You (or your performing group) may apply to the Mississippi Artist Roster if you are:

• a professional artist. Individuals are considered to be professional artists if they
  • earn at least part of their annual income in their artistic disciplines;
  • consider their artistic endeavors as a career;
  • maintain a high level of artistic quality; and
  • make a significant time investment in their artistic disciplines through practice, performance, and production;
• not a full-time student*
• more than 18 years of age*
• a permanent, legal, full-time resident of Mississippi at the time of application and throughout the grant period. Applicants may be required to show proof of residence (such as driver’s license, proof domicile, homestead, utility bills).

*Full-time students and/or those artists under 18 years of age may apply to the Mississippi Artist Roster if they are a part of a performing group applying to the roster, provided that the majority of the group’s membership is more than 18 years of age and not full-time students.

Artist Roster applications are reviewed using the following criteria:

• Mastery of your artistic discipline and quality of work (40 points)
• Ability to demonstrate or interpret your artistic discipline or tradition (10 points)
• History of successful performances or presentations and an ability to tour (25 points)
• Quality of promotional materials (including electronic and printed) and the ability to develop resources for presenter use (25 points)

Artists accepted to the Artist Roster are required to provide MAC with their current contact information. They are responsible for securing and arranging their own bookings, as well as providing presenters with adequate publicity materials. Roster Artists should also be familiar with the MAC’s grant programs in order to inform potential presenters about them.

MAC updates the Artist Roster bi-annually by updating the Roster listing on its website. The agency provides advisory assistance to organizations that are looking for a specific type of artist, but it does not actively promote or seek bookings for individual artists or groups on the Roster.

Artists who are currently members of the Roster are required to re-apply every 3 years in order to maintain their membership in the program. This roster term runs with the MAC fiscal year. For example, artists who submit their applications in October 2022 must re-apply by June 1, 2025. The reapplication process is the same as the initial application process.

Artists who fail to reapply by the June 1 deadline will be removed from the Mississippi Artist Roster by July 1. However, if an organization applies to hire a Roster Artist set to roll off July 1 during the May Mini-Grant round, MAC will honor the organization’s application.

Applications are available through our online grant system. If you are new to E-Grant, please refer to MAC’s video guide on how to create an account. Please review the guides and video tutorials available on MAC’s Frequently Asked Questions page, then contact MAC staff if you have any questions. MAC will provide reasonable accommodations for those individuals who are unable to access MAC’s online grant system. Paper applications are available upon request. Applicants must request a paper application no later than two weeks before the deadline, and it must be postmarked no later than the application deadline.

This application process will require submission of the following items:

• Narrative (two-page maximum) in which you describe the programs you offer, such as performances, workshops or master classes. Please also include your technical requirements, fee structure, and how you promote yourself or your group.
• Your current artistic resumé for you and the key personnel in the group. This document should detail your work as a professional artist only. Please include information on any college-level or other advanced training in the arts that you have completed. Do not include information about your non-arts work.
• A list of your (or your group’s) recent performances, exhibitions, workshops, or other presentations. Please include the date and location of each performance. The list does not need to go back more than three years.
• A list describing your work samples. These descriptions should include the titles and completion dates of each sample. If appropriate for the art form, please also include the medium and the approximate dimensions of each work.
• One to three digital promotional images of you or your group. The image should be in JPEG format and at least 72dpi. This will be the photo used on an artist’s webpage, so check out the images used on the Artist Roster for ideas.
• A document containing your (or your group’s) name and contact information, followed by a short description of your group and the types of programs you offer. The description should not exceed 500 words in length. When writing your description, please review the current Roster for examples.
• One set of your current promotional materials. This can include copies of newsletters, current brochures, flyers, or links to websites or other web-based items.
• A set of work samples (see the formats list below for specific requirements) that have been completed within the last 3 years.

Formats

If you have trouble uploading the work sample files to E-Grant, please consult the tutorials available in MAC’s Frequently Asked Questions.

Please note: your samples should reflect the type of performance or workshop that you will present if accepted to the Roster.

• Literary Artists: 15-20 pages of fiction, creative non-fiction, poetry, playwriting (original or adaptation), or a screenplay completed within the last three years. If your submitted work sample is an excerpt from a longer work, you may include a one-page synopsis of the work as a whole. Published work must be submitted in typed manuscript rather than published form. The sample must be formatted using a 12-point font size with one inch margins on all sides of the page.
• Media Arts: Three video recordings with 5-10 minutes of excerpts of your work completed within the last three years. The list of work samples should include, for each excerpt, the title, length, and date completed, technique, original format, genre (documentary, experimental, etc.) and the specific role of the applicant in creating the submitted work.
• Performing Artists: Three video recordings containing 5-10 minutes of representative work completed within the last three years. Musicians should include at least three songs in their sample. On the list of work samples indicate the title, names of the artist(s), date, and location of the recording. Please note: storytellers, actors, dancers and other theatrical artists are required to submit their samples in a video format.
• Visual Artists: Applicants will be required to submit six digital images that feature work completed within the last three years. The images should be saved in JPEG format at 72dpi, with no image wider than 1240 pixels. The work must have been completed within the last three years. Please submit the best quality images that you have available.

Work Sample File Types

Ineligible File Types:

• Pages (.pages)
• Numbers (.numbers)
• Keynote (.key)

Video & Audio

• If you share media from your website, link directly to the video/audio rather than the home page.
• MAC recommends applicants upload using the following file types: MP3, MOV, MP4, WMV, WMA.
• MAC recommends applicants upload links to video or audio files. Applicants can link to websites such as YouTube, Vimeo, Soundcloud, Bandcamp, etc.

Images & Documents

• MAC recommends applicants upload using the following file types: Word (.doc or .dox), Excel (.xls, .xlr, or .xlsx), PDF (.pdf), or JPEG (.jpeg).
• You may upload links contained in a Word Document or PDF.

May 1 & October 1 – Mississippi Artist Roster application opens

June 1 & November 1  – Mississippi Artist Roster application deadline

June & November – Review of applications by MAC grant staff, with third party consultants as necessary

July & December – Applicants are notified whether their application was approved or not. No information on the grants of Artist Roster applications will be available from MAC prior to this date.