Upon receipt of the grant applications, staff reviews each application to ensure its completeness and the organization's eligibility to apply for funding. Then, the Arts Council convenes review panels to discuss each application's merits. There are three separate panels - one to discuss the Operating Support applications, a second to discuss the Project Support applications, and a third panel to discuss the Technical Support applications. Each panel is comprised of arts professionals with a particular knowledge or expertise of the segments of the arts community that are eligible to apply to the Arts Council for funding.

Each grant application is considered separately, on its own merits. Prior to the panel meeting, multiple panelists consider each application and evaluate how well it meets the evaluation criteria, which are described in the grant application guidelines. The panelists also write comments, which are forwarded to the applicant, that provide their analysis of the application's merits. Typically, panelists spend three to four hours prior to the panel meeting reviewing each application and writing comments. The panel meetings serve as an opportunity for the panelists to have a full discussion of each application's strengths and weaknesses.

If you are interested in serving as a panelist, please forward your resume to our Grants Administrator.