NEA Grant Application Deadlines

In This Section

The NEA has set the deadlines for FY25 Grants for Arts Projects, the Endowment’s major support category for organizations for projects anticipated to take place beginning in 2025.  

• Grants for Arts Projects, (First Round): February 15, 2024
• Grants for Arts Projects, (Second Round): July 11, 2024
• Challenge America: April 25, 2024

The NEA has updated Grants for Arts Projects guidelines and application materials and the League offers guidance specific to orchestras on our Tips for your application page. Note that each application has two parts with separate deadlines. The first of each deadline is listed above.

Orchestras can also explore funding via the NEA’s Our Town program, which supports projects that integrate arts, culture, and design activities. Matching grants for creative placemaking projects range from $25,000 to $200,000. The last deadline for organizations interested in applying for Our Town was August 3, 2023 and this tends to fall around the same time each year. More information is available on the NEA’s website.   

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NEA Research Awards grants support research that engage with the agency’s five-year research agenda through two funding opportunities for research projects:

• Research Grants in the Arts funds research that investigates the value and/or impact of the arts, either as individual components of the U.S. arts ecology or as they interact with each other and/or with other domains of American life. Matching/cost share grants of $10,000 to $100,000 will be awarded.
• NEA Research Labs funds transdisciplinary research teams grounded in the social and behavioral sciences, yielding empirical insights about the arts for the benefit of arts and non-arts sectors alike. Matching/cost share cooperative agreements of up to $150,000 will be awarded.

The deadline for Research Grants in the Arts is March 25, 2024. Updated guidelines for the next round of grant applications are expected in early January 2024. For FY25, the NEA does not plan to hold a competition for NEA Research Labs. Please direct any questions to nearesearchgrants@arts.gov.