International Program Updates

We have some important updates for our international programs!

In September, we received confirmation from the National Endowment for the Arts that two new federal grants would support the 2025-2026 year of the USArtists International (USAI) grant program and the 2026-2027 year of the Performing Arts Global Exchange (PAGE) grant program.

USAI supports in-person performances by artists from any state or territory in the U.S. at engagements at international festivals, global presenting arts markets, and other eligible engagements outside of the United States. The program funds individuals and ensembles across all performing arts practices and disciplines.

Deadline: Wednesday, February 25, 2026.

To view the USAI guidelines and application timeline, click here.

Open to presenters nationwide, the Performing Arts Global Exchange (PAGE) is an annually curated roster of international performing artists selected to tour to communities across the United States. With this support, a roster of international artists will be selected from Portugal and Spain to tour the U.S. between July 1, 2026 and December 31, 2027.

The PAGE guidelines and roster will be announced this winter. Want to nominate an artist for the roster? Fill out this form by Thursday, October 30.

Regional Engagement Program Grantees Announced!

We are excited to announce the 2025-2026 ArtsCONNECT, Folk and Traditional Arts Community Projects, Jazz Touring Network, Mid Atlantic Tours, and Special Presenter Initiatives grantees!

ArtsCONNECT supports performing arts touring projects collaboratively developed by presenters working together in the mid-Atlantic region. The tours include performances as well as complementary engagement activities designed to create greater understanding or connections between artists, audiences, and communities. The 2025-2026 ArtsCONNECT program will support six tours visiting 20 communities across the region.

For a full list of grantees, engagement venues, and artist information, click here.

Folk and Traditional Arts Community Project Grants fund projects that support the vitality of traditional arts and cultures in the mid-Atlantic region. Eligible project activities include exhibits, arts education series for youth, performances, festivals, and more. Some of the cultural communities and traditions represented in the 2026 grantee pool include circus arts, West African dance, Gullah Geechee spirituals, quilting, Afro-Puerto Rican bomba and plena music, natural dyeing, papercraft, Mohawk basketry, and traditions related to life along Virginia waterways.

For a full list of grantees and their projects, click here.

The Jazz Touring Network (JTN) is a presenter-based membership program that supports professional development, building partnerships, and working together to curate tours that reflect the richness of the field of jazz. Performance fee subsidies are provided to JTN members for engagements that are part of network block-booked tours. JTN members are required to book a community engagement activity with all JTN supported engagements. In 2025-2026, JTN members will host 28 engagements through nine tours.

For a full list of JTN engagements, click here.

Mid Atlantic Tours brings the best in performing arts ensembles to communities across the mid-Atlantic region. Presenters select from a curated roster of artists that changes annually but maintains a programmatic commitment to a diversity of performance genres, regional artist representation, and engaging with communities underserved by the arts. The 2025-2026 tours will include 52 engagements throughout the mid-Atlantic region.

For a full list of Mid Atlantic Tours engagements, click here.

The Special Presenter Initiatives provide additional opportunities for the support of small to mid-sized performing arts presenters in Delaware, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, West Virginia, and Native nations that share this geography. Engagements include performances as well as community activities that offer meaningful exchanges between touring artists and a presenter’s community. Twenty-eight engagements will be supported through the 2025-2026 program. Supported engagements include vocal performances, bomba and plena, jazz ensemble, chamber music, and more.

For a full list of SPI grantees and engagements, click here.

Mid Atlantic Arts Regional Engagement Program (REP) Updates Webinar

Questions? Join Mid Atlantic Arts program staff for a public webinar on Wednesday, October 29, 2025, 2:00-3:30pm ET. We'll cover changes to our National Endowment for the Arts Regional Engagement Program (REP) - funded programs for the 2026-2027 funding cycle and beyond.

Black Appalachian Storytellers Fellows Announced

Our Central Appalachian Living Traditions (CALT) Initiative, in partnership with the National Association of Black Storytellers (NABS) and South Arts is thrilled to announce the 2025 recipients of the Black Appalachian Storytellers Fellowship! Each Fellow represents a Appalachian Regional Commission-designated counties of Kentucky, North Carolina, Ohio, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia. The Fellowship honors and promotes the understanding of Black Appalachian storytelling traditions and the history, heritage, and culture of Black Appalachia.

The 2025 Fellows are:

Kentucky

Hasan Davis (Madison County)

North Carolina

DeWayne Barton (Buncombe County)

Ohio

Trevellya “Tee” Ford-Ahmed (Athens County)

Tennessee

Jazmine LeBlanc (Hamilton County)

Virginia

Naomi Hodge Muse (Martinsville)

West Virginia

Doris “Lady D” Fields (Raleigh County)

Each Fellow will receive $5,000 in unrestricted funding, a unique physical award created by a Black Appalachian artist, and NABS membership during their award year. The Fellows are honored each year at the “In the Tradition…” National Black Storytelling Festival and Conference.

Folk Blog Spotlight: Mothman

Spooky season is among us, and what better time is there to highlight some of the creatures and cryptids of our region? Perhaps one of the most famous is West Virginia's Mothman.

Camille Acosta, Folklife Specialist at Kentucky Folklife Program and host of the Floaties for Krakens podcast, wrote a guest column for our Folk and Traditional Arts blog. In "Harbinger of Hope: How Mothman Became a Lighthouse for the Othered," Camille writes about how Mothman, along with other monsters and cryptids, can represent belonging for people who don't fit society's mold.

Learn more about Mothman's origin story and legacy on our Folk and Traditional Arts blog today!

Ridgelines Community Conference

Join Ridgelines Language Arts' Community Conference on Saturday, October 18 in State College, PA! This community conference is a day of gathering for teaching artists, practicing artists, or anybody who is curious about bringing language arts programming to their community.

Ridgelines Language Arts provides language arts programs to those who are marginalized in the ridges and valleys of central Pennsylvania. Programs include poetry, storytelling, theater, songwriting, and more.

Opportunity Quick Links

• The William Penn Foundation invites applications for out-of-school community-based arts education programs. The foundation requests proposals for projects up to three years in duration to connect young people in the greater Philadelphia region with out-of-school arts education opportunities in their communities. The arts education opportunities should be driven by the young people’s creativity and interests and support their personal development and growth. Deadline: Thursday, October 23, 2025. Learn more here.

• The American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS) invites applications for the Luce/ACLS Dissertation Fellowships in American Art. The ACLS invites applications for its Luce/ACLS Dissertation Fellowships in American Art. Seven fellowships of $38,000, with an additional $4,500 as a travel and research allowance, will be awarded to graduate students pursuing research on the history of art and visual culture of the United States, including all aspects of Native American art and who are at any stage of PhD dissertation research or writing. Deadline: Wednesday, October 29, 2025. Learn more here.

• The Kurt Weill Foundation for Music (KWF) invites applications for projects and productions. Funding can be requested for professional performances, college/university and amateur performance, media, scholarly symposia and conferences, publication assistance, research and travel, or the Kurt Weill Dissertation Fellowship. Projects and productions must take place between January 1, 2026 and July 1, 2027. Deadline: Saturday, November 1, 2025. Learn more here.

• The Morris and Gwendolyn Cafritz Foundation invites applications from nonprofits in the D.C. area. The foundation invites applications from nonprofit organizations dedicated to improving the lives of D.C.-area residents, while creating a more equitable region. Grants are awarded in the areas of: arts and humanities, community services, education, environment, and health and wellness. Organizations must serve residents in the District of Columbia, the Maryland counties of Prince George’s or Montgomery, or the Virginia counties of Arlington or Fairfax or the cities of Alexandria or Falls Church. 
  Deadline: Saturday, November 1, 2025. Learn more here.

• The Teton Art Lab invites applications for 2026 Uncommon Artist residency at the Anvil Hotel next to Grand Teton National Park in Jackson, WY. Each resident will receive one to three weeks of complimentary accommodations at the hotel, a $200/week cash stipend, and $200 in dining credits at Glorietta Trattoria, the hotel’s onsite Italian restaurant. Artists can access nearby shared studio spaces for ceramics, printmaking, photography, and more at the Center for the Arts, but no private space is currently available. In exchange, the artist is asked to offer an artist talk and/or demonstration open to the public. 
  Deadline: Saturday, November 1, 2025. Learn more here.

• Visionary Initiatives in Art (VIA) Art Fund invites letters of inquiry for its spring 2025 Artistic Production grant award cycle. This grant program awards funding to individual artists, nonprofit organizations, and institutions to support new artistic commissions that take place outside museum or gallery walls, within the public realm, or in nontraditional exhibition environments. Grants are awarded to projects that best exemplify VIA Art’s three core values: artistic production, thought leadership, and public engagement. Eligible applicants include artists, nonprofit organizations, cultural institutions, art production platforms, and biennials or festivals working in contemporary art in the United States and internationally. Upon reviewing letters of inquiry, selected applicants will be invited to submit a full proposal. Deadline: Thursday, November 6, 2025. Learn more here.

Image: Luciane Dom in performance at the Buskirk Chumley Theater on Sunday, October 6, 2024 for a Performing Arts Global Exchange engagement. Credit: Kevin Atkins.