Grants Program

As part of our mission to promote, encourage, and foster the arts and cultural institutions in St. Louis City and County, the Regional Arts Commission provides grants to non-profit organizations doing arts programming in St. Louis City and County.

In 2010 RAC awarded more than $2.5 million in grant awards to support 191 nonprofit arts and cultural organizations, consortiums and programs in the St. Louis area. Since it was created in 1985, RAC has awarded more than 5000 grants totaling nearly $70 million (more info).

One of the first arts agencies in the nation to develop and implement an online grants system (the eGRANT), RAC's call for applications for the Annual Grants Round begins in early December. Each grant request is carefully reviewed and discussed in an open, public forum by citizen panels, staff members and the Commissioners.

Grant applications are evaluated on the basis of several criteria including: quality of programs, innovative ideas, fiscal health, cultural diversity, local/regional impact, community outreach, management capability, and need in the community.