The Mountaineer

September 5, 2023

Haywood County nonprofits providing arts-and-culture programs are eligible for grants from the Haywood County Arts Council.

The arts council has more than $27,000 in funds to award through the program funded by the N.C. Arts Council Grassroots Arts Program. Two live video workshops are planned for grant applicants at noon Thursday, Sept. 14, and 4 p.m. Friday, Sept. 15.

The N.C. Grassroots Arts Program uses a per capita based formula to provide funding for the arts in all 100 counties through partnerships with local arts councils, which then award grants to nonprofits in their community.

Last year, recipients included Folkmoot, Voices in the Laurel, Haywood Community Band, Haywood Community Chorus, HART theater, Daydreamz project and the First United Methodist after school program.

In November 2021, the N.C. General Assembly allocated an additional $10 million in funding for the Grassroots Arts Program from the federal American Recovery Act Plan. The large infusion of additional funds increased eligible organizations and projects.

“This is great news for Haywood County nonprofits who do some kind of art programming but aren’t necessarily considered arts organizations,” said Tonya Hardwood, HCAC executive director. “In particular, HCAC is interested in seeing applications that are multicultural in nature and benefit communities of color, and underserved and underrepresented populations. We’ve reserved $5,707 of the total amount of funds available for this specific purpose.”