SAMPLE letter for Wisconsin Arts Board Grant Recipients to adapt.
Dear Governor ( )
OR
Dear Senator ( )
OR
Dear Representative ( )
I am writing to thank you for your support of the Wisconsin Arts Board and the important work it does with extremely limited resources to foster the quality of life, the effectiveness of education, and the evolution of our State's creative economy.
With the fiscal year 2018 grant of $x that we received from the Arts Board's Creation and Presentation grant program, we will serve more than x people in Northwestern Wisconsin (including x number of schoolchildren from your district) with performances at our facility.
The fact that, faced with limited funding and increasing pressures, their teachers will bring more than x number of children to our Student Series this year testifies to the ability of the arts to engage kids in learning. Among the dozen activities chosen to supplement the K-12 curriculum is the extraordinary x group in April. More than x number of students from our area will experience the life-affirming message of these remarkable artists.
The evening events made possible by Arts Board support range from national stars like x to great artists who are home-grown right here in Wisconsin. I have enclosed further information about (our organization) and our upcoming events, and would like to invite you to join me on stage before x performance on x date to welcome the audience and testify to the State's crucial role in making the arts available to all. Please let me know if you can come.
The Wisconsin Arts Board receives just pennies from our taxes each year. Those funds then pass directly to communities throughout Wisconsin – to make sure that arts activity takes place all over the state. In 2017-2018, those pennies add up to $x coming back to our community to help us and the other grantees in our community to enhance the quality of life, education, entertainment, creativity, commercial and civic vitality throughout our area. You should also know that the Wisconsin Arts Board provides access to advice, mutual support and best practices. Thanks to you for your commitment to the Arts Board's important work.
I look forward to your response regarding joining me on x date.
Sincerely, 

OR

Dear ( )
I am pleased to notify you that Arts at the Helm, Inc. has been selected to receive a Creation and Presentation grant of $2,500 from the Wisconsin Arts Board acknowledging the significant impact that we have on the lives of the people of Wisconsin through the essential arts programming that we provide for and with the communities that we serve. The grant recognizes the work that we do to help our community members participate, experience, share and learn through the arts.
A nonprofit arts organization, Arts at the Helm, Inc. is made up entirely of volunteers dedicated to enriching the lives of people in our area through the arts. Our mission is to promote the visual and performing arts through an alliance of artists, arts activists, educational resources and organizations. By promoting the arts, we know that we promote creativity and diversity that educates and enriches the lives of the residents of our community. We are pleased to acknowledge the Wisconsin Arts Board's support for that mission.
The grant will help us to achieve a number of goals, and touch the lives of the people in your district in a number of ways. One of the projects that its support will enable us to accomplish is our Minds exhibit. This project helps us to achieve our goal of increasing awareness of “naive art” in Wisconsin, engaging the public in a new art venue, and stimulating individual creativity in the area of folk art. As you must know, stimulating individual creativity is one of the areas in which the arts excel – and is a vital means of creating and sustaining a healthy community for the people we serve. The exhibit will begin at 10 am on August 1 with an opening ceremony and presentations by the authors of the book. The chair of the Arts Department at the University of Wisconsin-Springfield and the director of the university's gallery will wrap up the event with a closing ceremony at 4 pm on September 11. We will showcase a variety of workshops and activities throughout the exhibit.
We would be honored if you would offer a few remarks during either our opening or closing ceremony - whichever best fits with your schedule. If that is not possible, we invite you to come and enjoy the exhibit during its run. Exhibit hours from August 1 to September 11 will be Wednesdays and Thursdays, 11 am to 4 pm; Fridays, 1 pm to 8 pm; and Saturdays and Sundays, noon to 6 pm. Please let us know that you are coming so that we can be sure to welcome you and answer any questions that you might have.
We look forward to your response.
Sincerely,