AUGUSTA — The Maine Arts Commission recently reviewed 288 applications for competitive grant awards, a more than 30 percent increase over 2018, and recently announced 156 recipients for its fiscal 2019 year (July 1, 2018 through June 30, 2019).

Commission members met recently and approved the process for grants to artists, nonprofit arts organizations, and arts educators throughout the state in the following categories: Project Grants for Artists in multiple disciplines; Project Grants for Organizations in multiple disciplines; Partnership Grants; Arts Learning Grants; Organizational Development Grants; and the Jane Morrison Film Fund Award.

“We strive to fund as many applications as we can, in an effort to reach as many artists, students and arts organizations,” said Executive Director Julie Richard, in a news release from the commission. “For each of the last three years the Commission has been able to achieve this, expanding the number of applications funded and deepening our impact.”

While it provided increased funding overall, the largest increase, both in submissions and awards, is in Project Grants for Artists, where 58 grants have been awarded as compared to 32 the previous year. The additional competitive awards, as scored by panel reviews in a process approved by the Commission, include 44 Project Grants for Organizations; 20 Arts Learning Grants; 19 Partnership Grants across organizations in three different categories based on the size of each operating budgets; 14 Organization Development Grants; and a Jane Morrison Film Scholarship. Overall, $366,810 was distributed in this round with several programs remaining to be announced, reviewed and funded, including the Maine Artist Fellowships and Traditional Arts Apprenticeship programs.

To view the list of the 2018-19 grant recipients, or for more information, visit MaineArts.com.