Ensuring that Minnesota is a place where artists choose to live and work strengthens our communities, our cultures, and our economies. The McKnight Foundation’s arts grantmaking is focused on working artists and the organizations that help them advance artistically and professionally.
Support for working artists has been a mainstay of the Arts program since it began. In 2010, after a comprehensive evaluation, McKnight’s board of directors decided to focus on impact at the source: the artists.
McKnight’s arts grantees are organizations that do the following:
- prioritize compensation to artists
- enable unique artistic opportunities
- facilitate meaningful relationships between artists and their communities
- demonstrate a deep understanding of their field
- respond to broad trends
- work to eliminate deep and persistent cultural, economic, and racial barriers
McKnight’s Arts program funds arts organizations across many disciplines that offer support structures for working artists. It also provides fellowships and other re-granting to working artists through key partners.