About the Vore Arts Fund

What is the Vore Arts Fund?

The Vore Arts Fund is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit corporation created to financially support the arts and entertainment community of Muncie, Indiana. It distributes zero-interest, unconditionally-forgivable loans to cover the up-front costs of producing for-profit art, music, performances, and art education.

By absorbing the financial risk inherent in arts-related projects with up-front costs, this program makes it easier for artists, educators, performers, and promoters to improve the quality-of-place of our community. By distributing loans and targeting for-profit projects, this program can sustain itself without depending on an ongoing fundraising effort. In the future, we hope to grow it to also distribute grants to support noncommercial art endeavors, such as public murals, free performances, and free art classes.

Where did the name come from?

Phil Vore served as a director on the boards of the Full Circle Arts Co-op and the Muncie Arts and Culture Council from 2007 until his death in 2017, and during that time he championed the idea that such nonprofits must prove their worth to the community by directly and materially supporting artists. Whenever our focus would stray too far from our real purpose, Phil would remind us that we needed to be spending our time identifying and fulfilling the needs of the artists who help make our community beautiful, interesting, entertaining, and enlightening, or else we're just wasting our own time and resources. It is in the memory of our friend Phil and the practical, straightforward, and meaningful approach to supporting the arts that he insisted upon that we have named this project.

Who's eligible?

To apply for funding, you must be a resident of Muncie, Indiana, at least 18, and seeking support for the up-front costs of an arts-related project that is expected to generate enough money to pay back those costs.

For more details about who qualifies, refer to the eligibility requirements section of our Terms of Service page.

How are funding decisions made?

A review committee reviews all applications to make sure they meet our eligibility requirements, and any accepted applications are presented to the public to vote on, using ranked-choice voting. Once the voting period is over, the money budgeted for that funding cycle gets distributed to the highest-ranked application, followed by the second-highest, and so on until that cycle's budget is spent. In other words, the public determines our funding priorities.

What are the loan repayment terms?

No interest will ever be charged for any loans, but "voluntary interest" (think of it as adding a tip on top of your repayment) is very appreciated, since it helps us offset losses incurred from failed projects. Loans have no deadline for repayment, will never be reported to a credit agency, and will never be passed on to a third party such as a collection agency. We aim for the Vore Arts Fund to be as low-risk as possible for all participants.

For more details about loan terms, refer to the loan terms section of our Terms of Service page.

What if my funded project fails?

In the event a funded project fails to generate enough money to repay a loan, that loan can be unconditionally forgiven. The Vore Arts Fund accepts the risk of your project potentially failing, and that helps you, the artist, to focus on your work without worrying about whether it will bankrupt you.