or by calling 910-343-0998. The submission deadline is December 16, 2024.