Creativity Grants for Projects

Applicants must:

• Be an Independent Artist, or 
• Be a Maryland-incorporated 501(c)3 nonprofit organization in operation for one year or more and within grant income requirements, a unit of Maryland local government, or a Maryland college/university/school.
• Organizations applying through fiscal sponsorships can be funded if the Fiscal Agency and the Organization operate within a Model A sponsorship. (Note: in a “Model A” sponsorship, the assets, liabilities, and exempt activities collectively referred to as the project are housed within the fiscal sponsor.)
• Identify a specific event, activity or project to occur within the application time frame.
• Reference the program’s Guidelines for more specific details on eligibility requirements

Please note that application forms in Smart Simple have been updated for FY 2026. Your application ID # should begin with '2026.' If it does not, you are working off a draft started from a previous year and will not be able to submit it. Please open a new FY 2026 application under the "Opportunities" menu to begin a new application.

The Creativity Grant for Projects is only available to eligible independent artists and arts organizations. Please carefully review the different options available for project-based support. An applicant is only eligible for one Creativity Grant per fiscal year. For detailed eligibility requirements and other important information, please see the FY 2026 Grant Guidelines.

Please note that if you are an organization that receives funding through general operating programs (Grants for Organizations, County Arts Agencies, Arts & Entertainment Districts, Folklife Network, or Creativity Grant for General Operating), you are not eligible for project-based support.

In addition to reviewing the guidelines document in the "Quick Resources" box, please review the following resources that are available to assist you during the application process (FY 2026 webinars coming soon):

• FY 2025 How to Apply webinar - Project Implementation
• FY 2025 How to Apply webinar - Project Planning

For additional support, you can find the FY 2026 scoring rubric, and other relevant documents in the "Resources" section below.

Arts Services Program Directors Emily Sollenberger and Laura Weiss are available to review a draft of your application prior to submission. If you are interested in this, please contact them directly (emily.sollenberger@maryland.gov or laura.weiss@maryland.gov) for assistance. Please allow for several weeks for processing. 

If your application was declined for funding, you can request feedback by completing the form here. Please allow for several weeks for processing. 

Applications are accepted on a rolling basis from July 2025 through March 2026. Applications are reviewed monthly, and Creativity Grants are awarded throughout the fiscal year. For awarded activities, payment may take up to 90 days.

Creativity Grant applications submitted by the last day of the month will be reviewed by the panel in the following month, with notifications to follow early the following month. Refer to the Guidelines document in the Quick Resources section for a detailed schedule.

MSAC convenes a group of panelists, composed of members of the public statewide representing a range of discipline expertise, to electronically review and score all applications according to the review criteria above.

Applications must be completed in SmartSimple.

After the monthly panel review, applicants will be notified of the grant status as soon as possible, and, if approved, receive a formal grant agreement form to process the grant payment (100% of award amount).

Upon execution of the grant agreement, payment will be processed for receipt in 6-8 weeks

All MSAC grants are paid on the same timeline. To learn more, click here.

If awarded a Creativity Grant, the recipient must file a final report online in Smart Simple. The report will be added to the grantee's Smart Simple profile as soon as the Grant Agreement Form is fully executed.

Applications submitted between July 2024 and December 2024 will have a Final Report deadline of August 15, 2025. Applications submitted between January 2025 and April 2025 will have a Final Report deadline of December 31, 2025. 

All grantees are required to submit a Final Report communicating data required by the National Endowment for the Arts. This required data can be found in the resource section below. For detailed reporting requirements, please see the grant guidelines. 

• FY 2025
• FY 2024
• FY 2023
• FY 2022
• FY 2021
• FY 2020
• FY 2019