Talise Campbell and the Djapo Cultural Arts Institute perform onstage at the OhioDance Festival, a 2024-25 GIG Fund Grantee
These Midwestern organizations have received more than $780k to fund creative, engaging arts activities in their communities.
Arts Midwest has awarded more than $780,000 to 87 nonprofit organizations across the Midwest, supporting art projects that invite people into shared creative experiences and nurture well-being.
This year’s awards were made across two funding tracks, each reflecting a different—but deeply connected—approach to how art can support thriving communities:
GIG Fund: For organizations with budgets under $2 million annually whose projects reach underserved audiences. These grants fund creative, engaging public activities, ensuring that audiences have access to high quality arts activities.
GIG Fund: Arts and Wellness For organizations of any budget size whose projects have an arts and wellness focus. These grants fund high quality arts activities such as efforts that engage veterans in the arts, creative aging programs, artists working in schools, and more.
Grants of up to $15,000 were awarded to organizations across Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota, Wisconsin, and the Native Nations that share this geography.
Funded projects will take place between December 2025 and June 2026.
Funded Projects Include
In Chicago, IL, Chicago Composers Orchestra is partnering with youth music education organization MUSIC Inc. to invite students in grades 3–8 into the world of composition with its Drawn Together project.
Guided by professional musicians, students will create their own graphic scores—using drawings, symbols, and color to express pitch, tempo and dynamics—which will be performed at the end of the workshop and later premiered for a public audience at CCO’s spring concert, a performance dedicated solely to world premieres.
At Wormfarm Institute in Reedsburg, WI, Hay Rake Ballet transforms everyday farm work into performance. Directed by Berlin-based choreographer and Wormfarm resident artist Sarah Butler, this site-responsive event will feature local farmers driving tractors and equipment in carefully choreographed patterns during the hay harvest.
Leading up to the fall 2026 performance, rural students and residents will take part in workshops, pasture walks, and open rehearsals, all honoring the craft, beauty, and significance of family-scale farming.
In Milwaukee, WI, Danceworks is expanding its Dance for Multiple Sclerosis program to provide accessible arts experience for people living with MS.
Developed in collaboration with medical researchers, the program will offer various workshops including improvisational dance, singing and visual art-making to address challenges like mobility, fatigue, and emotional stress while cultivating confidence, creativity, and joy. The workshops are open to people living with MS as well as their family and caregivers.
The Bay Mills Indian Community is hosting an artist-led initiative that brings Indigenous youth and mentors together for regalia-making workshops rooted in Anishinaabe culture.
Led by Indigenous artists and culture bearers, the program weaves together traditional and contemporary techniques, storytelling, and intergenerational learning as pathways to healing and belonging. The project culminates in a community dance exhibition at the Bay Mills annual powwow, celebrating cultural resilience, creativity, and collective wellness.
In Central Illinois, Freedom Sings USA uses songwriting as a tool for healing and connection among veterans and their families. Through a two-day immersive retreat, veterans are paired with professional songwriters to transform lived experiences into original songs.
The program culminates in a community concert and is followed by optional songwriting classes and production of an album.
87
GIG Fund Grantees received awards this cycle
62%
Have never been funded by Arts Midwest in the past
31%
Are organizations from rural areas
“Research shows that art and creativity can strengthen community wellness. It helps people build connections, feel a sense of belonging, and access resilience. We are honored to support these grantees who are using creativity to nurture well-being across the Midwest.”
