Opportunities for Educators

Opens: February 5, 2025
Deadline: March 5, 2025

The Illinois Poet Laureate is an appointment made possible by the Office of the Governor. The Poet Laureate advances awareness of and appreciation for the literary arts and humanities within the state.

Opens: February, 2025
Deadline: April, 2025

The Illinois Arts Council’s (IAC) Creative Accelerator Fund (CAF) provides crucial support to artists with a goal of strengthening the creative workforce that composes a significant portion of Illinois’ economic activity.

Opens: July, 2025
Open Deadline

Creative Projects Grant offers support to Illinois artists and non-profit organizations for arts-related projects, events, or professional development.

The Arts & Foreign Language (AFL) Grant is to support arts and foreign language education in schools, with an emphasis on ensuring that these areas become part of the school's core curriculum. In FY25 this grant program is only available to FY24 grantees as a continuation of the work they have been doing this past fiscal year. 

Opens: September 16, 2024
Deadline: Closed

Illinois Statewide POL Contest: March 17, 2025

A partnership of the National Endowment for the Arts, the Poetry Foundation, and the state arts agencies, Poetry Out Loud is a national arts education program that encourages the study of great poetry by offering free educational materials and a dynamic recitation competition for high school students across the country. 

Deadline: March 3, 2025

Senator Ram Villavalam invites artists (grades K-12) to submit artwork on the theme of "Community." Submissions will be displayed in the senator's district office, his Springfield office, and in a community gallery on March 22. 

Deadline: February 21, 2025

Marwen is seeking exceptional practicing artists to design and teach visual arts courses for 6-12 graders from all across Chicago. They welcome proposals in all mediums, particularly ceramics, digital media, video, photography, fashion, painting, and comics.

Deadline: May 1, 2025

Every young poet from kindergarten through 12th grade in Illinois is invited to participate and become a part of Brooks' enduring legacy. As she beautifully expressed in 1977, “All the children who entered the contest are winners… They worked hard. They created. And that is what is important.”

Search for additional state and national resources for organizations through the IAC's Discipline-Specific Resources database.