| Funding or Award Criteria |
Access to Artistic Excellence encourages and supports artistic creativity, preserves our diverse cultural heritage, and makes the arts more widely available in communities throughout the country. While projects in this category may focus on just one of these areas, the Arts Endowment recognizes that many of the most effective projects encompass both artistic excellence and enhanced access. Support is available to organizations for projects that do one or more of the following:
- Provide opportunities for artists to create, refine, perform, and exhibit their work.
- Present artistic works of all cultures and periods.
- Preserve significant works of art and cultural traditions.
- Enable arts organizations and artists to expand and diversify their audiences.
- Provide opportunities for individuals to experience and participate in a wide range of art forms and activities.
- Enhance the effectiveness of arts organizations and artists.
- Employ the arts in strengthening communities.
The Arts Endowment is particularly interested in projects that extend the arts to underserved populations -- those whose opportunities to experience the arts are limited by geography, ethnicity, economics, or disability. This is achieved in part through the use of Challenge America: Reaching Every Community funds. |