Attention local, nonprofit arts groups: Sharpen your pencils and get your grant application from The Arts Council - there's some money available.

The Arts Council is now accepting applications for grants through the Grassroots Arts Program, a program funded through the Georgia Council for the Arts that distributes $2,000 grants to local arts programs.

Any nonprofit arts organization - either well-established or brand-new - should contact The Arts Council for an application if they are located in Banks, Barrow, Dawson, Cherokee, Forsyth, Franklin, Gwinnett, Hall, Hart or Jackson counties, said Dwight Hutchins, assistant director of The Arts Council.

Applications may be picked up at The Arts Council's Smithgall Arts Center at 331 Spring St. in Gainesville, by calling 770-534-2787 or by e-mailing hutch@theartscouncil.net.

The deadline for the grant applications is Oct. 17, but The Arts Council also will be holding a workshop at 10 a.m. Sept. 23 to help organizations fill out the application, said Arts Council Executive Director Gladys Wyant.

The purpose of the workshop, to be held at the Smithgall Arts Center, is to "tell them what the grant is all about and actually go through it step by step to help them write it," Wyant said. "There's specific deadlines, but it would be good if they had it in their hands before (the workshop)."

The purpose of Grassroots grants is to lend a hand to local organizations, who in turn provide a service to the public. Each grantee must match the grant funds with money raised locally through ticket sales, donations or other fundraising efforts to demonstrate a dedication to this public service.

Grants applications will be reviewed in the first part of November, with winners announced by Thanksgiving.

Each grant award is limited to $2,000, but can be used in a variety of ways, said Hutchins - as long as the event or program uses the money in the first six months of next year.

"Last year we funded Gainesville ProMusica concert series, Main Street Gainesville has a grant for their Blue Sky concerts, INK had one for their portion of Art in the Square, but that's the kind of thing," Hutchins said of the types of events these grants can help produce. "And it could be funding for an artist for a festival - last year the Dahlonega downtown development authority was helping put on Bear on the Square festival, so the funds were used to help pay some of the entertainers, that kind of thing."