FY25 C&P Grantee Cycropia Aerial Dance, photo taken by Joe Burkholder. Hildy Feen and Melanie Joyce performing as "attic explorers" in Cycropia's spring company show, "Moth in the Attic."
We are pleased to announce the opening of applications for our Creation and Presentation (C&P) Grant Program!
What is C&P?
Creation and Presentation Program (C&P) grants provide artistic program and operational support to established nonprofit arts organizations whose primary mission is to create or present ongoing arts programming that makes a significant local, regional, or statewide impact on the cultural life of Wisconsin, and that furthers WAB's community development and arts education goals (see WAB's strategic plan).
The program supports 501(c)3 nonprofit arts organizations with strong operations - including stable management, ongoing assessment and evaluation, high artistic quality, and programming appropriate to the communities they serve. These grants also fund overall operating support for eligible arts programs of tribal governments and universities. In these cases, the organizations will use either government or university nonprofit status.
This is a multi-year grant program wherein applicants will submit a Full Year application in their designated year and submit Interim Year applications in the other three years of the cycle. This allows us to collect information needed for accountability, but in a way that reduces the amount of work required of the applicant, and spreads that work over a four-year period. The Full Year application takes organizational size and capacity into account, even while it continues to be a rigorous tool upon which applicants can draw for applications to other funders. The Interim Year application provides an artistic and organizational health “check-in." In both Full and Interim Years, the application form and narrative continue to be based on past performance rather than future projection.
Helpful Information
FY27 grants support activities in Fiscal Year 2027 (July 1, 2026 - June 30, 2027).
Full Year Application
In FY27, applicants in the Dance, Musical Theater, Opera, and Theater disciplines will submit a Full Year application.
Interim Application
Applicants who received a FY26 C&P grant & who are in all other disciplines (Folk Arts, Literary Arts, Multi-Disciplinary Arts, Music, Presenting* and Visual Arts) will submit an Interim application.
*A presenting organization is defined as an organization that serves its community primarily by brokering relationships between touring performing artists and the presenter’s community. It does so by acting as the catalyst to bring those artists from outside of the presenter’s community into that community, to perform in concerts and/or residencies.*
New Applicant?
New applicants to the program are defined as those organizations that did not receive a Creation and Presentation grant award in the last fiscal year (FY2026). They must submit a Full Year application this year, regardless of their artistic discipline category, and may not submit an Interim Year application. New applicants are required to contact Arts Board staff prior to beginning a Full Year application. Please contact Karen Goeschko via email (karen.goeschko@wisconsin.gov) or via phone (608-267-2026).
Note: You must choose between the Creative Communities (CC) grant program and the Creation and Presentation (C&P) grant program. You may not apply to both. If you have a current CC grant, please do not apply to C&P.
Pro Tip: Check out our Grant Program Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) page!
How to Apply?
Requests for grants must be submitted through WAB's online application system (SmartSimple).
New Applicant "Intent to Apply" Deadline: September 11, 2026 at 3:00 pm
New applicants must notify WAB of their intent to apply by the deadline specified above. Notifications must be made via email to the grant program manager, Karen Goeschko (karen.goeschko@wisconsin.gov).
Important Note Regarding New Applicants: New applicants to the program are defined as those organizations that did not receive a Creation and Presentation grant award in the last fiscal year (FY2026). They must submit a Full Year application this year, regardless of their artistic discipline category, and may not submit an Interim Year application. New applicants are required to contact Arts Board staff prior to beginning a Full Year application. Please contact Karen Goeschko via email (karen.goeschko@wisconsin.gov) or via phone (608-267-2026).
Application Deadline: October 15, 2026 at 3:00 pm
All applicants are now required to have a Unique Entity Identifier (UEI) from SAM.gov. This is a requirement from the National Endowment for the Arts, which provides 50% of WAB's funding. For information on how to obtain your UEI, please refer to the UEI document in the Resources for Applicants section below.
For those applicants who don’t have the technology or don’t have access to the technology to complete the application online, you can reach out to WAB via email (artsboard@wisconsin.gov) or phone (608-266-0190).
Do you have Creation and Presentation related questions?
Contact Karen Goeschko via email (karen.goeschko@wisconsin.gov) or via phone (608-267-2026).
Do you have SmartSimple or accessibility related questions?
Contact WAB via email (artsboard@wisconsin.gov) or phone (608-266-0190).