The Arts Council of Hillsborough County offers a grant program for individual artists called the Professional Development for Artists Grant. This grant program provides funding support for special projects that advance their career as artists. The grant is open to residents of Hillsborough County.
The grant reimburses the artists for up to $2,000. There are two categories for this grant that artist may apply for. First, artists can apply for educational experience — residency, workshop or conference. The second category is for a permanent piece of equipment, such as a camera, laptop or 3D printer.
The grant funding period for fiscal year 2025 is January 1 to August 15, 2025. This means that, during this time, either the experience must take place or the equipment must be purchased. The grant application opens on Monday, July 8, at 9 a.m. and closes on Friday, July 26, at 5 p.m.
The Professional Development for Artists Grant is a competitive grant which must first meet eligibility, and then it is reviewed and scored by the Arts Council Advisory Board.
Martine Collier, division director for the Arts Council of Hillsborough County, said, “This grant offers artists the opportunity to purchase a piece of equipment or an educational experience that can potentially change the trajectory of their career.”
Samson Huang, a grant recipient for fiscal year 2024 who used the funds to help him purchase a MacBook Pro computer, said, “The grant advanced my career by broadening the scope of my artistic practice, resulting in more opportunities for my art to be in shows and competitions. The grant allowed me to purchase a powerful piece of equipment, enabling me to create new bodies of work, such as digital paintings, illustrations as well as animated videos.”
Huang used the equipment to create digital illustrations and designs for several upcoming events, including the Hillsborough Community College Art Galleries’ ‘Now on View’ public art festival, set to take place on Saturday, June 1, in Ybor City.
Huang added, “My efficiency and productivity has increased due to the creation of a database for digitally archiving my body of work in large megapixel data format.”
You can review a sample grant application and review the grant guidelines (which includes important eligibility information) by visiting https://hillsborougharts.org/.
