How to Manage Your Cultural Sustainability Award
Please review the steps below. You can also download the PDF of How to Manage Your Cultural Sustainability Award.
Step 1- Review Terms and Conditions
Review Terms and Conditions Grantees are required to adhere to grant requirements based on the grant program and program source of funds as set forth in the grantee's award letter and/or contract. These may include, but are not limited to, Grant Acceptance Terms and Conditions, Assurance of Compliance, and Federal Suspension and Debarment Requirements. Please contact Aiyana Straughn with any question at astraughn@southarts.org.
Step 2 – Review Grant Payment Process
Grantees can be awarded up to 95% of their award up front. Please allow 30 – 60 days for all grant payments from the date of payment approval. Final payments will be given upon receipt of the final report at the close of the grant period in June 2026.
To receive grant funds by Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT), please complete the EFT Instructions.
Step 3 – Participate in Collaborative Learning Experiences
In addition to grant funds, South Arts is offering Collaborative Learning Experiences through a cohort engagement model that will help us better understand how arts organizations rooted in communities of color align their mission, organizational structures, and engagement with their communities to enhance their organizational well-being and that of the communities they serve.
Organizations will have the opportunity to participate in experiences rooted in themes such as solidarity, preservation, and reciprocity with their peers.
By serving in the roles of funder, convener, and advocate, South Arts will participate in this work alongside grant recipients. While we understand that a single grant award is not the sole solution, we hope this will help organizations to build and/or strengthen their own systems of sustainability and open doors to new resources, networks, collaborators, and advocates.
Here is a cohort engagement table that describes an initial model of how the cohort will engage in the Collaborative Learning Experiences (it may be subject to change). This is meant to give applicants a sense of what to expect. Note: Grantees agree to help co-design the experiences with South Arts at the time of the award.
If there are any travel requirements throughout this experience, it will be provided by South Arts.
Step 4 – Reporting & Engagement
South Arts is here to support your work and talk through progress, challenges, successes, and learnings. Funded organizations may select their frequency of check-in conversations with South Arts that best fits their needs:
- Quarterly
- Twice a Year (mid-year and year-end)
All funded organizations will be asked to complete a final online report to document their use of funds and learnings/experience towards the end of the grant period in June 2026.
Grantees will also complete surveys developed and provided as part of the grant program.
Step 5 – Notify Us If Your Point of Contact Changes
The Grantee agrees to contact South Arts should there be a change in the point of contact for this grant award. For technical assistance updating the point of contact in Salesforce, please contact grants@southarts.org.
Step 6 – Keep Financial Records for Four Years
The Grantee will also submit financial reports to document use of funds on allowable activities and costs. While this grant allows for unrestricted operating expenses, please note ineligible expenses: Funds may not be used towards public art projects, capital projects such as new construction and purchases of land or facilities, nor for the private benefit of any shareholders (for private entities).
Financial records, supporting documents, statistical records, and all other records pertinent to the award must be retained for a period of four (4) years from the date of submission of the final report. Grantees must permit South Arts and South Arts financial auditors’ access to their records and financial statements as necessary to ensure regulatory compliance.
Step 7 – Write Your Legislators
We encourage you to contact your federal elected officials (Senators/Congresspersons) to inform them of your US RAO and the Wallace Foundation’s support of your Cultural Sustainability award. Many federal officials prefer to receive constituent correspondence via email and/or through their official website (officials and their contact information can be found at www.votesmart.org). You may also choose to send a hard-copy letter on your organization’s letterhead.
Informed Consent
South Arts is participating in a research study that is part of The Wallace Foundation’s Advancing Well-Being Through the Arts initiative, which aims to illuminate the ways in which arts organizations founded by, for, and with communities of color represent, support, and advance the well-being of their communities. The goal of the study is to understand what inclusive and equitable grantmaking practices look like across communities and as they are applied to more specific, regional contexts, and expanding the field’s knowledge of small, arts and culture organizations of color that have systematically not received traditional funding sources. As part of the study, staff from the research team at Creative Equity Research Partners may observe some activities related to the Cultural Sustainability Initiative, including applicant outreach activities and grants panels. The research team will also review grant applications and grantee reports to understand who the USRAOs reach and fund. All quantitative and qualitative data will be reported in aggregate and by region; no information will be attributed to an individual or organization. If you have questions about the study, please contact creativeequityresearch@gmail.com.
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Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act prohibits federal agencies, programs, and activities receiving federal financial assistance from discriminating against individuals with disabilities.
The 6th edition of the Federal Communications Commission Section 504 Programs & Activities Accessibility Handbook (Section 504 Handbook) is a collection of guidelines, information, and procedures intended to help Commission personnel in their efforts to ensure that the FCC’s programs and activities are accessible to individuals with disabilities.