Contact The NJ State Council
on the Arts
Mailing Address:
NJ State Council on the Arts
P.O. Box 306
Trenton, NJ 08625-0306

Office Address:
225 West State Street, 4th Floor
Trenton, NJ 08608

Tel: (609) 292-6130
NJ Relay: 711

Email: Feedback@sos.nj.gov
Grant Opportunities In Community Arts
Community Arts Program

The Community Arts Program of the New Jersey State Council on the Arts seeks to make the arts an integral part of community life, grow the arts from the grassroots, and extend the benefits of the arts to residents in all corners of the state. This program area includes a battery of funding vehicles, initiatives, and collaborative strategies to support local arts development, folk and traditional arts, community cultural planning, participation building, and connecting the arts to the civic agenda, with special emphasis on improving access to the arts for underserved audiences and communities.
Local Arts Program (LAP)

Since 1979 the New Jersey State Council on the Arts has worked in collaboration with the complete network of 21 officially designated County Arts Agencies (CAAs) to provide the people in all corners of the state with access to quality arts experiences in their communities. The Council awards multi-year Local Arts Program Grants to the CAAs to support their local arts development programs, activities, planning, administration and professional development; and to regrant funds to community-based arts organizations and projects, which have local impact.

Find Your County Arts Agency

Folk and Traditional Arts Program

Diversity is one of New Jersey's most significant and valuable characteristics. The state's many geographic and demographic settings are interwoven with ethnic, cultural and occupational networks, creating a dynamic array of communities. In them, folk and traditional arts are valued ways of expressing identity and strengthening group ties. To support this cultural richness, as well as the broader public appreciation and understanding of it, the Council has established a multi-faceted Folk Arts Program.
New Jersey Heritage Fellowship

To honor and preserve our State’s highly diverse cultural heritage, the Council will award New Jersey Heritage Fellowships to master folk and traditional artists. These fellowships recognize artistic excellence, lifetime achievement, and contributions to our state’s traditional arts heritage. Heritage Fellowship Awards are one-time, $20,000 awards to individual practicing New Jersey folk and traditional artists to help them pursue their artistic goals.

Artists may use Heritage Fellowship awards to pursue work in their artistic discipline, including purchasing supplies, renting studio space, otherwise freeing their time. Fellowship funds may not be used for travel outside of the country, study as a matriculated student in either a graduate or undergraduate program, or to purchase permanent equipment (equipment with a resale value exceeding $350 or having a life span over three years).

Heritage Fellowship FY24 Guidelines – English
Heritage Fellowship FY24 Guidelines – Spanish
Heritage Fellowship FY24 Special Guidance – English
Heritage Fellowship FY24 Special Guidance – Spanish
Heritage Fellowship FY24 Technical Assistance Schedule
Heritage Fellowship FY24 Notice of Intent Form

To stay informed about future grant opportunities, be sure to sign up for the Council’s newsletter.

Folk and Traditional Arts Apprenticeships

These grants to individuals encourage cultural communities to continue passing on their valued traditions in traditional settings by providing stipends so that master folk artists can help apprentices develop greater skill. Since 1995 these grants have supported apprenticeships in dozens of different cultural communities and scores of different art forms, reflecting the rich array of traditional arts in our state. Applications are available in winter with a deadline in the spring and awards announced in July.
Folk and Traditional Arts Infrastructure

Folk and traditional arts development in New Jersey has been guided by a Folk Arts Infrastructure Plan created with input from folk cultural specialists, folk artists and practitioners, and diverse communities throughout the state. Core to implementation of that plan is the development of a network of regional folklife centers in the state that conduct fieldwork research in their regions and produce and present programs to preserve and highlight the great diversity of folk arts traditions practiced in New Jersey.

The Council is proud to support and work closely with our State’s five Folklife Centers: