Funding Opportunities
View funding opportunities currently available to creatives in Illinois. Our list regularly includes opportunities from local, state, and national funders and agencies.
Deadline: Ongoing
Is a loan right for your creative business or nonprofit? Check out a recording of our April webinar with lenders and creatives talking you through the process of thinking through and applying for a loan.
The Illinois Arts Council (IAC) is offering scholarship funds of up to $750 to cover expenses related to attending the 2025 One State Together in the Arts & Humanities Conference, being held November 5–7, 2025, in Champaign-Urbana, in partnership with Illinois Humanities and Arts Alliance Illinois.
Deadline: June 20
Learn more here.
The Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events (DCASE) invites professional artists and artist teams with a demonstrated history of completing complex, permanent, large-scale, outdoor public art projects to submit their qualifications for a $225,000 exterior public art commission along Chicago Avenue in the Humboldt Park neighborhood.
Deadline: June 27, 2025 at 11:59 pm
The Capital Development Board’s Art-in-Architecture Program is pleased to announce a Request for Qualifications (RFQ) for Illinois professional artists to create permanent original public art for the University of Illinois Springfield (UIS) Library Commons.Â
Deadline: July 11, 2025
Learn more here.
Sign up for our June 26 webinar to learn more about the program! Register here.
The NEA Grants for Arts Projects (GAP) provides funding for public engagement with the arts and arts education, for the integration of the arts with strategies promoting the health and well-being of people and communities, and for the improvement of overall capacity and capabilities within the arts sector.
Deadline: Part 1: July 10; Part 2: July 22Â
The Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity (DCEO) is encouraging Illinois filmmakers to enter the DCEO Illinois Film Office’s Shortcuts Short Film Contest dedicated to promoting the best short films from Illinois students or residents 22 years old or younger. The Shortcuts winner will receive $250 and be screened at the 815HORTS festival, a short film festival based in Rockford scheduled November 14-15, 2025.
Early entry deadline: August 31
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Support this work
If you’re a funder interested in helping the Alliance provide funding navigation services to the creative sector, we’d love to talk! Reach out to our Senior Director of Development, Kaitlin Donnelly, at donnelly@artsalliance.org.
