Grants & Services for Artists
Individual Artists Fellowships
The Greater Columbus Arts Council established the GCAC/City of Columbus Grants Program in 1973 to offer financial support to the city's artists and arts organizations. Since 1978, a portion of city revenues from the hotel/motel tax has been designated for support of the Grants Program. GCAC Trustees make funding decisions on a non-political basis through a competitive system of application and review.
Visual Arts Fellowships
The Greater Columbus Arts Council is suspending our Individual Artist Fellowships in the visual arts as part of budget cuts across the organization. Therefore, we will not accept applications for the 2009 Fellowships.
Unfortunately, the current economic downturn both nationally and locally has affected many arts organizations in Columbus, and GCAC is no exception. An approximate 13 percent decrease in revenue from the hotel/motel tax dollars for the City of Columbus, which provides GCAC with about 70 percent of its total funding, has forced us to cut our administrative, program and grants budgets.
Though we are unable to give away visual arts fellowships this year, the 2009 Columbus Literary Awards - fellowships in the literary arts funded by GCAC and administered by Thurber House - will be given as planned. For more information on the Columbus Literary Awards, please visit www.thurberhouse.org
GCAC remains deeply committed to individual artists in the community and will reinstate the visual arts fellowships in 2010, budget permitting. To register for our online grants system, GO Arts, click here. In the meantime, we continue to offer professional development opportunities for artists through our OPPArt (Opportunities for Artists) series. To learn more about OPPArt and join the mailing list, which includes information about the program along with calls for entry, job postings and more, e-mail Ruby Classen at rclassen@gcac.org.
View the Web site celebrating the more than 125 fellowships that have been granted since 1986.
Columbus Literary Awards
The Columbus Literary Awards are the biennial awards given to the most outstanding literary works produced by Franklin County writers. Three awards — one for fiction, one for nonfiction, and one for poetry — of $5,000 each are given to individuals based on the quality of work submitted. The next round of awards will be given in 2009. Applications must be submitted to Thurber House.
