The Council for the Arts at MIT (CAMIT) is made up of alumni and friends of the arts at MIT who champion arts engagement at MIT. CAMIT funds three grant programs to support artistic projects that engage the MIT community.
Grants Committee Funding
The Council’s Grants program provides funding to current MIT faculty, staff, and students in support of a wide range of art projects that directly engage the MIT community. The average award is typically around $2,500. Maximum funding awards are capped at $7,500. Only one grant project per applicant per academic year will be funded, and projects must be completed prior to graduation/leaving MIT. Projects cannot be part of regular class assignments and should be on a timeline to be completed within six months to one year from the date of the award.
Schedule, Eligibility, and Process
-Application deadlines in fall and spring
-Requests of up to $7,500
-Students, faculty, and staff eligible to apply
Applicants with current CAMIT- or CAST-funded projects must complete those projects before applying for additional funding, and may only apply to one grant program (CAST or CAMIT) per application cycle.
For graduate students in the Art, Culture, and Technology (ACT) program: graduate students in their first and second semesters should apply directly to ACT for project support provided by CAMIT and administered by ACT. Graduate students in their third or fourth semester are eligible to apply directly to the Council for funding to support artistic projects that include strong MIT community engagement.
Visit our How to Apply page to learn more about how to begin the application process and read more about previously-funded projects.
Graduate Student Arts Project Seed Grants
Seed Grants are capped at $500 and can be used to support ideation, planning, proof of concept development/testing, or prototyping for arts projects whose end goal is to directly engage the MIT community.
Grants may not be used to fund projects for class credit or thesis work, but may be used to expand on a project originally created in academic coursework.
Schedule, Eligibility, and Process
-Rolling applications; submit any time during the academic year
-Current graduate students and graduate student groups in all programs and schools are eligible to apply
Learn more and submit an application for seed grant funding.
Undergraduate Arts Project Mini-Grants
Mini-Grants are capped at $500 and art intended to support artistic projects that engage the MIT community.
Schedule, Eligibility, and Process
-Rolling applications; submit any time during the academic year
-Undergraduate students and undergraduate student groups are eligible to apply
-In order to support as many projects as possible, applicants may receive no more than $500 total in mini-grant funding per academic year
Learn more and submit an application for mini-grant funding.
What can arts grant funding be used for?
Eligible expenses:
- Materials
- Equipment/software rentals
- Equipment/software purchases are funded only on rare occasions. Any proposal for purchasing equipment or software should be discussed with CAMIT staff ahead of time. Only equipment approved for use in an official MIT makerspace/workspace will be considered for purchase.
- Applicants are encouraged to familiarize themselves with MIT’s enterprise software; applicants requesting funding for software will be asked to provide justification.
- Facilities and space rental
- Payment to professional performers, technical assistants, guest speakers, or contractors
- Payments must be processed through an MIT DLC.
- Contracts must be approved by MIT Contracts before any work can begin.
Ineligible expenses:
- Food and beverages
- Printed publicity
- Purchases of equipment for personal use (see above); CAMIT does not fund the purchase of laptops, tablets, phones, or cameras
- Stipends for the applicant’s own time or work in creating the project
- Events designed as fundraising efforts for other non-profit organizations
- Projects requiring retroactive support
- Routine curricular activities (classwork, thesis projects)
- Travel and/or accommodation expenses for the applicant(s)