35 artists and arts organizations across the South receive support to advance their work and reach their communities
South Arts is pleased to announce the FY26 recipients of three rolling-deadline grant programs serving the arts ecosystem across Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee: the Arts in Rural Places, Professional Development Grants for Arts Organizations, and the Artist Creative Practice Grant (Rounds 1 and 2).
Taken together, these programs reflect South Arts’ sustained commitment to closing the gap between artistic ambition and financial access for individual artists at career inflection points, for small and rural organizations working to strengthen their capacity, and for the communities across the South where arts access has historically been limited by geography, infrastructure, and economic circumstance.
Featured Photo: Installation view from the opening of Touch Tank by Hannah Keats, 2026 South Arts Artist Creative Practice Grant recipient. Photo by James Farley
Arts in Rural Places
Awards up to $3,000
Arts in Rural Places Grants support nonprofit organizations and government entities in rural, geographically isolated, and small communities, including those isolated by socioeconomic factors, outmigration, and infrastructure gaps in presenting professional Southern artists to their communities. Funded activities must include at least two public-facing engagements with a minimum of two hours of direct artist involvement and may span performing arts, traditional arts, visual arts, film, and literary arts. The program operates on an expedited, rolling review basis, recognizing that rural presenters often work on shorter planning timelines and with fewer administrative resources than their urban counterparts.
Meet the Awardees
- Ohr-O’Keefe Museum of Art | Mississippi | $1,125
- Josephine Sculpture Park | Kentucky | $3,000
- Be Ecocentric Inc | Georgia | $2,500
- Sautee Nacoochee Community Association | Georgia | $3,000
- Averitt Center for the Arts | Georgia | $1,691
- Agape National Academy of Music | Georgia | $2,500
- Reef Environmental Education Foundation | Florida | $3,000
- Atelier de la Nature | Louisiana | $1,500
Professional Development for Arts Organizations
Awards up to $1,000
Designed exclusively for arts organizations with operating budgets of $500,000 or less, Professional Development Grants support staff and board members in accessing first-time conferences, workshops, and training opportunities that strengthen organizational capacity and long-term sustainability. For smaller arts organizations across the South, often running operating lean, serving large geographic areas, and working without dedicated development staff, the cost of professional growth can be just as prohibitive as it is for individual artists. These grants help level that playing field.
Meet the Awardees
- Girls Write Nashville | Tennessee | $1,000
- Arts Southeast | Georgia | $1,000
- Florida Professional Presenters Consortium | Florida | $2,000
- BODYART Connects | Louisiana | $1,000
- Descolonizate Teatro, Inc. | Florida | $1,000
- North Carolina Presenters Consortium | North Carolina | $2,000
- Tennessee Presenters Corporation | Tennessee | $2,000
- Goat in the Road Productions | Louisiana | $1,000
- City of Sumter | South Carolina | $1,000
- Studio By The Tracks | Alabama | $1,000
- Diamondhead School of Fine Arts | Mississippi | $912
- Sculpture in the South | South Carolina | $1,000
- Friends of Calhoun’s GEM Theatre | Georgia | $1,000
- Open Scene Inc | Florida | $1,000
- Dancing Through the Curriculum | Tennessee | $700
- Whiskey Theatre Factory Inc | Florida | $326
Artist Creative Practice Grant
Formerly the Individual Artist Career Opportunity Grant | Awards up to $3,000
The Artist Creative Practice Grant supports professional working artists pursuing milestone career development opportunities, residencies, juried exhibitions, major festival performances, apprenticeships, scholarly research, and creative entrepreneurship activities whose full costs are rarely covered by stipends alone. Covering up to two-thirds of eligible expenses, including travel, materials, equipment, professional fees, and childcare, the program is built around the reality that saying yes to the right opportunity carries a real price tag. Recipients are selected through a competitive review process that evaluates artistic excellence and projected career impact across all disciplines, from ceramics and choreography to film, literature, folk art, and public art.
Round One Awardees
- Monica Villavicencio | Georgia | $2,300
- Charity Rachelle | Alabama | $3,000
- Carin Wagner | Florida | $3,000
- Thomas Schmidt | North Carolina | $3,000
- Hannah Keats | Florida | $600
- Scott Hazard | North Carolina | $2,350
Round Two Awardees
- Huiyin Zhou | North Carolina | $3,000
- Frances Trombly | Florida | $3,000
- Maysey Craddock | Tennessee | $3,000
- Saretta Morgan | Georgia | $3,000
- Scott Hazard | North Carolina | $2,350
___
About South Arts
South Arts advances Southern vitality through the arts. The nonprofit regional arts organization was founded in 1975 to build on the South’s unique heritage and enhance the public value of the arts. South Arts’ work responds to the arts environment and cultural trends with a regional perspective. South Arts offers an annual portfolio of activities designed to support the success of artists and arts providers in the South, address the needs of Southern communities through impactful arts-based programs, and celebrate the excellence, innovation, value and power of the arts of the South. For more information, visit www.southarts.org.
Press Inquiries
Hilena Haileselassie
Marketing & Communications Manager, South Arts
hhaileselassie@southarts.org
Rachel Roberts
Senior Account Executive, Cultural Counsel
rachel@culturalcounsel.com
Colleen Rodgers
Account Coordinator, Cultural Counsel
colleen@culturalcounsel.com