“The latest round of NEA grants for Access to Artistic Excellence, American Masterpieces, Arts on Radio and Television, Learning in the Arts for Children & Youth and Partnerships is out, and Texas visual arts orgs have got their share.”

..among the recipients are the following Houston Area organizations:

The Galveston Historical Foundation got $12,000 to support a symposium on the preservation of cast-iron storefronts.
The Houston Arts Alliance got $50,000 to identify, document, and present the varied folklife found in Houston.
Rice University, Houston, got $15,000 to support Explosion: East Asia Architecture Today.
Houston’s Spacetaker got $10,000 for its Artist Resource Center

Congratulations to everyone!
full article here

“KickStarter is a new site to “fund ideas and endeavors.” The site seems particularly geared to artistic communities that only need a few hundred to a few thousand dollars for a project. I was skeptical at first, but you can browse all the other projects, their funding and see how everything works. A really impressive setup.

You can set up a page to describe your project and funding goals. People from the community can pledge to contribute. If your funding goals are met in the alotted time, you get that money! If not, you get nothing and nobody hands over money.

The benefits are obvious for artists. A little less clear are the benfits to those donating. The site addresses this saying how you can get inventive with creating personal incentives … hmm. But it seems to be working for many people. Seems like a great way to get a little money, which is often all thats needed. Good Luck!”

It kinda sounds like the BBC’s ‘Dragons’ Den’ for the arts world. Good Luck!
-Agent Smith

thanks to Glasstire for the original post Glasstire: Texas visual art online - KickStarter.

Here is a quick and dirty, short list of grants available through the Texas Commission on the Arts. There are a variety of grants available and most are due on the same quarterly deadline (see our calendar page for details).

Which grant you qualify for will depend on how you/your organization is catergorized. But, fret not, they make it easy for you to figure out using their TCA Type Wizard, “The Wizard is a series of questions that profiles your organization and then presents a customized list of TCA programs for which your organization is eligible.”

Now for the good stuff, here’s the list:
Arts Respond Project
Cultural Connections- Performance Support
Arts Create-5
Arts Create Subgranting

January 31, 2010 marks the next deadline for organizations to be included on the approved Touring Roster of Texas-based touring companies and artists. More info here and here.

For a complete list, the TCA Guide to Programs & Services is listed here.

Happy Grant Writing,
Agent Smith

Wow!
Huge kudos to OnlineBestColleges.Com for compiling this list of FREE online web tools. It’s very comprehensive and, well just flat out amazing.

Included are portfolio and gallery posting sites, communities, job boards, career guides, resume, cover letter and artist statement help, financial advice, career change and general advice. Very thorough and a definite go-to list for anyone looking for some useful insight (and who couldn’t use that every now and again).