Arts AVL opens grants for free public art in Buncombe County
Free public art grants of $1,000 to $2,500 could put murals, performances and festivals on Buncombe County streets, with applications due July 20.
A $1,000-to-$2,500 grant will not finance a major arts campus, but in Buncombe County it could still pay for a mural, a neighborhood performance or a public festival that changes how a block feels. ArtsAVL is again using its Arts Build Community program to back projects people can actually see and enter, not closed-door programming.
The 2026-27 application window opened June 22, and ArtsAVL set a deadline of Monday, July 20, at 11:59 p.m. Eligible applicants must be organizations that have operated for at least one year and are physically located in Buncombe County. Funded projects must be free, open to the public and include community engagement, with work scheduled between July 1, 2026, and June 30, 2027, and finished by June 30, 2027.
ArtsAVL says the strongest applications will be those that serve economic recovery, strengthen community cohesion or reach low-income neighborhoods and communities with demonstrated need. The money can go toward art supplies, professional artists’ fees and travel, space rental, advertising, marketing, publicity, website and electronic media, scripts, costumes, sets, props, music and equipment rental. Fundraising events are not eligible.
The project list points to what the program can realistically produce: murals, sculpture, digital new media, performances and festivals. In practice, that means groups with a clear public site and a plan for participation are most likely to turn a modest award into something visible on a wall, in a park or along a neighborhood corridor. The grant is designed less as operating support than as a way to move a public-facing idea from proposal to installation or event.
The timing also matters because ArtsAVL has folded public art into its longer recovery planning. Its Asheville-Buncombe Arts Recovery Framework was presented June 1 and identified public art as one of seven focus areas in a decade-long recovery plan. The framework treated Buncombe County as a central arts hub in Western North Carolina, a reminder that cultural investment remains part of the county’s rebuilding strategy after Helene.
The scale of the 2025-26 round shows the program’s reach. ArtsAVL said 14 Buncombe County organizations received ABC grants last cycle, and through its five main grant programs it regranted $392,432 through 100 grants to 83 arts organizations and artists, reaching about 306,757 people. Katie Cornell, ArtsAVL’s executive director, has said the program reflects the county’s resilience and diversity, with projects spanning historically Black neighborhoods, youth and family spaces and Helene recovery efforts.
For local arts groups, the window is short and the ceiling is modest, but the public impact can still be immediate. In Buncombe County, a small grant can mean one more mural, one more performance or one more street where recovery looks visible.
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