ICP grants for artists and cultural projects

The Office of Support for the Arts and Cultural Work was created in the early 1970s as the Office of External Resources. The Puerto Rican Institute of Culture later obtained the representation of the State Arts Agency before the federal government, through the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA). The Office acts as a catalyst for free creation, as well as for stimulating and promoting the arts and culture across Puerto Rican society, and that purpose is achieved through financial assistance awarded via programmes that run year to year, by means of calls for applications.

The Basic Arts Grant Program is open to three types of applicant: individual artists, 501(c)(3) nonprofit entities and governmental entities. That individual artists are expressly named is the fact most people fail to use. Poetry Out Loud, for its part, is aimed at high school students in ninth through twelfth grade in Puerto Rico and in the other states and territories of the United States. The ICP’s page publishes no further eligibility criteria — not income, track record or residence — so those have to be asked about with the year’s call.

• Being an individual artist, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit entity or a governmental entity, which are the three applicant types the Basic Arts Grant Program names.Verified against the official source
• Applying within a call: the programme is awarded through annual calls.Verified against the official source

Information pending verification.

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   Step 1: If you are an individual artist, this is for you too

   The Basic Arts Grant Program funds the development of artistic-cultural projects by individual artists, 501(c)(3) nonprofits and governmental entities, with the purpose of fostering the arts. The first category is the one most people overlook: you do not need an organization or an incorporation to apply.

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   Step 2: Write to apoyo@icp.pr.gov and watch the calls

   The ICP says the programme runs through annual calls and that for information you can write to apoyo@icp.pr.gov. That is the direct route to ask when the next one opens, what it asks for and for how much. The Institute also keeps a Convocatorias page where it publishes the open ones.

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   Step 3: If your project is community-based, look at the other components

   Arts in Education includes the Cultural Academies, an extended-hours pilot in schools outside the metropolitan area focused on traditional arts such as music, dance and visual arts, and workshops for underserved communities. Cultura Rodante arose as the ICP’s response to the national emergency after Hurricanes Irma and María, bringing theatre, music, art and film programming to communities; from that experience came Redes Culturales, which brings ICP programming to its own facilities, museums and cultural centres and fosters Training and Self-Management Workshops. Today Cultura Rodante and Redes Culturales have been consolidated into a single project.

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   Step 4: If you are a high school student: Poetry Out Loud

   Poetry Out Loud is coordinated in Puerto Rico by the ICP thanks to federal sponsorship from the National Endowment for the Arts in collaboration with The Poetry Foundation. It is an English-language poetry recitation contest for high school students, ninth through twelfth grade, in Puerto Rico and in the other states and territories of the United States.

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   Step 5: Festivals, diaspora and accessibility

   The ICP lists three further programmatic initiatives. Cultural Festivals, aimed at decentralizing cultural activity outside metropolitan areas through the development of traditional and non-traditional festivals. Diaspora. And Cultural Accessibility, for cultural projects offering sign language, audio description and other means promoting cultural exchange with the whole community. If your project includes sign interpretation or audio description, that line exists.

Office of Support for the Arts and Cultural Work of the Puerto Rican Institute of Culture. For the Basic Arts Grant Program, email apoyo@icp.pr.gov. Director: Mr. José Manuel Camuy Maymí, phone 787-724-3210, email jcamuy@icp.pr.gov, hours Monday to Friday 8:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. and 1:00 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. ICP general phone: 787-724-0700. Mailing address: Apartado 9024184, San Juan, Puerto Rico 00902-4184.

• Believing grants are only for organizations: the PSBA expressly names individual artists.
• Waiting for the call to open without having asked beforehand what it requires.
• Taking a historic building restoration project to this office instead of to the Built Historic Heritage Program.
• Ignoring the Cultural Accessibility line when your project includes sign language or audio description.
• Assuming Poetry Out Loud is only for metro-area schools or only for Spanish students: it is an English-language contest, ninth through twelfth grade.

These are the government pages this guide is based on.

• Instituto de Cultura Puertorriqueña (ICP)

  ICP

  www.icp.pr.gov