Tryon Fine Arts Center is accepting applications for the N.C. Arts Council Grassroots Arts Program until Aug. 26.  Since 1977, this program has provided North Carolina citizens access to high quality arts experiences. Using a per capita based formula, the program provides funding for the arts in all 100 counties of the state through partnerships with local arts councils. Though TFAC is not an arts council, it provides administrative support and serves as the N.C. Arts Council’s partner in awarding subgrants to local organizations for arts programs in Polk County.

Applications are available for non-profits and other arts organizations whose purpose is to promote and develop diverse cultural arts programming in Polk County. Funding priority is given to qualified arts organizations, arts in education programs conducted by qualified artists, and other community organizations that provide arts programs in the county. Projects must occur between Sept. 15 and May 30, 2017.

Application forms and grant guidelines are available online at tryonarts.org or may be picked up at TFAC during business hours, Tuesday – Friday 10 a.m.-4 p.m. and Saturday 10 a.m.-1 p.m. Applications must be received no later than 5 p.m. on August 26. Grant applications are evaluated by a diverse panel of community members, and awards are announced in mid-September.

Using funding from N.C. Arts Council’s Grassroots Arts Program, Tryon Fine Arts Center presented a series of outdoor concerts featuring a variety of musicians from jazz standards with Jackie Marston and Dale Burke to classic blues with Mac Arnold and Plate Full of Blues.

Other Polk County recipients of N.C. Arts Council funding in 2015-16 were Upstairs Artspace, Children’s Theater Festival, Tryon International Film Festival, St. Matthews Church and Tryon Arts & Crafts School.

For information on the Grassroots Arts Program, call TFAC Executive Director Marianne Carruth at 828-859-8322 or visit www.ncarts.org.

– article submitted by Michelle Fleming