NEA Grants for Arts Projects 2026
| To: | Chairs and Administrators, Departments in the Humanities; Associate Deans for Research; College/School Research Administrators |
| From: | Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research |
| Date: | January 05, 2026 |
| Subject: | National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) Grants for Arts Projects 2026 |
Deadline
| Deadline for Internal Review: | January 19, 2026 |
Project Description
OVCR is only accepting applications for internal review for the February 12, 2026 deadline. Applications will not be accepted for the July 9, 2026 deadline.
The NEA is committed to supporting excellent arts projects for the benefit of all Americans. Activities funded through Grants for Arts Projects (GAP) enable Americans throughout the nation to experience the arts, foster and celebrate America’s artistic heritage and cultural legacy, and benefit from arts education at all stages of life. The NEA also supports arts and health programs, including creative arts therapies, that advance the well-being of people and communities. The NEA strongly encourage applications for arts projects that focus on one or more agency funding priorities. The NEA welcomes applications from first-time and returning applicants; from organizations serving rural, urban, suburban, and tribal communities of all sizes; and from organizations with small, medium, or large operating budgets.
The NEA funds arts projects in the following disciplines: Arts Education, Challenge America, Dance, Design & Our Town, Folk & Traditional Arts, Literary Arts, Local Arts Agencies, Museums, Music, Opera, Our Town, Presenting & Multidisciplinary Works, Theater & Musical Theater, and Visual & Media Arts.
Amount: Grants range from $10,000 to $100,000. All grants require a nonfederal cost share or match of at least 1 to 1.
Duration of Award: Up to two years
Anticipated Number of Awards: 2,000
UW–Madison may submit only one application to the NEA. For UW-Madison’s selected applicant, the application to the NEA will consist of two parts:
- Application Part 1: Grants.gov
Submit to Grants.gov the “Application for Federal Domestic Assistance/Short Organization Form.” This is a brief form that will collect basic information about your organization. You must successfully submit Part 1 in order to continue to Part 2. - Application Part 2: NEA Applicant Portal
Complete the “Grant Application Form (GAF)” and upload items through the NEA’s Applicant Portal. This web form is where you will enter the majority of your application material (e.g., project description, timelines, budget information, work samples, etc.).
Grants.gov Submission Deadline: February 12, 2026
NEA Applicant Portal Submission Deadline: February 25, 2026
Eligibility
UW–Madison may submit only one application to the FY 2027 Grants for Arts Projects program (i.e., one application per calendar year). A specific campus unit may qualify under NEA guidelines as an independent component of UW–Madison, in which case UW–Madison as the parent organization can submit a separate application on behalf of that campus unit. See the instructions below.
Website
The following link contains additional information on the program and specific application instructions:
https://www.arts.gov/grants/grants-for-arts-projects
Internal Competition Application Instructions
Applications for Internal Review
To submit your application, attach a single PDF to an email to: grants@research.wisc.edu
Please include the following information:
- Cover Sheet: Include the project title, name, and department of PI (Principal Investigator); the discipline that most closely corresponds with your proposed project; and a list of project personnel and any partner organizations.
- CV of lead PI
- Project Summary: 500-character limit, including spaces. Provide two to three short sentences summarizing the major activities of the project.
- Project Description: 5,000-character limit, including spaces. The NEA funds arts projects and makes awards for specific, definable activities. Describe the proposed arts project. Be as specific as possible about the project activities that will take place during the period of performance. Do not describe unrelated organizational programming. Panelists will use the Review Criteria (GAP Grant Program Guidelines, page 22) to evaluate your application, so make sure your narrative addresses the review criteria. Please note that certain types of activities/costs are not allowable via this program (GAP Grant Program Guidelines, p. 9 – 10).
- Engagement with Intended Community, Participants and Audience: 2,000-character limit, including spaces. Describe the intended communities, participants, or audiences involved in the project activities. Clearly explain how you will engage these groups. Where applicable, describe how this project will engage with underserved groups/communities whose opportunities to experience or participate in the arts are limited by factors such as geography, ethnicity, economic status, and/or disability.
Where applicable, include how you will involve and accommodate people with disabilities (as artists, performers, teaching artists, students, participants, staff, and/or audiences) in the planning, creation, and/or implementation of your project activities.
If your project will be delivered through a campus unit that you think may qualify as an independent component, provide a description of how the campus unit satisfies the NEA’s independent component status requirements. An eligible independent component must be a unit that is both programmatically and administratively distinct from the parent organization. To qualify it should be equivalent to a stand-alone institution. The independent status is demonstrated by the component’s:
- Unique mission, separate and distinct from the parent entity;
- Separate, dedicated staff, with duties specific to the mission of the component;
- Independent board, mostly consisting of members not associated with the parent entity (the board should generally function with substantial oversight and management of the component);
- Separate budget, maintained by the component; and
- Five-year history of arts programming undertaken by the component.
OVCR will use this information to verify independent component status with NEA.
Sponsor Deadlines
Applications are due to NEA by February 12, 2026.
Questions?
Contact grants@research.wisc.edu.