AHCMC grants support arts and/or humanities organizations and individual artists and scholars that work in any of, or combination of, the following disciplines.

Dance includes choreography or performance, whether in a historically recognized or a contemporary style.

Folk & Traditional Arts includes artistic expressions grounded in a common ethnic heritage, shared language, religion or occupation. These are artistic traditions passed on from generation to generation, often within families and communities and from master to apprentice, through observation, oral transmission, and practice.

Historical, Critical, and/or Theoretical Approaches to the Arts includes work that reflects upon and analyzes creative processes and/or specific works, such as a performance, exhibit, or piece of art.

History or Social Sciences includes research, study, and writing in the areas of human social, political or cultural development, civics, and work that shares historical or social sciences information or activities with the community.

Languages, Linguistics, and/or Literary Arts includes the study and/or analysis of how we communicate and how our ideas and thoughts are expressed and interpreted, and the study or analysis of a specific aspect or work of literature.

Media Arts includes electronic, technology-based work suited to mass media communication and presentation used within an artistic medium. Any genre in film, video, audio, or computer-based art production and/or distribution is included, and a selected component of a long-term project will be considered if it meets the other requirements of the grant guidelines.

Music includes the performance, creation, recording, and distribution of original music from any genre, or of historically recognized musical compositions and/or styles.

Philosophy, Ethics, and/or Comparative Religion includes research and/or study of theories about the purpose of life, how moral and ethical standards arise in society, and the reasons for our thoughts and actions.

Storytelling includes spoken word performances, in particular the interactive style of using words and actions and other effects to reveal the elements and images of a story while encouraging the listener’s imagination.

Theater includes the creation, production, and/or performance of original contemporary or historically recognized theater and musical theater works.

Writing includes the creation, presentation, and distribution of materials that are literary in nature; and publications, readings and compilations of original poetry, fiction, non-fiction, creative non-fiction, screenplays and play scripts.

Visual Art includes the creation, production, and/or exhibition of visual art as the primary focus. Objects, installations, site-specific or gallery-oriented works of art within any area of the visual arts are also included, as are curatorial projects and/or projects that expand the context of traditional or contemporary works of art.

Design encompasses many disciplines including, but not limited to, architecture, communications and graphic design, fashion design, historic preservation, industrial and product design, interior design, landscape architecture, social impact design, rural design, and urban design (not including capital campaigns, construction costs, and the purchase or leasing of sites).

Presenting and/or Multidisciplinary works incorporate, combine, and/or integrate disciplines. Works may explore boundaries between disciplines, fuse or transcend disciplines, and look to new forms of expression. Projects can be multi- or cross-disciplinary in nature and may include work from the performing, visual, media, design, literary arts, and/or humanities disciplines.