Greater Columbus Arts Council » Grants & Services for Organizations

Grants & Services for Organizations

Arts and culture connect the community, and the Greater Columbus Arts Council connects arts organizations and artists to the resources they need to thrive. Established in 1973, the GCAC/City of Columbus Grants Program offers financial support to the city's artists and arts organizations. Since 1978, the city of Columbus has dedicated a portion of revenues from the hotel/motel tax for support of the Grants Program. Funding decisions are made on a non-political basis through a competitive system of application and review.

Types of funding:

Operating Support: Unrestricted support to nonprofit arts organizations that meet rigorous artistic, administrative and financial benchmarks.
Project Support: Special, short-term funding for professional, cultural activities.
Technical Assistance: Designed to increase organizational capacity.
Franklin County Neighborhood Arts Grants: Supports amateur and avocational cultural programming. Administered by the Community Arts Education Deaprtment and funded with support from Franklin County and Ashland Inc.

Our grant making goals are:

To encourage, promote, and support excellence in arts programming and arts education.
To ensure broad public access to the arts.
To provide funding for Columbus artists, and arts and cultural nonprofit organizations and enhance the city's cultural image.
To maintain high standards of management and governance for arts and culture organizations.
To provide technical assistance to increase the capacity of organizations to achieve their goals.

Our staff conducts workshops and consults informally on project planning, funding, evaluation and other management issues.

Community Funding Staff:

Alicia Oddi, Grants & Services Director
Ruby Classen, Finance & Grants Coordinator