The arts are essential to building community. They inspire us to forge connections with one another, bridge understanding, and foster creativity and care. The GIG Fund, created by Arts Midwest, aims to bring that artistic inspiration to communities regardless of geography, economic status, or ability. This year, the GIG Fund is also rolling out a brand new alternative track, GIG Fund: Arts and Wellness. Both tracks offer organizations the opportunity to make a meaningful impact by hosting professional artists for creative and engaging public activities.
CultureSource staff members recently attended Arts Midwest’s informational webinar about the GIG Fund, and we have compiled this handy guide full of notes and tips that will help you put forth your best application.
What is the GIG Fund?
The GIG Fund is a grant of $2,000 – $15,000 that helps organizations bring artists into their community. This year, there are two tracks: GIG Fund and GIG Fund: Arts and Wellness.
Program Overview:
The GIG Fund
- Provides grants to Midwestern nonprofit organizations to support creative projects and educational events
- Funds are intended to help organizations present guest artists* in their community by supporting programming and touring costs
- These are Federal grant funds
-
Grants available between $2,000-$15,000 and a 1 to 1 cost share is required.
- This cost share can be salaries and wages for staff, other grants, cash contributions, or in-kind contributions
- Period of performance is December 1, 2025 – June 30, 2026
*Guest Artists are working artists that are external to your organization. They cannot be an artist you might have on staff.
Program Overview:
The GIG Fund: Arts and Wellness
- Provides grants to Midwestern nonprofit organizations to support artist-driven community wellness programming
- Funds may be used for performances, workshops, programs in clinical settings, and more
- These are Federal grant funds
-
Grants available between $2,000-$15,000 and a 1 to 1 cost share is required.
- This cost share can be salaries and wages for staff, other grants, cash contributions, or in-kind contributions
- Period of performance is December 1, 2025 – June 30, 2026
- Offers professional development opportunities to grantees
Tip: Check out Arts Midwest’s “5 Tips for Connecting Your Arts Programming to Wellness” to help you write an effective, focused application with relevant programming
Note: Arts Midwest receives funding for the GIG Fund through the National Endowment for the Arts. Organizations that are chosen to receive funding will have to sign an NEA Assurance of Compliance. This would certify that you are not excluding anyone from any events or programs funded through the GIG Fund, and not violating any anti-discrimination laws.
Side by Side Differences
GIG Fund:
- Supports public-facing arts projects and activities
- Must reach an underserved audience
- Open to organizations with annual operating expenses of $2M and under
GIG Fund: Arts and Wellness
- Supports artist-driven community wellness activities
- Must incorporate an arts and wellness theme
- Organizations of any budget size
- Offers professional development opportunities
Note: You have to choose whether to apply for GIG Fund or GIG Fund: Arts and Wellness. You cannot apply for both.
Organizational Eligibility
Organizations don’t need to be arts focused to be eligible for GIG funding. They just have to be a 501c3 capable of producing arts programming per the requirements of this grant. Receiving the GIG Fund in the past will not affect your eligibility to apply.
Eligible:
- Applicants must be located in Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota, Wisconsin, or the Native Nations that share this geography
-
For GIG Fund:
- 501c3 organizations and tribal organizations with a budget of $2M or less
-
For GIG Fund: Arts & Wellness:
- 501c3 organizations, hospitals, clinics, and tribal organizations of any budget size
- Must have a UEI number, which is free to obtain from from SAM.gov
Ineligible:
- Organizations applying with a fiscal sponsor
- For-profit businesses or organizations
- Artists, ensembles, and artist’s agents
- Organizations that have overdue reports or funding restrictions with Arts Midwest are ineligible
- Organizations applying to fund their own self-produced material (that doesn’t feature guest artists)
Tip: First Time Applying for Federal Funds? Check out “Best Practices for Federal Grant Applications” on the Arts Midwest Ideas Hub
Requirements
Artist Characteristics:
-
Contract with a professional artist/ensemble of high artistic, educational, or cultural value as understood by the target community
- A portion of the funds must go towards the artist/ensemble fee
- The artist/ensemble may be from anywhere in the world
- The artist/ensemble cannot be a full-time student
- The artist/ensemble can be one your organization has worked with before
Note: the professional artist/ensemble cannot be existing staff members of your organization. They must be an external artist.
Activity Characteristics:
-
Proposals must detail at least two activities featuring the artist/ensemble in an accessible facility/space
- There must be at least one educational component that allow direct interaction between an audience and the artist/ensemble or art form
- Activities may be in-person and/or virtual
- You can apply for support of an existing program
-
For the regular GIG Fund:
- There must be at least one performance or exhibition open to the general public
- At least one activity must reach an underserved audience*
-
For GIG Fund: Arts and Wellness:
- Activities must incorporate an arts and wellness theme
*Arts Midwest defines an underserved audience as groups whose opportunities to experience arts are limited relative to geography, economics, disability, and lack of relevant access.
Note: There is no minimum expected reach for these activities. The review panelists do not score based on audience size. Their decisions will primarily be focused on quality and grant criteria.
Reporting Obligations
An activity listing is due 30 days prior to the start of your project. A final report will be due 30 days after your activities conclude which will include:
- Event details with attendance figures
- Narrative responses on project activities
- Budget with actuals
- Examples of crediting materials
- (Optional) images
Applying through SmartSimple
Arts Midwest uses a grants portal called SmartSimple. Here’s a few tips you can use while filling out your GIG Fund Intent to Apply and Application:
Tip: Want to know what kinds of expenses might be allowable to be paid through the GIG Fund? Check out Arts Midwest’s guide to their Federal Eligibility Requirements. Some examples of what might be considered unallowable: gifts, prizes, awards, capital improvement, construction projects, memberships, fines or penalties. Arts Midwest will give you the opportunity to make corrections on these unallowable budget items before it goes over to the panel for review.
Important Dates:
- September 15, 2025 – Intent to Apply Due by 11:59pm
- September 29, 2025 – Full Applications Due by 11:59pm
- October 2025 – Panel Review
- November 2025 – Notification of all applicants via email
- December 1, 2025 – Funded activities may begin
- June 30, 2026 – Funded activities must be finished
Office Hours:
The grants team at Arts Midwest is offering two drop-in Zoom sessions where you can ask questions about the GIG Fund and GIG Fund: Arts and Wellness, the application, eligibility, and more:
-
GIG Fund
- Tuesday, August 12 at 10:00am Central Time
-
GIG Fund: Arts and Wellness
- Thursday, August 14 at 2:00pm Central Time
Other questions can be directed to grants@artsmidwest.org
Note: Arts Midwest is closed on Fridays and will be closed from August 4-7, 2025, so will likely not answer email messages during that time.