GRANTS & PROJECT DEVELOPMENT

Got a community need that you want to turn into a project/program proposal? Got an idea that you want to turn into a real project or program? Got a program proposal that needs $$$ to become real? No problem: that’s what we do best!

Since Spring 2014, Caledonia Northern Folk Studios has been proud to partner with non-profits, municipal governments, artists, & private individuals to develop comprehensive project & program proposals, & to source & win grants to bring innovative programs to fruition, in the fields of the arts, heritage, culture, & public humanities. We have authored winning proposals in typical amounts ranging from $5,000-$135,000 to all levels & types of grant funding: including federal sources, regional sources, state sources, & local sources: including community foundations & private industry/philanthropy. We specialize in project/program development & grant-writing for grassroots, small, & mid-sized governments & organizations — especially those who have not substantially sought or won grant support for public humanities, arts, & heritage-related interpretive, engagement, & educational projects in the past. We’re proud of our track record of helping small organizations go on to successful track records of independent arts & culture-sector project development, program management, & grant-writing after partnership with Caledonia Northern Folk Studios!

Through supplemental graduate-level coursework at the Ohio State University’s John Glenn College of Public Affairs, principal Jess Lamar Reece Holler has additionally trained in annual giving & fundraising management, & other key aspects of development in a non-profit context. We’re highly-skilled in developing customized, tailor-made grant proposals; and are unique in offering soup-to-nuts project development (from launch to evaluation) — and, in some cases, coordination/administration — in addition to simply developing grant materials.

Since 2017, we’ve primarily provided grant-writing services as a consultant on contract basis. However, with the wrap-up of Marion Voices amidst major changes in the federal & state arts/culture funding landscape, Jess is transitioning (2025-) to seeking full-time work in grant-writing & program development in the arts, culture, heritage, cultural resources management, education, environmental/conservation, & social justice sectors. (Jess currently is not interested in more broad-ranging development positions, or work involving 25% or more direct donor solicitation.) During this time, we anticipate still being available to consider opportunities for contract/consulting grant services as time & workload allow. Feel free to reach out!

Our niche strengths in project/program development include:

  • projects with community-collaborative teams featured paid community experts/consultants

  • community-based arts & culture programs bridging diverse communities, ages, geographies

  • teaching arts programs that bring community teaching artists, historians, & community scholars into school, museum, & other community institution settings as experts & links to local learning, culturally-relevant pedagogy, & diverse community traditions

  • public history, art, heritage, & architectural history // historic preservation programs seeking to amplify under-heard or marginalized histories in communities with dominant identity groups

  • projects & programs that utilize oral history & folklife documentation methods and/or documentary arts toolkits to connect current community voices & perspectives to project interpretation

  • projects & programs culminating in community co-curated public humanities products: such as community festivals, public events, co-authored books, historic markers, & exhibits

  • interpretive projects & programs that seek to annotate history on the landscape, bring communities into institutions, and challenge historic interpretive strategies & stories

  • projects & programs that connect the environment, nature, & conservation with arts, culture, & history

  • projects & programs that take interpretation outside the walls of museums, schools, village halls, & institutional contexts: including thru “pop-up” exhibits, ‘zines, & other democratic modes

  • proposals that seek to make institutions more porous to, responsive to, & composed by their surrounding & historically under-represented communities

Our superpowers in grant & proposal writing & development include:

  • development of custom grants matrixes for organizations & municipalities, based on expressed need

  • development of proposals requiring establishment // justification of prior community need

  • development of project contexts & core narrative, including background research & connection of proposal to leading-edge research in relevant fields

  • development of evaluation protocols, project goals, & timeframes

  • seeking funding for underdog projects in communities historically underfunded in the arenas of arts, culture, public history, heritage, & historic preservation

PROJECTS & CLIENTS SERVED: SELECTED SUCCESS STORIES

Since 2014, we’ve authored over $500,000 in successful grant proposals for projects stewarded by & benefitting a wide range of community interpretation, education, arts, culture, public history, & preservation projects, supported by grant-funding institutions ranging from the National Endowment for the Arts to the Ohio Arts Council to Ohio Humanities to local philanthrophies. As a working documentary artist (photography, oral history, soundscape composition, expanded media installation), Jess’s personal artistic projects have also been supported by public grant support.

A sampling of grants we’ve won for partner organizations — showcasing the range & specialization of our program/project development & grant-writing wheelhouse — include:

  • Marion Voices Folklife + Oral History: $135,000 from the National Endowment for the Arts // SouthArts’ ArtsHERE program (terminated May 31st, 2025) for the North-Central Ohio Folklife Solidarities Project

  • Marion County K-12 School Districts: $75,000+ in TeachARTS Ohio funding for K-12 Folklife + Cultural Arts Residency Programs with local Marion County teaching artists, as Marion Voices in the Schools (administered by Marion Voices Folklife + Oral History)

  • Terradise Nature Center: $60,000+ from the Ohio Arts Council for the Terradise Environmental Arts Residency over four years of programming; smaller grants from the Ohio Arts Council for the development of Caledonia Conservationists: Prairie Environmentalism Along the Whetstone & the Terradise Ambient Environmental Soundscape Library Project

  • Caledonia Farmers Market: $10,000+ in Ohio Arts Council funding for the development & execution of the Caledonia Farmers’ Market Summer Music Series in Summers 2022, 2023, + 2024: showcasing 10+ community bands in a unique plein air setting on Caledonia’s Historic Public Square during a bustling summertime morning farmers’ market

  • United Plant Savers (Meigs County, Ohio): $15,000 from the Ohio Arts Council for the development of the Ohio Herbal Elders Project 2.0: an oral history // photography project & analog // digital exhibit project documenting & amplifying the experiences of traditional plant medicine practitioners in diverse cultural traditions across the state of Ohio

  • Village of Caledonia: $15,000 from the Ohio Arts Council for the Public Square Memories & Futures Project Oral History Project; $14,000 Pipeline Grant from the Ohio Dept. of Development for National Register of Historic Places Nomination of Caledonia’s Public Square & N. Water Street Historic District

  • Black Heritage Council of Marion: $15,000 from the Ohio Arts Council for the development of the Umoja: Blight to Beauty Project oral history project & artists’ book, highlighting experiences of housing injustice & possibilities for reparative housing justice for Black communities in Marion, Ohio

  • The Marion County Historical Society: $50,000+ from Ohio Humanities, the Ohio Arts Council, & the Ohio History Fund for the development of Marion Voices Folklife + Oral History in its first three years, as a program of the Marion County Historical Society (NOTE: Marion Voices became an independent 501(c)(3) non-profit in Fall 2021.)

  • The Ohio Ecological Food & Farm Association: $35,000+ from Ohio Humanities, the Greater Columbus Arts Council, & Puffin Foundation West for the development of a statewide oral history & media arts project documenting the history of the organic farming movement in Ohio since the 1970s; & amplifying the story through an innovative series of pop-up exhibits at farmers’ markets & groceries

 
 

Caledonia farmers market: summer music series (2022-2024)

Caledonia Northern Folk Studios contracted with the Caledonia Farmers Market in Caledonia, Ohio to program-develop, grantwrite, & administer an innovative summer-long plein air music series: hosted on Saturday mornings between July-September during the Caledonia Farmers Market, on Caledonia’s historic Public Square. For three years, this beloved summer music series featured & paid presenting & performing artists & bands — including emerging & young musicians — in a wide range of genres: including ambient/experimental electronica, R&B, blues, jazz saxophone, old-time, bluegrass, jam tunes, & oldies. The series was funded each year through an ArtSTART grant from the Ohio Arts Council, with matching support from local businesses & flagship support from OhioHealth.

 

The terradise environmental arts residency (2022-2025)

Funded annually through an ArtsNEXT grant from the Ohio Arts Council, Caledonia Northern Folk Studios // Jess Lamar Reece Holler provided both core grantwriting services & program development to create, design, & administer North-Central Ohio’s first-ever paid, non-residential environmental arts residency: hosted by the Terradise Nature Center outside of Caledonia. Each year, the program supported between 8-12 artists as artists-in-residence from March-June of each calendar year; artists developed original projects inspired by Terradise’s property, mission, vision, & the conservation & arts legacies of its founders, Trella & Ray Romine; & collaborated to host afternoon-long public events at the conclusion of their residency months.

 

Marion Voices: Marion Black Joy Summerfest (2021-)

Grantwriting & proposal development by Jess Lamar Reece Holler helped inaugurate & fund Marion Black Joy Summerfest: Marion Voices Folklife + Oral History’s recurring annual Juneteenth celebration at MLK Park on Marion’s West Side, featuring live music, narrative stage interviews, pop-up exhibits on Black history in Marion, live cultural arts demonstration, vendors, food trucks, & more. Marion Black Joy Summerfest was launched in Summer 2021 and returns in 2025 for its 5th season, supported by grants from the Ohio Arts Council, OhioHealth, and a robust portfolio of community sponsors in private industry.