Inspire Your Heart With Art Day Reminds Us to Appreciate Art Everyday

It was Inspire Your Heart With Art Day earlier this week and has motivated the Grant Watch team to honor how art influences our hearts and our lives every day. Even before the invention of language as we know it, humans used art to communicate, inspire and document. We observed Inspire Your Heart With Art Day on the last day of January. However, we are surrounded by high and low art every day, from the painting on your wall to the device you are reading this with, the creative arts is integrated into every aspect of our lives.

What is Art?

There are three categories of art. These categories are visual arts (including architecture, ceramics, drawing, filmmaking, painting, photography, and sculpting) literary arts (including fiction, drama, poetry, and prose), and performing arts (including dance, music, and theatre). In truth, almost any creative expression can be found in one of these forms. Art transcends time. Throughout our growth as a species, society has repeatedly illustrated through action that the arts is an essential part of humanity. The timelessness of art is a part of its value. To illustrate, the oldest artwork in the world is known to be 45,000-year-old painting of a pig. Even today, thousands of years later this image communicates to us. Most of the “household-names” or famous artist that many of us think of when we think of art, like Pablo Picasso, would have never dreamed of the multifaceted world of art we enjoy today.

Why is Art Important?

Art is in every aspect of our existence. Our culture uses art as a vessel to communicate our values, beliefs, and goals for humanity. In effect, art promotes cultural exchange and dialogue, enriching our understanding of different societies, and challenging us to broaden our perspectives. Above all, art is a vital tool our society uses to communicate to others. From classic painters like Claude Monet to more modern artist like Agnès Varda, artist and creators have inspired individuals to pursue a career in the arts. Our modern views on art have changed with our current society and new forms of digital art like NFTs (Non-fungible token) and creating content the web are new forms of crating that did not exist before. Above all, art is a way to express yourself. Art is a part of humanity that is critical to our growth and happiness.

We all share a deep and abiding appreciation and understanding of how vitally important the arts are…The arts matter because they help us to understand how we matter. 

Why The Arts Matter – National Endowment for the Arts 

Celebrate Your Heart Away-Everyday

Inspire Your Heart With Art Day is about recognizing the artist, past, and present. Consequently, this creative celebration can be done in many ways over the course of the entire year. From creating a new work of art with your own hands to supporting local artists, the possibilities are limitless, you can celebrate art in so many ways. To illustrate:

1. Visit a local art gallery
2. Go to an art museum
3. Enjoy a concert in the park
4. Create art at home with your family
5. Take up a new artistic hobby
6. See an inspirational independent film
7. Teach someone how to play an instrument
8. Write a song
9. Observe nature in the present
10. Share your art with others

Grants For The Arts

We hope you inspire your heart with art everyday by supporting the arts in your community. Did you know that you can apply for a grant to secure funding? There are a plethora of ways that grants provide help for artists. For your convenience, we have compiled a number of grants that lend themselves to our inspirational heart theme. We encourage you to peruse the over 2200 current funding opportunities in the Arts and Culture category.

Grants For Visual Arts

1. Alaina Fisher Endowment for Emerging Visual Artists – Grants of up to $4,000 to individual early-career artists in eligible locations to promote professional development.  
2. Artist Access Grants Program – Grants of up to $1,000 to nonprofits for projects to benefit the local community in eligible locations. Areas of focus include performing and visual arts.
3. Community Arts Project Support (CAPS) Grant – Grants to nonprofit arts organizations, government agencies, and county school boards to provide the public with arts opportunities. Funding is intended to support programs and projects in areas related to performing arts, presenting artists, and visual arts.

Grants For Theater & Musical Arts

1. Heritage Arts Grant – Up to $1,500 to organizations, groups, and individuals for local public arts programming in eligible locations. Funding promotes community-based public programs, including theater.
2. Theatre Individual Project Funding – Grants of up to $15,000 to individual artists, artists ensembles, and arts administrators for specific projects in the performance or theater arts. 
3. Jazz and New Music: Creative Grants and Touring Grants – Grants of up to $10,000 to USA and France nonprofit organizations to present the work of French artists in the United States. Above all, funding is intended for the creation, recording, and presentation of new artistic works.

Grants For Literature & Poetry Arts

1. Scholarly Research Fellowship Award – Fellowships of up to $2,000 to independent scholars, college teachers, and graduate students for historical research. Funding assists with costs incurred while exploring Kentucky’s historical collections. 
2. Atwood Gibson Writers’ Trust Fiction Prize – Awards to authors, acknowledging outstanding contributions to the field of literature. Cash prizes awarded to the winner and finalists. In addition, collections of fictional short stories or novels that have been recently published are also welcome.
3. Swann Foundation Fellowship – Fellowships providing a stipend of up to $5,000 to master degree students, doctoral candidates, and postgraduate scholars. Specifically, to support ongoing writing projects and art research. 

Grants For Film and Radio Arts

1. John M. Bissell Foundation Grant – This opportunity for film schools, filmmakers, production companies, and students. Specifically, to participate in a film contest to depict various aspects related to public health.
2. Project: Hatched – Grants of $30,000 to women filmmakers for strategies and campaigns that help to finalize and promote recent projects. 
3. Grants to Amateur Radio Organizations – Grants to USA organizations for amateur radio programs and initiatives. Above all, preference will be given to proposals that are sustainable and expandable. 

Awareness & Educational Grants For The Arts

1. NWT Arts Council Grant – Grants up to $15,000 to organizations, groups, and individual artists for creative arts projects. Funding is promotes public appreciation of the arts. Eligible art disciplines include visual arts crafts, writing and publishing, film and media arts, audio recording, fashion, mentorship, and performing arts, including dance, music, storytelling, and theater.
2. The Downing Family Foundation Grant – Grants to nonprofit organizations for programs in the areas of children’s causes, community development and enrichment, the arts, early education, and services for the disadvantaged..
3. Icebreaker – Assistance Introduce Their Work – Grants of $15,000 and in-kind support to Quebec nonprofit arts organizations and artist collectives in eligible locations to introduce their work. Above all, the program is intended to offer technical assistance and mentorship to artists, leading up to a public presentation. 

How to Find a Grant

The Grant Search tool provides easy-to-use filters. Here you can search for grants by recipient type, location, category interests, funding source type, and deadline date. Above all, it is critical to ensure you are eligible for the grant you are applying for. In short, read each grant in detail to check the eligibility requirements. After you have found a grant you are eligible for, the next step is to apply. In truth, most applicants can generally apply for a grant themselves. However, a grant writer can also help you research and apply for grants. If you want to hire a professional grant writer, visit GrantWriterTeam.com and post a classified ad.

About GrantWatch

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