What is the Strategic Partnership Grant?
The Connecticut Office of the Arts (COA) invests in specific, values-driven initiatives that help accomplish priority goals from our strategic plan. These strategic partnerships:
- May be long- or short-term
- May be initiated by COA staff or a potential partner
- Benefit artists, teaching artists/educators, or arts organizations and the communities we serve
- Advance goals of both COA and the partner organization
- Are closely aligned to COA values of Relevance, Equity, Access, Diversity, and Inclusion
What We Fund
We fund a wide range of initiatives. Here are examples of projects we have already supported:
- Statewide sustainability and the development of a new operations structure with an associated resourcing plan to reenvision and expand the growth and development of the Higher Order Thinking Schools program.
- Support for the CT Cultural Heritage Arts Program to continue helping artists and cultural organizations that are deeply rooted in traditional cultural practice, introducing these artistic practices to new audiences.
- Provide funding to the Make Music Alliance for a regranting program to assist CT Make Music Day partners with non-administrative expenses for participating in CT Make Music Day.
- Partnership funding to Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts Massachusetts to deliver VLA free or low-cost services to individual artists and arts organizations in CT.
Contact
If you have an idea for a strategic partnership with the Office of the Arts, please contact Elizabeth Shapiro, Director of Arts, Preservation, and Museums at 860-500-2360 or Elizabeth.Shapiro@ct.gov.
At present, we do not have funding available to support fiscal year 2025 Strategic Partnership Grants, but we're happy to meet with potential partners to discuss FY2026 and 2027 initiatives.