61 Midwestern Arts and Culture Organizations Receive A Total Of $1.5mm To Support COVID-19 Recovery

An additional sixty-one Midwestern arts and culture organizations received COVID-19 relief grants today from Arts Midwest through Phase 2 of the United States Regional Arts Resilience Fund.

The Resilience Fund's goal is to invest in historically under-resourced arts and culture organizations across the United States as they work to weather the COVID-19 pandemic. In line with these priorities, thirty-two of the funded organizations are based in rural areas, twenty-five are led by and serving people of color, and five are led by and serving Native and Indigenous communities.

The sixty-one selected organizations will each receive between $10,000 - $50,000 as a one-time investment. Recipients may direct United States Regional Arts Resilience Fund grants to their most pressing needs and opportunities, from response activities to investments that build resiliency and sustainability.

The impact of COVID-19 has created incredible financial obstacles for the arts, with Americans for the Arts estimating current losses for the creative sector at over $14.5 billion dollars and counting. These losses exacerbate deep, existing inequities present across the Midwest and the nation. Historically under-resourced communities and organizations now face an additional lack of access to critical support, investment, and capitalization to weather the pandemic, putting their work acutely at risk.

The United States Regional Arts Resilience Fund began in June 2020, when each of America's six Regional Arts Organizations, a national collective of place-based nonprofit arts service organizations, received allocations of a $10 million emergency grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. Arts Midwest invested its initial $1.5 million share from the Mellon Foundation into thirty mid-to-large size organizations across the region. This investment was then matched by an anonymous donor, with Phase 2 supporting additional smaller organizations with annual budgets between $50,000 - $249,999.

To ensure that rural communities, Indigenous communities, and communities of color were integral voices in the funding process, Arts Midwest shaped an equity-focused trust-based philanthropic model. Decision making on how to allocate all Resilience Fund grants has been guided by rural culture makers and arts leaders of color from across the Midwest as well as representatives from Arts Midwest's nine partner State Arts Agencies.

In total, over eight hundred Midwestern organizations have been nominated by community members to receive money through the Resilience Fund. All nominated organizations will have access to free capacity building resources and webinars put on by Arts Midwest in the coming months

"As the pandemic continues to wreak havoc across the nation, smaller arts and culture organizations are deeply hurting." says Torrie Allen, President and CEO of Arts Midwest. "We are grateful to the Mellon Foundation and our anonymous funder for investing in the creative core of the Midwest. We are hopeful that these funds will help organizations across our region weather the storm so that they can keep serving their communities for years to come."

United States Regional Arts Resilience Fund Grant Awards: Phase 2

Organization	City	State	Award
ArtHaus	Decorah	IA	$15,000
Station 1	Des Moines	IA	$20,000
Tai Village	Des Moines	IA	$10,000
Public Space One	Iowa City	IA	$20,000
Red Cedar Chamber Music	Marion	IA	$25,000
Marshall County Arts & Culture Alliance	Marshalltown	IA	$20,000
George Daily Community Auditorium	Oskaloosa	IA	$35,000
Wieting Theatre and Opera House	Toledo	IA	$20,000
Youth Art Team	Waterloo	IA	$30,000
Public Media Institute	Chicago	IL	$40,000
Artists ReEnvisioning Tomorrow	Peoria	IL	$40,000
Urbana Champaign Independent Media Center	Urbana	IL	$30,000
Shawnee Theatre of Greene County	Bloomfield	IN	$30,000
Beachfront Dance School	Gary	IN	$15,000
Freetown Village	Indianapolis	IN	$25,000
Iibada Dance Company	Indianapolis	IN	$25,000
Indiana Performing Arts Theatre	Indianapolis	IN	$20,000
N'Namdi Center for Contemporary Arts	Detroit	MI	$35,000
El Ballet Foklorico Esudiantil	Flint	MI	$20,000
Shop Floor Theatre Company	Flint	MI	$20,000
GRAAMA (Grand Rapids African American Museum and Archives)	Grand Rapids	MI	$15,000
Downtown Art Place	Ironwood	MI	$10,000
Black Arts & Cultural Center	Kalamazoo	MI	$30,000
Riverfolk Music and Arts Organization	Manchester	MI	$10,000
Voices Without Borders	Petoskey	MI	$15,000
Arts for All of Northern Michigan	Traverse City	MI	$25,000
Mandidoo Ogitgaan	Bemidji	MN	$25,000
Minnesota Prison Writing Workshop	Minneapolis	MN	$40,000
Rosy Simas Danse	Minneapolis	MN	$25,000
Threads Dance Project	Minneapolis	MN	$25,000
Center for Hmong Arts and Talent (CHAT)	St. Paul	MN	$30,000
Indigenous Roots Cultural Art Center	St. Paul	MN	$50,000
Brownbody	Vadnais Heights	MN	$30,000
Turtle Mountain Indian Historical Society	Belcourt	ND	$15,000
Ukrainian Cultural Institute	Dickinson	ND	$15,000
African Arts Arena	Grand Forks	ND	$10,000
Northern Valley Youth Orchestras	Grand Forks	ND	$15,000
Minot Area Council on the Arts	Minot	ND	$25,000
Nelson County Arts Council	Pekin	ND	$15,000
Long X Arts Foundation	Watford City	ND	$15,000
Passion Works	Athens	OH	$50,000
Black Swamp Arts Festival	Bowling Green	OH	$35,000
Majestic Theatre	Chillicothe	OH	$15,000
Maroon Arts Group	Columbus	OH	$15,000
Ohio Regional Music Arts and Cultural Outreach	Homerville	OH	$20,000
ArtSpace Lima	Lima	OH	$40,000
Paper Circle	Nelsonville	OH	$10,000
Piqua Arts Council	Piqua	OH	$25,000
The Youngstown Playhouse	Youngstown	OH	$50,000
Aberdeen Area Arts Council	Aberdeen	SD	$25,000
Crystal Theatre Cultural Association	Flandreau	SD	$10,000
Chautauqua Craftsmen & Artisans of the Black Hills	Hot Springs	SD	$10,000
Pierre Players Community Theatre	Pierre	SD	$10,000
He Sapa Wacipi Na Oshkate (Black Hills Pow Wow Association)	Rapid City	SD	$35,000
Racing Magpie	Rapid City	SD	$35,000
Harmony South Dakota	Sioux Falls	SD	$30,000
Sisseton Arts Council	Sisseton	SD	$10,000
Ko-Thi Dance Company	Milwaukee	WI	$30,000
Walker's Point Center for the Arts	Milwaukee	WI	$50,000
Woodland Indian Art	Oneida	WI	$10,000
ArtStart	Rhinelander	WI	$50,000
TOTAL			$1,500,000