Artists 360 to Award $214,000 in Grants to Northwest Arkansas Artists

Grant program for artists returns for sixth year

Artists 360, a program of Mid-America Arts Alliance, returns for its sixth year. From May 1 to June 28 applications are open for four categories of grants to artists in Northwest Arkansas. Interested applicants are invited to attend one of five free information sessions. 

Since 2018, the Artists 360 program has partnered with the Walton Family Foundation to award $770,000 to 112 Northwest Arkansas artists.

Now in its sixth year, Artists 360 elevates the talented artists of Northwest Arkansas by providing grant funding and professional development opportunities to individual artists of all disciplines in the Arkansas counties of Benton, Carroll, Crawford, Sebastian, and Washington. 

Artists 360 offers six $1,500 student grants, fourteen $7,500 project grants, five $15,000 Community Activator grants, and one $25,000 Creative Impact Award. The grant awards also include learning opportunities to develop entrepreneurial skills, build enduring careers, and create a network of leading regional artists in Northwest Arkansas. 

Applications for the 2023-2024 grant cycle open on May 1 and close on June 28, 2023. For more information about the program, grant categories, and application criteria, please visit https://artists360.art.

By elevating local artists, Artists 360 brings value to the greater Northwest Arkansas region overall, creating a place where creativity and the arts can thrive. Renata Cassiano Alvarez, a 2021 Artists 360 project award grantee explains the impact of the grant on her ceramic work drawing on traditions of her Mexican and Italian heritage. “Getting the Artists 360 grant was transformative. It allowed me to execute my ideas and take my work to the next step.” 

Notable past grant recipients include 2022 Creative Impact awardee, Kholoud Sawaf, who also received a recent $250,000 grant from the Doris Duke Foundation for Islamic Art. 

How to Apply Yourself – Free Information Sessions for NW Arkansas Artists

In support of the artists of Northwest Arkansas and to demystify the application process, Mid-America Arts Alliance will present five short information sessions, How To Apply Yourself, which includes tips on grant writing, the submission process, and Q&A. Presented by David Wayne Reed, M-AAA constituent engagement specialist, these sessions are open to artists in Northwest Arkansas in the counties of Benton, Carroll, Crawford, Sebastian, and Washington.

How to Apply Yourself dates, locations in Northwest Arkansas, and links to register are listed below.

• Monday, April 24, 2023, at 5:00 p.m. – Arts on Main, 415 Main St., Van Buren
• Tuesday, April 25, 2023, at Noon – Eureka Springs Auditorium, 36 S. Main St., Eureka Springs
• Tuesday, April 25, 2023, at 5:00 p.m. – Fayetteville Public Library (Walker Community Room) 401 W. Mountain St., Fayetteville
• Wednesday, April 26, 2023, at 5:00 p.m. – The Medium, 214 S. Main St., Springdale
• Tuesday, May 2, 2023, at Noon – Virtual

About Walton Family Foundation

The Walton Family Foundation is, at its core, a family-led foundation. The children and grandchildren of our founders, Sam and Helen Walton, lead the foundation and create access to opportunity for people and communities. We work in three areas: improving K-12 education, protecting rivers and oceans and the communities they support, and investing in our home region of Northwest Arkansas and the Arkansas-Mississippi Delta. In 2018, the foundation awarded more than $595 million in grants in support of these initiatives. To learn more, visit waltonfamilyfoundation.org and follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

Photography: Artist 360 awardee Kalyn Fay Barnoski performs during the Artists 360 Full Circle Showcase in 2022. Photographer Ironside Photography.