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Heartland Craft Guilds: Capacity Support Grants is a grant program that supports craft guilds and cultural organizations rooted in preserving and sustaining craft traditions, community-based knowledge, and hands-on making across America’s heartland.
Through unrestricted funding and shared learning with other guild leaders, Heartland Craft Guilds builds organizational capacity by supporting the leadership and operational systems that help organizations serve members, deepen practice, and maintain long-term stability and organizational health.
Heartland Craft Guilds is a program of Mid-America Arts Alliance (M-AAA), developed with support from the Maxwell/Hanrahan Foundation. The program reflects a shared commitment to hands-on engagement with materials, mastery of technique, and the preservation, innovation, and evolution of heritage work, particularly within under-resourced and historically overlooked communities.
M-AAA expects to grant a total of $180,000 in the region, through 15 unrestricted, non-matching organizational grants of $12,000 each.
Applications open March 24, 2026, and close May 15, 2026 at 5:00 p.m. CT. Read the application announcement.
Program at a glance
Grant amount: $12,000
Number of awards: 15
Total funding: $180,000
Funding type: Unrestricted operating support
Eligible region: Arkansas, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Texas, and the Native Nations in this geography
Program length: One year
Participants will also engage in more than 50 hours of learning opportunities over the one-year program period.
Organizations focused on hobby crafts, cosplay, graphic design, painting cooperatives, or primarily two-dimensional practices are not eligible. Heartland Craft Guilds is designed for craft guilds, member-based organizations, and cultural collectives rooted in traditional, cultural, and heritage-based craft practices; located and have an arts and culture presence in Mid-America Arts Alliance’s six-state region: Arkansas, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, Oklahoma, and Texas or the Native Nations that share this geography. Be a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization; fiscally sponsored group; artist-centered or artist-led collective business (LLC, S Corps, Limited or General Partnerships); state or federally recognized tribal government Have a current operating budget under $500,000 Provide the three most recently completed fiscal years’ tax filings or profit/loss statements Have a Unique Entity Identifier (UEI) from SAM.gov Have an Employer Identification Number (EIN) Be willing to have at least one staff person participate in monthly cohort meetings throughout the 12-month program Those not eligible to apply include: Single-artist sole proprietorships Individuals Units of local, state, or federal government Schools, including public or private preschools, K–12, colleges, and universities. Organizations focused on hobby crafts, cosplay, graphic design, painting cooperatives, or primarily two-dimensional practices are not eligible. Heartland Craft Guilds is designed for craft guilds, member-based organizations, and cultural collectives rooted in traditional, cultural, and heritage-based craft practices; located and have an arts and culture presence in Mid-America Arts Alliance’s six-state region: Arkansas, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, Oklahoma, and Texas or the Native Nations that share this geography. Be a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization; fiscally sponsored group; artist-centered or artist-led collective business (LLC, S Corps, Limited or General Partnerships); state or federally recognized tribal government Have a current operating budget under $500,000 Provide the three most recently completed fiscal years’ tax filings or profit/loss statements Have a Unique Entity Identifier (UEI) from SAM.gov Have an Employer Identification Number (EIN) Be willing to have at least one staff person participate in monthly cohort meetings throughout the 12-month program Those not eligible to apply include: Single-artist sole proprietorships Individuals Units of local, state, or federal government Schools, including public or private preschools, K–12, colleges, and universities