The Northampton Arts Council, Inc. is once again running a special, locally supported arts grant round. This spring the Arts Council will be awarding up to $20,000. This money was raised at last summer's Transperformance 19: LookStock and the recent Four Sundays in February ’10 series. These grants are available to area writers, painters, photographers, sculptors, musicians, filmmakers, schools, and all other creatives and arts organizations for projects held in Northampton.

Guidelines and applications are available via our website: http://www.northamptonartscouncil.org and can be downloaded as PDFs. Using the PDF application, one can complete it on a computer. (No more struggling to find a typewriter!) Hard copies of the guidelines and applications will be available in Northampton at the Forbes Library, Guild Art Supply, Northampton Center for the Arts, APE/Window, and the office of the Arts Council, Room 5, 240 Main Street.

Completed applications with support materials must be received by 4:30 pm, Friday, May 14, 2010 at the Northampton Arts Council office.

Because this is a locally funded cycle, we have eliminated as much of the paperwork as we can. To that end we have developed ArtsEZ Spring 2010 Application Form. This is a one-page form with 3 short questions and a required project budget. Individual artists and arts organizations will receive equal consideration for grants. Only one grant application per person or organization will be considered. Please review the Arts EZ Spring 2010 guidelines for criteria and eligibility requirements.

Projects must take place in Northampton, Florence, or Leeds, between July 1, 2010 and June 30, 2011.

This local round of funding would not have been possible without the support of many local businesses, arts organizations, and artists that have helped make our fundraising efforts such a huge success.