NEA Grant Application Deadlines

In This Section

The NEA has set the deadlines for FY26 Grants for Arts Projects, the Endowment’s major support category for organizations for projects anticipated to take place beginning in 2026.  

• Grants for Arts Projects, February cycle (GAP1): February 13, 2025
• Grants for Arts Projects, July cycle (GAP2): July 11, 2025
• Challenge America: April 24, 2025

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 and separate websites. 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 2024 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 next deadline for Research Labs and Research Grants in the Arts is March 24, 2025. Please direct any questions to nearesearchgrants@arts.gov.