National Endowment for the Arts OUR TOWN Grant Program

Under these guidelines, funding is not available for:

• Costs incurred before or after the beginning of the official period of performance.
• General operating or seasonal support.
• Costs for the creation of new organizations.
• Direct grants to individuals. (We encourage applicant organizations to involve individual artists in all possible ways.)
• Individual elementary or secondary schools -- charter, private, or public -- directly. Schools may participate as partners in projects for which another eligible organization applies. Local education agencies, school districts, and state and regional education agencies are eligible. If a single school also is a local education agency, as is the case with some charter schools, the school may apply with documentation that supports its status as a local education agency.
• Construction, purchase, or renovation of facilities. (Design fees, preparing space for an exhibit, installation or de-installation of art, and community planning are eligible. However, no National Endowment for the Arts or matching funds may be directed to the costs of physical construction or renovation or toward the purchase costs of facilities or land.)
• Commercial (for-profit) enterprises or activities, including concessions, food, T-shirts, or other items for resale.
• Cash reserves and endowments.
• Subgranting or regranting, except for state arts agencies, regional arts organizations, or local arts agencies that are designated to operate on behalf of their local governments or are operating units of city or county government. (See more information on subgranting.)
• Costs to bring a project into compliance with federal grant requirements. This includes environmental or historical assessments or reviews and the hiring of individuals to write assessments or reviews or to otherwise comply with the National Environmental Policy Act and/or the National Historic Preservation Act.
• Awards to individuals or organizations to honor or recognize achievement.
• Generally, professional training programs or courses in degree-granting institutions.
• Projects that replace arts instruction provided by an arts specialist.
• Literary publishing that does not focus on contemporary literature and/or writers.
• Generally, publication of books or exhibition of works by the applicant organization's staff, board members, faculty, or trustees.
• Exhibitions of, and other projects that primarily involve, single, individually-owned, private collections.
• Projects for which the selection of artists or art works is based upon criteria other than artistic excellence and merit. Examples include festivals, exhibitions, or publications for which no jury/editorial judgment has been applied.
• Expenditures related to compensation to foreign nationals and/or travel to or from foreign countries when those expenditures are not in compliance with regulations issued by the U.S. Treasury Department Office of Foreign Assets Control. For further information, see http://www.treas.gov/offices/enforcement/ofac/ or contact our Grants & Contracts Office at grants@arts.gov.
• Project costs supported by any other federal funding. This includes federal funding received either directly from a federal agency (e.g., NEH, HUD, National Science Foundation, or an entity that receives federal appropriations such as the Corporation for Public Broadcasting or Amtrak); or indirectly from a pass-through organization such as a state arts agency, regional arts organization, or a grant made to another entity.
• Alcoholic beverages.
• Gifts and prizes, including cash prizes as well as other items (e.g., iPads, gift certificates) with monetary value.
• General miscellaneous or contingency costs.
• Contributions and donations to other entities.
• Fines and penalties, bad debt costs, deficit reduction.
• Social activities such as receptions, parties, galas.
• Lobbying.
• Marketing expenses that are not directly related to the project.
• Audit costs that are not directly related to a single audit (formerly known as an A-133 audit).
• Rental costs for home office workspace owned by individuals or entities affiliated with the applicant organization.
• Visa costs paid to the U.S. government.

You are required to use Grants.gov. See "How to Prepare and Submit an Application" for further information.

Late, ineligible, and incomplete applications will not be reviewed.

In the event of a major emergency (e.g., a hurricane or Grants.gov technological failure), the NEA Chairman may adjust application deadlines for affected applicants. If a deadline is extended for any reason, an announcement will be posted on our website.

If you have questions:

E-mail: OT@arts.gov

202/682-5082 Voice/T.T.Y. (Text-Telephone, a device for individuals who are deaf or hard-of-hearing.)  Individuals who do not use conventional print should contact the Arts Endowment's Accessibility Office at 202/682-5532 for help in acquiring an audio recording of these guidelines.

OMB No. 3135-0112 Expires 11/30/2016
CFDA No. 45.024

May 2016