Applications for the 2018 grants from the Foundation for Bluegrass Music are due at the end of this month. They award between $8,000-$10,000 each year in individual grants to organizations that support educational, literary, artistic, and historic preservation projects and programs that are bluegrass-related.
The Foundation is a 501(c)(3) non-profit, created by the International Bluegrass Music Association in 2007 to serve as an umbrella organization for people wishing to donate money to worthy bluegrass efforts, without having to study and research them all themselves. They accept donations of any size, including legacy gifts, and may be tax-deductible.
This is the group with whom the IBMA is planning to merge before the end of 2017. At that point it will become known as the IBMA Foundation.
Most of the awards they make each year are to other 501(c)(3) outfits, or governmental agencies like schools, and average in the $2,000 range.
For example, their 2017 grants went to:
- Acoustic Sound – Wintergrass Bluegrass Academy (WA)
- Coda Mountain Academy, Inc. – Coda Mountain Academy Summer Music Festival (WV)
- Greater Ozarks Bluegrass Society – John Wynn College Scholarship (MO)
- Madison County Arts Council – Junior Appalachian Musicians Program (NC)
- McCall Folklore Society – Kids Mountain Music Camp (ID)
- Podunk Bluegrass Festival, Inc. – The Mosaic Project (CT)
They also offer smaller, mini-grants for schools that offer Bluegrass In The Schools assembly programs. These are typically for $200 each to help offset costs and materials.
An application for the 2018 grants can be found online.
