Grants & Funding

The Stanly County Arts Council (SCAC) receives a Grassroots Grant from the North Carolina Arts Council each year. Twenty percent (20%) of this grant goes to support the key operations of the SCAC, and the remaining 80% goes directly back into the community via Subgrants to support arts programs.

To see if your project qualifies to receive a Grassroots Subgrant, click here for a copy of the Grassroots Grant Guidelines. We not only want to insure that all Grassroots Grant funding is handled appropriately, but also that the programs receiving such funding are available and accessible to everyone. Please review our Non-Discrimination Policy, as well as our Conflict of Interest Policy.

The Artist Support Grant (ASG) was created to provide direct support to individual artists during and following the COVID-19 pandemic. ​The ASG is replacing the former grant referred to as: Regional Artist Project Grant (RAPG). The Artist Support Grant program is managed through a partnership with the Arts Council of Moore County to serve artists in Anson, Montgomery, Moore, Richmond, Stanly, and Union counties. Funding is provided by the North Carolina Arts Council and participating arts councils.

Artists at any stage of their careers, emerging or established, are eligible to apply for grants in all disciplines, such as visual art and craft, traditional art forms, music composition, film/video, literature and playwriting, choreography and dance. Types of fundable projects include the creation of new work, purchase of equipment and materials, and professional development workshops. Grant awards generally range from $500 to $2,500, and are intended to fund projects that begin no earlier than January 1, 2023, and conclude by December 31, 2023.  Grant funds must be utilized by June 30, 2023.

Click here to download the ASG Grant Guidelines. Click here to download an ASG Sample Application.

The deadline for applications is Friday, October 14, 2022.  Must be received by 5:00 pm.

The North Carolina General Assembly designated $9.4 million federal CARES Act funds for arts councils and arts organizations to mitigate business disruptions caused by COVID-19. The North Carolina Arts Council distributed these funds on a per-capita basis to all North Carolina counties with a population of less than one million people. In many counties, including Stanly County, the local arts councils received the funds and then sub-granted a portion of the county allotment to eligible recipients. Stanly County Arts Council sub-granted sixty-five percent of the funds.

Arts and Cultural organizations and individual artists were eligible to apply for a North Carolina CARES for Arts grant to offset business disruption and/or expenses incurred due to COVID-19 between March 1, 2020, and December 30, 2020. The following expenses were considered:

• Paid salaries and benefits (including contractors)
• On-going operating expenses
• Costs associated with canceling programs and creating virtual programs
• COVID-related safety and cleaning measures

Applicants provided documentation (receipts, bill/invoices, monthly financial statements, and payroll ledgers) as evidence for expenses. Revenue losses were not considered for mitigation in this grant program. North Carolina CARES for Arts funding did not reimburse expenses already paid for by other federal relief funds such as PPP loans, direct grants from the NEA, and stimulus grants issued by the North Carolina Arts Council.

The following local organizations received grants through the CARES for the ARTS funding:
Stanly Arts Guild, Stanly County Chorale, Stanly County Concert Association, Stanly County Concert Band, Stanly County Historical Society, The Talent Company, The Uwharrie Players, Uwharrie Youth Arts, and the Stanly County Arts Council