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PACA ACI Grant Program


The application deadline is July 15, 2025, at 11:59 pm (EST).

The PACA Arts & Cultural Impact Grants, formerly the PACA Grant Program, is designed to assist PACA-member artists and PACA-member nonprofit organizations with direct funding opportunities. There are three distinct grant categories: Nonprofits (Budgets up to $200k), Nonprofits (Budgets between $200-$250K), and professional artists. Applicants in each category may submit an application for up to $5000 per grant. Two grants per category will be awarded for a total of up to $30,000.

Please Note
The two main purposes of the PACA ACI Grants are to provide the Polk County community with new opportunities for arts and cultural experiences and/or to expand or broaden an existing arts and cultural experience in a meaningful way. As such the grant scoring process prioritizes applications which feature new events/programs/projects or expands existing events/programs/projects to reach a larger audience.

Please read the information below before attempting to complete a 2025 PACA ACI Grant application.

ACI Grant Application Categories
You can find the grant applications for each category below:
•Nonprofit Organization (Budget < $200k)
•Nonprofit Organization (Budget between $200-$250k)
•Professional Artist

You can find an informational video HERE.  This video takes the place of a grants webinar. Please view it (it’s 30 minutes) and then email grants@polkarts.org if you have any questions the video wasn’t able to answer.

The matrix used for scoring the grant applications can be found HERE.

A pdf of the application to use in preparation for filling out the application can be found HERE. The pdf is of the nonprofit application, but the artist application is similar enough that the pdf can still be used for planning purposes.

General Grant Guidelines
  • Applicants must be members of the Polk Arts & Cultural Alliance – membership info is HERE.
  • Local artists and nonprofit organizations are eligible – both applicant types must reside in Polk County.
  • The applicant’s project/program/event must be executed within Polk County.
  • Recipients cannot use 2025 grant funds for a project/program/event for which they received grant funding in 2024.
  • A nonprofit applicant’s organizational revenues must not exceed the threshold for each grant category as reflected on their most recent IRS Form 990.
  • If the recipient’s project/program/event budget exceeds the amount of the grant funding, the recipient will be asked to explain the process being used to secure the remaining funding.
  • All grant recipients must acknowledge the Polk Arts & Cultural Alliance on all public-facing opportunities (web pages, social media, print collateral, etc) as the grant funder for the respective project/program/event. This may include the use of textual acknowledgement via copy as well the use of the PACA logo.
  • The grant application form does NOT accept text formatting (bold, italic, underline, etc.). The text will be plain text only.
Specific Grant Information: Nonprofit Organization ACI Grants
  • Nonprofit ACI Grants are funded at up to $5000 per recipient.
  • ACI Grants for Nonprofits can be used for specific arts and culture-related programs and events as well as to improve the organizational infrastructure of a nonprofit recipient. However, a key scoring criteria will be how effective the intended use of the grant funds expands/enhances/innovates arts and cultural experiences in Polk County – helping to establish Polk County as a “destination for arts and culture.”
  • Nonprofit organizations that are not specifically arts and culture-focused MAY apply for an ACI grant. However, they MUST still be PACA members and the program/project/event must clearly be of an arts and cultural nature and must also expand/enhance arts and cultural opportunities in Polk County.
Specific Grant Information: ACI Artist Grants
  • ACI Artist Grants are funded at up to $5000 per recipient.
  • ACI Artist Grants are purposed for projects/events/programs that will provide new or innovative arts and cultural offerings in Polk County.
  • These grants funds may be used to purchase equipment, supplies, even professional development experiences for local artists. Again, the application must clearly explain how the funds being used broaden local arts and cultural experiences for the community.
Grant Priority Categories
The following grant categories will receive bonus points during the scoring process:

  • The event/project/program is directed at children/youth.
  • The event/project/program is directed at senior adults.
  • The event/project/program has a focus on arts in medicine or arts and personal well-being.
  • The event/project/program has an Art In Public Spaces focus, placing art experiences in non-traditional public spaces – in other words, where people would not ordinarily expect to have an arts and cultural experience.

Required Grant Documents

Depending upon the applicant’s category (nonprofit organization / artist), the following documents must be submitted with each grant application:

  • IRS Documentation Letter*
  • First Three (3) pages of most recent 990*
  • Timeline of the proposed project/program/event
  • CV/Resume (for artist applicants)
    *For non-profit organizations

A Frequently-Asked-Questions Page can be found HERE

Questions can be directed to grants@polkarts.org