2026.08.20 Illinois Arts Council Announces Fiscal Year 2027 Creative Accelerator Fund Guidelines

The Illinois Arts Council (IAC) is pleased to announce the release of the Fiscal Year 2027 (FY27) Creative Accelerator Fund (CAF) guidelines. CAF awards individual artists with flat $10,000 awards to invest in their own practice and professional growth. A primary goal of this program is to bolster the creative workforce that composes a significant portion of Illinois' creative and economic activity.

Applications will be available in IAC's Salesforce grant portal beginning Wednesday, September 2, 2026. The deadline to apply is Wednesday, October 14, 2026, at 11:59 pm.

Individual artists must demonstrate an active and sustained practice, be age 21 or older, be established as an Illinois resident, and not be currently enrolled full-time at a college or university in any undergraduate, graduate, or doctoral program. All applications must be submitted via the applicant's IAC Salesforce account .

Each IAC region has its own allocation of funds and will select recipients from the applications submitted in that region. The CAF is a randomized applicant selection process done in partnership with the Illinois State Lottery. For CAF, IAC is utilizing compliance-based evaluation criteria and does not evaluate the quality of artistic work or artistic accomplishments. If selected, the $10,000 award is taxable income for the individual artist.

A pre-recorded webinar is available on IAC's website . The IAC will also host a series of "drop-in" sessions to answer any questions you may have. Drop-in sessions are one-hour sessions that have no agenda. Participants may ask questions of the participating program staff and get answers in real time. Drop-ins do not require pre-registration. Simply click the link at the time of the meeting to join the call via WebEx. Visit the Creative Accelerator Fund webpage for details.

For more information, please contact your Regional Program Director .