Opportunity Overview
New Mexico Arts, a division of the New Mexico Department of Cultural Affairs, is accepting applications for its FY27 Arts & Health Collaborative Planning Grant. The program supports collaborative local planning that uses arts-based practices to improve community health, individual well-being, social connectedness, and belonging.
Funding and Deadline
New Mexico Arts intends to fund approximately 8 organizations. Applicants may request a fixed $5,000 grant. No matching funds are required. Funding is reimbursement-based and the grant period is January 1, 2027 through June 15, 2027.
The complete application must be submitted by email by October 30, 2026 at 5:00 PM MST, using the time-zone designation stated in the controlling New Mexico Arts guidance.
Who Can Apply
Eligible applicant classes are nonprofit tax-exempt 501(c)(3) organizations, units of state or local government, and federally recognized tribal communities or tribes. Applicants must have received a New Mexico Arts award in FY2026, must have submitted prior required final invoices and reports on time, may submit only one application per organization/institution, must apply directly without a fiscal agent, must hold a SAM.gov Unique Entity Identifier (UEI), and must have at least one planning partner. Proposed costs may not overlap other New Mexico Arts grants during the same period.
Allowable Costs
Allowable planning costs include personnel support; contracted artist/contractor fees and services; travel; marketing and public relations; planning/meeting-space rent; planning/meeting supplies; and limited other costs such as phone or postage.
Funding Restrictions
Funds may not support direct grants or aid to individuals; projects outside New Mexico; investment or contingency funds; already-completed projects; activities whose primary purpose is academic course credit, recreation, or historical re-staging; parties and social functions; grant writing or donor solicitation; food except per diem; deficit reduction; negotiated indirect costs; permanent art acquisition as the primary purpose; land/building acquisition; capital improvements, construction, renovation, conservation; or capital supplies/equipment including computers and other electronic equipment.
Submission Requirements
Applicants must use the official FY27 Arts & Health Collaborative Planning Grant Application. The application requires organization and project-director information, a separate authorizing official with legal authority to approve submission, narrative responses covering mission/current arts programming, alignment with Arts & Health goals, successful collaborations, key participants, planning capacity and consultant qualifications if applicable, and other relevant information. The application also contains a project budget that must total exactly $5,000. New Mexico Arts will hold an applicant information and Q&A session on September 22, 2026 from 2:00 to 3:30 PM.
Award Administration
Selected grantees must sign a grant agreement, submit required supporting agreement documents, create and submit a Collaborative Community Plan and required data, participate in peer learning/capacity-building workshops, comply with accessibility requirements, acknowledge New Mexico Arts and National Endowment for the Arts support, and complete required reporting by June 15, 2027.
Atlas Strategic Analysis
Atlas Opportunity Score: 72/100. This is a verified New Mexico health-and-well-being planning opportunity with a concrete deadline, no match, and strong community-health relevance, but the award is small and eligibility is narrowly limited to FY2026 New Mexico Arts award recipients.
N9+ Fit Score: 0/100. The controlling guidance expressly prohibits capital supplies and electronic equipment, and the award is for collaborative planning rather than clinical technology procurement. Atlas does not force an N9+ fit.
Dr. Miltie/QC Healthcare direct applicant status: No Bid. Dr. Miltie/QC is not verified as an eligible FY2026 New Mexico Arts award recipient, and the program does not establish a direct vendor or clinical-equipment pathway.
Applicant Screening
Realistic candidates must first be verified as FY2026 New Mexico Arts award recipients with compliant prior reporting. Otero Arts is a promising screening candidate because it publicly carried out a New Mexico Arts-funded Arts & Health planning initiative in 2026, but recipient-specific outreach should not proceed until current FY2026-award eligibility, the intended planning partner, recipient email, CRM deduplication, and Email Opt-Out status are verified.
Program contact: Kevin Lenkner, Arts & Health Initiative Coordinator, 505-412-5791, kevin.lenkner@dca.nm.gov.
Verified sources: New Mexico Arts Arts & Health Initiative; FY27 Grant Guidelines; FY27 Application.