What We Do
Grants & Fellowships for Artists, Communities, and Organizations
South Arts believes in the power of the arts crossing borders. Our region birthed jazz, cultivated the traditional arts of Appalachia, and is home to some of today’s most innovative, boundary-pushing artists. Past, present, and future, the arts of our region drive the country forward.
South Arts supports and celebrates the artistry of our region with grants and fellowships for artists, communities, and organizations. From the most rural and isolated towns to our largest urban cities, communities thrive with access to art. We support organizations that present and engage touring Southern artists for performances, readings, exhibits, and residencies. South Arts values partnerships between artists and organizations that cross sectors, impacting areas of life including healthcare, aging, and education.
We offer resources directly to artists so they can take advantage of career-defining opportunities. South Arts also provides fellowships to artists so that they can continue their lifelong learning, develop new work, and thrive while calling our region "home." And, in a national initiative celebrating jazz, musicians from around the country can receive funding to support touring their work.
Programs & Conferences
South Arts believes that creativity and growth occur through connections, convenings, and cohorts. From annual summits that explore topics such as creative placemaking to comprehensive multi-year initiatives that develop the field of modern dance, our portfolio of programs reflects the needs and opportunities of the region. We provide professional development for community leaders, arts administrators, and artists so they can have the tools to succeed.
Additionally, South Arts offers programs that increase access to the arts. In partnership with screening partner venues across the region, we tour independent filmmakers to screen their work and lead conversations. South Arts also preserves and perpetuates the folk and traditional arts of Central Appalachia through documentation, support for master artists, and expansion of K-12 traditional arts education.
Strategic Vision
As an organization, we believe that art elevates the region in which we live, that it increases connectedness between community members, and that it can serve as a catalyst for meaningful change.
Art elevates the South, increases connectedness, and inspires meaningful change.
Put in another, more succinct, way: we believe that creativity is well worth investing in.
That's why we've developed a detailed vision for the future of the arts in our region, so that our investments (and yours) continue to pay dividends to our communities for decades and decades to come.
Interested to learn more about our plan for the Southeast and its creative communities? Download a copy of our strategic plan today. You'll get a comprehensive, insider's view of our ambitions for creative thinkers and engaged audiences across the region.
Download Our Strategic Plan
Equity Statement
#equity2South Arts envisions a future in which everyone has equitable access to the arts regardless of race, gender, sexual orientation, socio-economic status, age, ability, geography, religion, and thinking/communication styles. South Arts commits to centering those who have been systemically excluded from participating equally in the arts as well as acting deliberately to challenge oppressive and exploitative systems in the South and the arts field. Only by creating a more equitable arts landscape can we meet South Arts’ mission of advancing Southern vitality through the arts.
