Celebrating America250: Arts Projects Honoring the National Garden of American Heroes | 2025NEAGARDEN

Opportunity Information: Apply for 2025NEAGARDEN

Celebrating America250: Arts Projects Honoring the National Garden of American Heroes is a discretionary grant opportunity from the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) that supports arts projects in any discipline that highlight and celebrate the contributions to American history of one or more individuals identified as national heroes in Executive Order 13978 (issued January 18, 2021). The program is framed around America250-related commemoration and aims to encourage public-facing arts activities that interpret, honor, and amplify the stories and legacies of these figures through artistic creation, presentation, or engagement.

Awards are fixed at $25,000 per project, and there is no cost share or matching requirement, which means applicants are not required to provide additional non-federal funds to receive the grant. The award ceiling is $25,000, indicating that this program is designed as a standard, set-amount grant rather than a tiered or variable funding competition. The NEA expects to make approximately 20 awards under this opportunity, making it a relatively limited, competitive funding round.

Eligible applicants span a wide range of public and nonprofit entities. This includes state, county, and city or township governments; special district governments; independent school districts; public and state-controlled institutions of higher education; and private institutions of higher education. Eligibility also includes Native American tribal governments that are federally recognized, as well as Native American tribal organizations that are not federally recognized tribal governments. In addition, nonprofits with IRS 501(c)(3) status (excluding institutions of higher education in that nonprofit category) are eligible. In practical terms, the opportunity is open to many of the organizations that typically produce or present arts programming, run cultural initiatives, or host public humanities and arts events, provided they meet the listed organizational types.

The funding instrument is a grant, and the funding activity category is Arts. The CFDA/Assistance Listing number associated with the opportunity is 45.024, which corresponds to NEA grants. The opportunity number is 2025NEAGARDEN, and the agency administering the program is the National Endowment for the Arts.

The application deadline listed is July 14, 2025. The opportunity was created on June 13, 2025. Full program guidelines and any detailed requirements about project types, application components, allowability of costs, and evaluation criteria are provided by the NEA at https://www.arts.gov/grants/national-garden-of-heroes, and applicants would be expected to align their project narrative and activities to the specific national heroes identified in the referenced executive order.

• The National Endowment for the Arts in the arts sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Celebrating America250: Arts Projects Honoring the National Garden of American Heroes" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 45.024.
• This funding opportunity was created on 2025-06-13.
• Applicants must submit their applications by 2025-07-14. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• Each selected applicant is eligible to receive up to $25,000.00 in funding.
• The number of recipients for this funding is limited to 20 candidate(s).
• Eligible applicants include: State governments, County governments, City or township governments, Special district governments, Independent school districts, Public and State controlled institutions of higher education, Native American tribal governments (Federally recognized), Native American tribal organizations (other than Federally recognized tribal governments), Nonprofits having a 501 (c) (3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education, Private institutions of higher education.

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