The Upper Cumberland Development District is a designated agency to administer grant funding through the Tennessee Arts Commission’s Arts Build Communities program. Funded through the Specialty License Plate Program, the Arts Build Communities (ABC) grant program is designed to provide support for arts projects that broaden access to arts experiences, address community quality of life issues through the arts, or enhance the sustainability of asset-based cultural enterprises. The ABC program encourages applications from non-profit organizations and government entities engaged in arts programming. To learn more about the ABC program’s purpose and eligibility requirements, please refer to the guidelines located at: https://tnartscommission.org/grants/arts-build-communities-grant-2/

The Upper Cumberland Development District (UCDD) serves the following fourteen counties: Cannon, Clay, Cumberland, DeKalb, Fentress, Jackson, Macon, Overton, Pickett, Putnam, Smith, Van Buren, Warren and White. Both the applicant organizations and the proposed projects must be within this service area. Successful grant awards will range from $500 to $2,500 and will require at minimum a “one to one dollar match,” meaning the applicant must cover at least half the cost of a project through other income sources.

The UCDD will host a workshop for grant applicants at 10:00 a.m. on April 30, 2018. The workshop will be held in the conference room at the UCDD, located at 1225 South Willow Avenue in Cookeville. The deadline for applications is July 2, 2018 at 11:59 p.m. CST. The application is completed entirely online and is accessible here: https://tnarts.fluxx.io./user_sessions/new. Google Chrome is the preferred web browser and works best with the application.

Applications for the ABC program will go through a local review process held in July 2018 and results will be announced before August 10, 2018. The successful proposed projects must take place and grant funds must be used between August 16, 2018 and June 15, 2019. For more information, please contact Tasha Schwenn at the UCDD at (931)476-4161 or via e-mail at tschwenn@ucdd.org