Creative Start Project Grant
Project Support for the 2025 Fiscal Year (July 1, 2024 – June 30, 2025)
Project Support for the 2025 Fiscal Year (July 1, 2024 – June 30, 2025)
The Creative Start Project Grant supports projects that engage preschool to 3rd grade students in arts integrated learning. This one-year grant prioritizes the students’ creative, academic, and social emotional growth. It supports collaborations between early learning educators, schools, families, arts specialists, teaching artists, and organizations. Proposed projects should increase culturally relevant student learning in and through the arts.
Funding request amounts
Important dates
Who is eligible to apply?
Any Washington State:
Who is not eligible to apply?
Funding priorities
All eligible organizations and projects are encouraged to apply. As a statewide program, our goal is to better support projects that reach Washington’s distressed counties, as defined by Washington State Employment Security. Special consideration in awarding funds will be given to projects that:
Eligible projects:
Ineligible projects:
Applicants for the Creative Start Project Grant can apply for and receive other ArtsWA grants if they support different projects, expenses, and services.
Screening for eligibility
ArtsWA staff review Creative Start Project Grant applications for completion and eligibility. Staff send complete and eligible applications to a grant scoring panel for evaluation.
Evaluation and grant scoring panel
A panel of arts education professionals, ArtsWA Commissioners, and ArtsWA staff evaluate eligible Creative Start Project Grant applications. Panelists use criteria to give a numerical score to each application. An application’s final score is the combined average of all panelists’ scores. Applicants receive grant funds based on the ranking score order until available funds are exhausted.
Panelists will assign each Creative Start Project Grant application a score up to 100 using the criteria and point system below. 100 points is the highest possible score for this grant application.
2. Project design: (20 points possible) The proposal describes feasible:
3. Educator and artist support: (20 points possible) The proposal describes:
4. Community and family engagement: (20 points possible) The proposal describes:
5. Plans for accessibility: (20 points possible) The proposal describes:
Notification of grant awards
ArtsWA sends notifications to Creative Start Project Grant applicants as soon as possible after the ArtsWA Board of Commissioners meet and approve final panel scores. Applicants will receive notifications via email no later than May 10, 2024.
All Creative Start Project Grant applicants must provide:
Online application
Applicants to the Creative Start Project Grant must complete their application through the online grant platform, Submittable. ArtsWA will accept Creative Start Project Grant applications in Submittable starting January 18 through February 23, 2024 at 5:00 p.m.
Please see ArtsWA’s Submittable FAQ for additional information on using this platform.
Examples of what we fund:
We cannot fund:
Accessibility
Federal and state funded projects must be accessible to people with disabilities. You can use this accessibility checklist when planning your programs. You do not need to check all boxes to be eligible for funding; this is simply a worksheet and resource for your organization.
ArtsWA accepts grant applications via an online form. If you require an alternate format or assistance to access the application, please reach out to us at the contact information below or Alexis Sarah, ArtsWA Accessibility Coordinator, alexis.sarah@arts.wa.gov or at 360-228-6359.
About ArtsWA
ArtsWA is the Washington State Arts Commission. The Washington State Legislature and the National Endowment for the Arts fund our programs. Grants are contingent on available state and federal funding. ArtsWA complies with all local, state and federal laws and regulations concerning civil and human rights. For more information regarding the Washington State Arts Commission’s policies on Accessibility, Diversity, and Nondiscrimination, click here.
Transparency
Let us know if individuals involved with your organization also have an affiliation with ArtsWA (ArtsWA staff, commissioners, consultants, contractors, current grant scoring panelists, or immediate family members, etc.). This is for transparency only. The grant scoring panel will review your application without bias. Read our full Conflict of Interest policy.
Appeals
Unsuccessful grant applicants may appeal in accordance with Washington Administrative Code (WAC) 30.12.036, found here.
Alexis Sarah, Arts in Education Project Manager at 360-228-6359 or alexis.sarah@arts.wa.gov