The Cultural Alliance of Fairfield County (CAFC) on behalf of the Connecticut Office of the Arts (COA) offered two information sessions in February about the COA fiscal year 2018 grant offerings. The grant application deadlines are March 15 and 22, depending on particular grant types. The state grants fall into three categories: Supporting Arts in Place (SAP), Arts Learning Grants (ALG) and Project Grants.

The SAP grant, with a March 15 application deadline, awards matching grants to eligible arts organizations and municipal art departments to strengthen the state’s non-profit arts industry. The awards for fiscal year 2017 ranged from $365 to $18,630 with the minimum award amount increasing to $500 for the new cycle. While applicants do not specify a grant request amount or indicate how grant funds will be spent, grantees will be required to document how SAP funds were used.

The ALG grants, also with a March 15 deadline, provide funding in three categories.

• Access: Exposure to the arts through field trips, school or classroom visits, performances and lectures by artists or artist groups or arts venues.

• Connection and Correlations: Extension of arts access experiences that begin to make connections between the arts experience and preschool through grade 12 curriculum.

• Integration: Sequential arts learning experiences that weave ideas and concepts between and among arts and non-arts disciplines.

With an application deadline of March 22, the Project Grants program encourages and supports arts-based projects of artistic excellence that are aligned with the READI (Relevance, Equity, Access, Diversity, Inclusion) framework. The larger grant requests range from $5,000 to $15,000 for planning and implementation of arts-based projects. In addition, there are Regional Initiative Grants, also due by March 22, which go toward supporting small community arts projects that are aligned with the READI.

For more information on the different grants, visit tinyurl.com/z2zqbue. Additional information on the Cultural Alliance of Fairfield County can be found at CulturalAllianceFC.org.