The Black Belt Community Foundation (BBCF) recently announced its 2019 Arts Grant Cycle, which will award funds to community-based organizations in Bullock, Choctaw, Dallas, Greene, Hale, Lowndes, Macon, Marengo, Perry, Pickens, Sumter and Wilcox counties.

The BBCF is hoping to support organizations throughout the Black Belt that engage citizens in the arts by offerings grants that will support projects in arts education programming, arts exposure programming and arts professional development.

The group will offer funding in two ways – small grants of up to $3,000 that will cover projects in each of the previously mentioned areas and larger grants of up to $10,000 specifically for arts education efforts.

There will be 12 Grant Seeking Workshops for organizations interested in applying for grants. Organizations must attend at least one of these meetings to be considered for a grant.

Workshops will be held in the following locations: Choctaw County’s meeting will take place Feb. 12 at 5:30 p.m. at Morning Star Baptist Church in Butler; Greene County’s meeting will take place Feb. 13 at 5:30 p.m. at the Greene County Courthouse in Eutaw; the Sumter County meeting will take place Feb. 13 at 5:30 p.m. at the Sumter County Industrial Development office in Livingston; the Dallas County meeting will take place at the BBCF Headquarters in Selma Feb. 14 at noon; the Perry County meeting will take place at the Uniontown Public Library on Feb. 15 at noon; the Bullock and Macon county meeting will take place Feb. 18 at 5:30 p.m. at the Macon County Commission Chamber Annex in Tuskegee; the Wilcox County meeting will take place Feb. 19 at 5:30 p.m. at the Wilcox County Commission Annex in Camden; the Hale and Marengo county meeting will be held at Greensboro City Hall on Feb. 20 at 5:30 p.m.; the Pickens County meeting will take place Feb. 21 at 5 p.m. at Carrollton Service Center and the Lowndes County meeting will take place at Snow Hill Baptist Church in Fort Deposit on Feb. 23 at 10 a.m.

Grant applications must be postmarked before March 11 and may be delivered to the BBCF’s headquarters at 609 Lauderdale St. in Selma. Applications can also be emailed to the group at arts@blackbeltfound.org.

Applications are available for download on the group’s website, www.blackbeltfoundation.org.

For more information, contact Chris Spencer at 334-874-1126 or via email at cspencer@blackbeltfound.org.