Amplifying the power of Midwestern creativity

Arts Midwest supports, informs, and celebrates arts organizations and creative communities in Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota, Wisconsin, the Native Nations that share this geography, and beyond.

Learn About Arts Midwest

Photo by: Mia McGill

Joyful, loud, and Midwest proud

Read about creative ideas, people, and projects happening in our region and beyond.

MdW Assembly: Shared Vision and Collective Action

Jan. 24. 2023

MdW is described as an alternative (to an) art fair. Writer Kimi Kitada explores how it brought together hyperlocal scenes from across central Midwest and created space for long-term relationship-building…
Announcing Phase Two of We the Many

Jan. 18. 2023

Midwestern organizations Sacred Pipe Resource Center, For the Love of the Arts, and La Luz Centro Cultural are taking part in the second round of Arts Midwest’s community-based artist-in-residency program.
- Indiana
- Iowa
- North Dakota
- We the Many
Over 100 Years in the Making: The Lakota Song Repatriation Project

Dec. 12. 2022

The Densmore/Lakota Song Repatriation Project is about reclaiming Lakota culture, traditional art, knowledge, and religious freedom. Alicia Hegland-Thorpe writes about the project that took over a century in the making…
- North Dakota
Skateboarding: A South Dakotan Art

Dec. 12. 2022

Since it began in the 1950’s in California, skateboarding has made its way from an outsider activity to the core of American culture. Angela Zonunpari writes about how South Dakotans…
- South Dakota

Read All Stories

Grant Opportunities and Programs

We support efforts that connect people, ideas, and solutions through creativity. Learn more about our grantmaking initiatives and our community programming.

Get Support

A dancer in full Native Amerian regalia performs for a crowd in a packed library.

Photo by: Chase Castor

Creativity Amplified: Arts Midwest’s New Brand + Strategy

For the past two years, our team at Arts Midwest has been working with partners, constituents, and stakeholders to explore how we can best serve our region. Now, we are thrilled to share the results of that work with you in the form of a new brand, website, and strategic direction.

Explore Our Brand + Strategy

Axiom Brass sits on a stage and play various brass instruments, below a glowing projection of planet Earth.

Photo by: Axiom Brass

Axiom Brass playing below a glowing projection of planet Earth.

Applications Due February 8, 2023

Now Accepting Applications: Shakespeare in American Communities

Shakespeare in American Communities is a grant of up to $25,000 that connects youths across the country to Shakespeare’s plays by supporting performances and workshops in schools and in the justice system.

Learn More + Apply

People perform on a cement square outside with students sitting around them. In the center there's a person wearing a crown and Shakespeare era clothing, seemingly crying out as a person with a cane lays at their feet, appearing to be dead.

Photo by: Rachel Fey

Actors performing The Tempest for students at the Colorado Springs School.

Meet the Spring 2023 GIG Fund Recipients

100 organizations recently received a total of $400,000 as part of the GIG Fund. These awards will support creative projects and educational events in Spring 2023, helping Midwestern organizations present artists in their community and offset the costs of programming and touring.

Learn More

A group of Black dancers in a dance classroom crouch low to the ground with arms extended at an angle

Photo by: DANCECleveland

Choreographer Stephen Petronio leads a workshop for 25 high school students at the Cleveland School of the Art as part of a Fall 2022 GIG Fund activity.

Rolling Applications

Call for Creatives

Arts Midwest is launching a new multimedia storytelling initiative that celebrates arts, creativity, and culture in our region. If you are a creative invested in your community, the region, and its peoples, fill out the form below and help us kick off this exciting initiative.

Learn More

Shot from above of a person seated at a yellow desk, with yellow sleeves, with an empty notebook open.

Joyful, loud, and Midwest proud

MdW Assembly: Shared Vision and Collective Action

Announcing Phase Two of We the Many

Over 100 Years in the Making: The Lakota Song Repatriation Project

Skateboarding: A South Dakotan Art

Grant Opportunities and Programs

Creativity Amplified: Arts Midwest’s New Brand + Strategy

Now Accepting Applications: Shakespeare in American Communities

Meet the Spring 2023 GIG Fund Recipients

Call for Creatives

Sign up for our newsletter