South Arts

OVERVIEW: South Arts supports individual artists, arts organizations and presenting organizations across the South through grants, fellowships, touring programs and other initiatives. Its core service area covers Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee, although some programs, including Jazz Road, operate nationally.

IP TAKE: This is an excellent regional arts funder to know in the South East, with a particularly broad menu of opportunities for presenters, rural arts organizations, traditional artists and individual artists. It is also relatively approachable: several programs accept open or rolling applications, and South Arts frequently encourages prospective applicants to contact program staff with eligibility questions. However, this is a complicated funder to track. Programs are regularly renamed, redesigned, opened for limited cycles or moved into the archive, so grantseekers should work from the current Grants & Opportunities page rather than rely on older program descriptions.

For organizations, particularly useful entry points include Arts in Community, Arts in Rural Places, Professional Development Grants and the Southern Artist Spotlight Grant. Smaller and rural organizations receive explicit consideration under several programs. The Spotlight program may be an especially useful way onto South Arts’ radar because applicants work with artists from a roster of people South Arts has already supported through programs including Jazz Road, Southern Circuit, the Southern Prize, the Emerging Traditional Artists Program and Momentum.

A warm introduction is not generally required. Instead, prospective applicants should identify the correct program, read its eligibility rules closely and contact the relevant program officer when South Arts encourages it. Several grants require a Unique Entity Identifier and matching funds, and rules on fiscal sponsorship vary significantly by program.

PROFILE: South Arts traces its history to the mid-1970s and was originally known as the Southern Arts Federation. It is one of the nation’s six nonprofit regional arts organizations and works in partnership with the National Endowment for the Arts and state arts agencies. Headquartered in Atlanta, South Arts seeks to advance “Southern vitality through the arts” by supporting artists, arts organizations and communities and increasing access to arts and culture. Its primary regional footprint consists of Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee. Doug Shipman became South Arts’ president and CEO in January 2026, succeeding longtime leader Susie Surkamer.

South Arts supports both community arts organizations and individual artists working in or across nearly any artistic discipline, style or media through its grant and fellowship opportunities.

Grants for Arts and Culture, Arts Education, Creative Writing and Theater

South Arts operates a large and shifting portfolio of grants for organizations and individual artists. Several of its most significant current programs cut across artistic disciplines. This program replaced the former Presentation Grants and Traditional Arts Touring Grants.

Arts in Community Grants support arts organizations in South Arts’ nine-state region that bring a Southern guest artist or company into a different Southern state for a public presentation and an educational or community engagement activity.
- Grants range from $2,000 to $10,000 and support up to 50% of the artist fee, requiring a dollar-for-dollar cash match.
- Eligible disciplines include film, traditional arts, visual arts, performing arts and literary arts.
- Applicants generally must be 501(c)(3) arts organizations, governmental arts organizations or qualifying tribal communities, and must have a UEI. Fiscal agents are not accepted.
- South Arts considers artistic excellence and merit, as well as audience engagement, project feasibility, applicant capacity and the project’s contribution to the Southern arts ecosystem.
- Applications are open through September 1, 2026 for projects taking place in 2027.

Arts in Rural Places, formerly known as Express Grants, provides expedited grants of up to $3,000 to organizations in rural, geographically isolated or otherwise isolated communities, as well as cities with populations of 50,000 or fewer.
- Projects must feature a professional artist from South Arts’ nine-state region and include both a public presentation and an educational or community engagement activity.
- The artist may come from inside or outside the presenter’s home state.
- Grants support up to half of the artist fee and require a 1:1 cash match.
- Fiscally sponsored groups and individual artists may not apply.
- Applications are accepted on a rolling, first-come, first-served basis and generally must be submitted at least 60 days before the project begins.

The Southern Artist Spotlight Grant is a pilot program that helps arts and community organizations present artists from South Arts’ own roster.
- The roster includes artists previously supported through Southern Circuit, Jazz Road, the Visual and Literary Arts State Fellowships, the Emerging Traditional Artists Program and Momentum.
- Grants support public performances, screenings, readings or exhibitions paired with an educational or community engagement activity.
- Awards are up to $8,000 for dance and up to $5,000 for film, music, literary arts, traditional arts and visual arts. Applicants must provide a dollar-for-dollar cash match.
- Eligible presenters can include nonprofit cultural organizations, community centers, churches, colleges and universities, libraries, museums, film festivals and performing arts centers.
- Funding is limited and distributed on a first-come, first-served basis.

Professional Development Grants for Arts Organizations support arts organizations with operating budgets of $500,000 or less.
- Grants range from $250 to $1,000 and may support conferences, workshops, staff or board training and other first-time professional development opportunities related to the organization’s arts programming or services.
- Grants require a 1:1 cash match.
- Fiscally sponsored organizations, non-arts organizations and individual artists are not eligible.
- Applications are accepted on a rolling basis and should generally be submitted at least 60 days before the professional development activity.

Cross-Sector Impact Grants support collaborations between the arts and another sector. The current three-year cohort focuses specifically on Arts & Health and Wellness.
- Projects require two partners—one from the arts sector and one from a non-arts sector—and both must be located in South Arts’ nine-state region.
- At least one partner must be an eligible nonprofit, governmental entity or tribal community with a UEI.
- The first cycle offered matching grants of up to $15,000. South Arts anticipates grants of up to $10,000 in cycles two and three for projects involving the same partners.
- The current cohort was selected through an open LOI followed by an invitation-only full proposal process. New applicants cannot currently enter the ongoing three-year cohort.

South Arts also makes substantial investments in folk and traditional arts. It defines traditional art as “shared aesthetics, practices and values of families, geographic communities, occupational groups, ethnic heritage groups, etc.”

In These Mountains: Infrastructure Grants provide $30,000 grants to organizations supporting folk arts and traditional culture in Appalachian Regional Commission counties in Kentucky, North Carolina and Tennessee.
- These grants support non-programming and capacity needs, including professional development, emergency planning, equipment or software, marketing, strategic planning, conferences and related organizational infrastructure. The grants do not require a match.
- Eligible organizations must have their own 501(c)(3) status or work with a fiscal agent.
- South Arts plans to select six organizations in the FY2027 cycle, two from each eligible state.

The Emerging Traditional Artists Program supports early-career folk and traditional artists with $5,000 awards and professional development.
- For FY2027, eligibility includes qualifying artists in Appalachian Regional Commission counties, Delta Regional Authority counties and members of state- or federally recognized Native American tribes. South Arts prioritizes artists who have had limited access to high-quality professional development.
- Funds may support learning, training, networking, promotion and other activities that strengthen an artist’s traditional practice and its role in the artist’s community.

For writers and literary organizations, South Arts has expanded its grantmaking significantly.

The Southern Prize for Literature supports writers developing original book-length manuscripts.
- Eligible applicants must be individual writers age 18 or older who live full-time in South Arts’ nine-state region and are not enrolled in a degree-granting program.
- One winner will receive an unrestricted $25,000 fellowship and two runners-up will receive $10,000 each.
- Funds may support time for writing, research and archival work, childcare or eldercare, workspace, equipment, manuscript consultation, editing and other needs related to the development of the work.

South Arts also operates Literary Arts Grants for writers, independent literary publishers, small presses and nonprofit literary arts organizations.
- Grants are generally up to $5,000 and have supported literary creation and publishing, public engagement and professional development.
- Individual writers and literary organizations must be based in the nine-state South Arts region; colleges and universities are not eligible under the most recent guidelines.
- The latest application cycle closed in December 2025, so grantseekers should monitor South Arts for a future round.

The Artist Creative Practice Grant, formerly called the Individual Artist Career Opportunity Grant, supports individual Southern artists pursuing professional and career development opportunities.

The most recent cycle offered grants of up to $3,000 for milestone opportunities that could contribute to an artist’s professional growth. This program supports individuals rather than groups or organizations.
The latest round closed in April 2026. Grantseekers should monitor South Arts for another cycle rather than assume applications are continuously open.

South Arts has also periodically offered Accessibility Grants, disaster-readiness and recovery funding and other special-purpose programs. These opportunities are not necessarily offered every year. The most recent Accessibility cycle, for example, offered matching grants of up to $1,000 and closed in September 2025.

Grants for Visual Arts

The Southern Prize and State Fellowships for Visual Arts is South Arts’ flagship award program for visual artists in its nine-state region.

Nine artists, one from each South Arts state, receive unrestricted $5,000 State Fellowships.
The nine fellows compete for an additional $25,000 Southern Prize and a $10,000 finalist award.
Fellows participate in a touring exhibition, and the Southern Prize winner and finalist also receive residency opportunities.
Eligible applicants must be practicing artists in the nine-state region and meet residency and other program requirements.
Film, video or media art is not eligible as a standalone category, although video, film and sound may be included in qualifying experimental or mixed-media work.
The 2026 application cycle closed in March, and South Arts announced its nine 2026 State Fellows in July.

Competition is substantial. South Arts reported that 897 artists applied for the 2025 Visual Arts fellowships, from which nine State Fellows were selected.

Grants for Film

Southern Circuit Tour of Independent Filmmakers connects independent filmmakers with audiences and presenting organizations across the South.

Filmmakers apply to tour with their films and participate in post-screening discussions and other educational, social and media engagements. Selected filmmakers are paid for their participation.
South Arts separately recruits nonprofit, educational and governmental organizations as Screening Partners.
Screening Partners present six films and filmmakers during a Circuit season.
The 2026-2027 filmmaker and Screening Partner application cycles closed in April 2026.

Southern Circuit is better understood as a touring and presenting program than as a conventional project-grant program. Film organizations should also consider Arts in Community, Arts in Rural Places and Southern Artist Spotlight when eligible.

Grants for Music

Jazz Road is a national initiative administered by South Arts with support from the Doris Duke Foundation and Mellon Foundation and participation from the other regional arts organizations. Unlike most South Arts programs, Jazz Road is not limited to the nine-state Southeast region.

Jazz Road Tours makes grants of $5,000 to $15,000 directly to professional jazz artists for three- to six-site tours. The program prioritizes artist-centered touring and seeks to expand jazz performances into a range of communities and venues, including rural and traditionally underserved communities.
Jazz Road Creative Residencies supports professional jazz artists pursuing artist-designed residencies involving creative development, collaboration or community engagement.

South Arts also maintains an ongoing call for presenters and venues interested in connecting with Jazz Road artists. This may be useful for organizations seeking to become part of the program’s broader presenter network.

Grants for Dance

Dance organizations and presenters can access several of South Arts’ broader programs rather than relying on a single dedicated dance grant.

Arts in Community supports qualifying dance presentations and community engagement projects.
Southern Artist Spotlight makes awards of up to $8,000 for organizations presenting dance artists from South Arts’ roster.

South Arts previously operated Momentum: Dance Touring Initiative for Southern Companies, which provided multi-year professional development and touring support to Southern dance companies. The documented Momentum cohort ran from 2019 through 2022, and the program should be considered a legacy initiative rather than a currently open grant opportunity. Artists who participated in Momentum may still appear on the Southern Artist Spotlight roster.

Important Grant Details:

South Arts reported making 633 grants totaling nearly $16 million in FY2025, including about $1.08 million to 294 artists and $14.88 million to 339 organizations. However, grantseekers should not treat that amount as a normal annual benchmark: South Arts says FY2025 federal revenue included a special one-time $7.4 million grant for a national program. South Arts’ application process varies considerably from one program to another.

Review the current Grants & Opportunities page carefully. South Arts regularly changes program names, eligibility requirements and application cycles.
Fiscal sponsorship rules also vary. Arts in Community, Arts in Rural Places and Professional Development do not accept fiscally sponsored applicants, while In These Mountains Infrastructure permits eligible organizations to work with a fiscal agent.
South Arts encourages prospective applicants to contact program staff on several grant pages. New applicants should use those conversations to confirm eligibility and fit rather than to pitch projects outside an established program.The organization maintains a searchable database of grant and fellowship recipients. This is useful for identifying previously supported artists, presenters and organizations and assessing program fit.
Review the program pages for full application guidelines and view application deadlines here.
Not all programs and grant opportunities are available each year.
Grantseekers can look over previous fellows and grantees in the searchable Database.
Reach out to staff at 404-874-7244 or via the form on its Contact

PEOPLE:

Search for staff contact info and bios in PeopleFinder (paid subscribers only).

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Last updated on August 8, 2026