Minneapolis Live Music Fund

Offering grants of $5,000-$10,000 to invited Minneapolis Business Associations and Neighborhood Associations to bring free live music to commercial corridors and small businesses this Fall 2026.

Start Your Application

Photo Credit: Pierre Ware

How to Apply at a Glance

Arts Midwest, in partnership with the City of Minneapolis, is offering community partners grants of $5,000-$10,000, no match required, to bring free live music to commercial corridors and small businesses between August 27 and December 1, 2026.

You choose how: book local artists directly, provide a stipend to local businesses to host their own shows, or both.

This opportunity is available to City of Minneapolis Business Associations and invited Neighborhood Associations in all 13 Wards.

1
Read the guidelines

Read the guidelines below or download a Word copy.
2
Prepare your application

Visit our grants portal, SmartSimple, to begin this process. Access detailed instructions on how to get set up in SmartSimple.
3
Complete and submit the application form

Applications in the SmartSimple portal are due by July 28, 2026 at 11:59am CT.

Supporting commercial corridors and neighborhood business districts that continue to recover from the impacts of Metro Surge, using live music as a community-building tool.

About the Minneapolis Live Music Fund

As part of the City of Minneapolis’ Small Business Resiliency Fund, the Minneapolis Live Music Fund is intended to support commercial corridors and neighborhood business districts that continue to recover from the impacts of Metro Surge.

By investing in local live music as a community-building tool, the program will help attract residents and visitors to local businesses, increase visibility and economic activity, strengthen public perception of commercial districts, and foster a renewed sense of civic pride and neighborhood connection.

Program Goals:

Provide paid performance opportunities for Minneapolis-based musicians and performing artists.
Support small businesses and commercial corridors as they continue to recover and rebuild following the impacts of Metro Surge.
Increase foot traffic, customer engagement, and economic activity for participating businesses.
Expand public access to free live music experiences throughout Minneapolis.
Strengthen community connections, civic pride, and neighborhood vibrancy through arts and culture.
Enhance the visibility and positive perception of neighborhood commercial districts.

Examples of Potential Projects

These models represent potential approaches, not the only options. You can request $5,000-$10,000 for your project, no matter which approach you take.

Option 1: Distributed (Many Venues, Many Artists)

Local businesses and venues in your ward already host live music or may want to start. You can use these funds to offer stipends so they can pay local artists to perform.

Of these funds, up to 10% can cover your organization’s administrative support costs, and up to 10% can cover music license or technical expenses on behalf of the venues. The remaining 80% must go directly to artist stipends.

In this scenario, you’d offer stipends to businesses, working with them to understand who they plan to present, issuing checks so they can pay their artists directly on the night of the show, and coordinating with venue staff to collect information for reporting.

Expense	Amount	% of Total
Artist fees for 4 venues to host live music x $2,000 each	$8,000	80%
Admin costs	$1,000	10%
Production costs	$1,000	10%
Total	$10,000	100%

A laundromat offers four weekly Friday performances of four Minneapolis singer-songwriters.
A brewery presents a local band for free each Saturday night in the fall.
Four coffee shops present jazz musicians.
A music venue presents a night of Minneapolis artists for free.

Option 2: Centralized (One Event, Many Artists)

You already have a block party, festival, or event planned for your ward or neighborhood to drive traffic to local businesses. You can use these funds to add live music.

Of these funds, up to 10% can cover administrative support costs, and up to 10% can cover technical expenses, including securing a General Entertainment license if needed. The remaining 80% must go directly to artist stipends.

In this scenario, you would contract directly with artists and write checks directly to them to pay them on the day of the show, and collect information for reporting.

Expense	Amount	% of Total
Artist fees (4 artists x $1,000 each)	$4,000	80%
Admin costs	$500	10%
Production costs	$500	10%
Total	$5,000	100%

A stage for music each week at a fall Farmers Market
A day of music at a holiday pop-up market in a commercial district
Several musicians performing throughout a neighborhood block party in a commercial district

Want to mix these approaches? Go ahead! Your project may combine direct artist contracts with business stipends as long as budget and reporting requirements are met. If you have questions about a potential project idea, please reach out to Arts Midwest.

Local businesses located in commercial corridors and neighborhood business districts will receive support to host live music performances that bring people together, increase foot traffic, and contribute to the vitality of their communities.

Minneapolis Live Music Fund Guidelines

This opportunity is open to Business Associations and invited Neighborhood Associations in Minneapolis (referred to in these guidelines as “community partners”) in all 13 wards in Minneapolis.

Community partners will need to fill out a short application to be eligible to receive this grant. The City of Minneapolis will review all applications and select recipients.

With a total grant pool of $130,000, we anticipate funding up to 26 grantees depending on interest from applicants and their requested project budgets.

Minneapolis Live Music Funds must support:

1) One or more performances…

Performances must be free and must be open to the public. Private events are not eligible. As these funds are intended to offer Minneapolitans more opportunities to experience live music and support Minneapolis musicians, community partners and venues are strongly encouraged to make these events as accessible as possible.

2) That feature one or more local musical artists…

All forms of music can be presented with these funds, including solo artists, acoustic, jazz, indie, hip hop, classical, electronic, choral, global, vocal, contemporary, instrumental, etc. Community partners and venues are strongly encouraged to present artists from Minneapolis. Contracts for each artist’s payment will be required as part of final documentation.

3) That occur at one or more businesses, venues, or other locations in a ward you serve…

Venues must have (or be willing to obtain) a current General Entertainment license with the City of Minneapolis to present live music. This grant can be used to pay for a license. You will be asked as part of your activity report what wards you will be planning activity in.

4) That are documented for final reporting purposes

Within 30 days of your final performance taking place, you will be asked to report on the following:

Name of Venue, Ward, and Neighborhood
Time and Location(s) of performances
Name of Artist(s)
Number of performances
Number of artists paid
Estimated attendance
Artist contracts (as attachments)
Final budget
Simple documentation from the event, if available (videos, photos).

These funds do not require a cost-share or match. Project budgets must include only eligible expenses. These funds should not be used to subsidize general business operations.

At least 80% of project funds should be used to compensate artists for free public-facing music programming. The remaining 20% can be used for other expenses related to grant activities.

Given this requirement, we recommend partnering with businesses that have sound equipment, contracting artists who bring their own sound setup or who can perform acoustically, or ensuring other funds are available to cover additional equipment-related expenses.

Eligible Expenses

Examples of eligible expenses include, but are not limited to:

Artist fees (must be at least 80% of total budget)
Administrative support for your organization (capped at 10% of total budget)
Venue rentals
General Entertainment License costs
Production costs
Equipment costs
Tech labor
Security
Artist parking

Ineligible Expenses

General operating expenses of venues or businesses
Alcoholic beverages
Food, unless as part of artist per diem
Gifts, prizes, awards
Fundraising costs
Goods or services for personal use or resale (concessions)

Application Timeline

Application Deadline: July 28, 2026 at 11:59am CT
Award Notification: August 13, 2026

Project Timeline

Projects Take Place: August 27, 2026-December 1, 2026
Final Report Deadline: Due within 30 days of final performance

Arts Midwest uses SmartSimple grants portal for applications. You must register in the system before you apply, if you are a new user. Please follow the steps below to complete your registration and your application.

Step 1: Registration (for new users only)

Register in our SmartSimple grants portal
On the registration page, click “Registered Non-profit Organization”
Input your information. If you cannot find your organization, try searching with just EIN (no spaces or dashes) or contact Arts Midwest at grants@artsmidwest.org.
Once you have filled out your registration and submitted, you will receive an email with a login link. Click on the login link.
The link will take you to a screen where you will create a new password for your account. Then click submit.
Once you have created the password, you will receive a verification code in your email. Copy the verification code from that email, and paste in the box on the login page.
Now you’re in the SmartSimple portal! Make sure your profile is correct. Go to the top right corner with your name letter symbol and click on Personal Profile. Confirm the info is correct from your registration.

Step 2: Application

Wait until you’ve received notice that your application is ready to fill out from Arts Midwest.
Navigate to the Grants for Organizations Organization Portal Home.
To begin the application, click on the tile that says, “Resume an application in progress.”

Applicants will submit the following required information:

Applicant organization details (EIN, UEI number from SAM.gov if available, publicity name, annual operating budget, mission statement, organization location information)
Two-sentence project summary (100 words)
Paragraph description of the project and how it aligns with program goals (250 words)
Brief information about the businesses, venues, or locations you anticipate working with (250 words)
Brief information about the artist(s) you anticipate working with (250 words)
Have you received a grant from Arts Midwest before? (yes/no)
Project start and end dates (must be between 8/27/26-12/1/26)
Grant request amount between $5,000-$10,000
Anticipated schedule of activities (upload). Includes anticipated artists, venues, and wards reached
Draft budget

Applications will be reviewed by the City of Minneapolis. Awardees will be selected based on considerations related to geographic reach (to all 13 wards in Minneapolis), compliance with guidelines, and strength of programming. Partial awards may be given depending on the number of applicants.

Community partners may request up to 90% of the grant payment in advance of the performance(s). The final 10% will be disbursed after the final report has been submitted. Payment may take up to four weeks to process.

Community partners will be required to provide a brief summary of their programming within 30 days of all their project performance(s) taking place. Reporting includes:

Description of how activities went, including successes and challenges, impact on commercial corridor, and testimonials (500 words)
Final schedule of activities (upload)
- Name of Venue, Ward, and Neighborhood
- Time and Location(s) of performances
- Name of Artist(s)
- Number of individual artists paid
- Artist payment amounts
- Estimated attendance
Artist contracts (as attachments)
Final budget
Crediting examples (as attachments)
Simple documentation from the event (videos, photos).

We want this opportunity to be accessible to all and will work with applicants who need to use other means to apply. Alternative application options may include, but are not limited to:

Using an adapted form in Microsoft Word (available upon request)

Sharing a video application (available upon request)

Working over the phone with a program manager on any questions about the application

Please contact Katie Ortman, program manager, as early as possible with accessibility requests. We may not be able to accommodate requests made after July 20, 2026. Katie can be reached at katie.ortman@artsmidwest.org

Questions?

Schedule a Zoom meeting with Program Manager Katie Ortman to discuss your project ideas and ask questions about your application, project plans, or anything else.

Book Zoom Meeting Email Katie