Thirty Midwestern Arts and Culture Organizations Receive A Total Of $1.5mm To Support Pandemic Recovery

Thirty Midwestern arts and culture organizations received new COVID-19 relief grants today from Arts Midwest through 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, 22 of the funded organizations are led by and serving people of color and/or Indigenous communities, and 11 are based in rural areas. 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 $12.5 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. To distribute its $1.5 million share, Arts Midwest shaped an equity-focused trust-based philanthropic investment model to ensure that rural communities, Indigenous communities, and communities of color were integral voices in the funding process. Decision making on how to allocate Resilience Funds was 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 five hundred Midwestern organizations were nominated by community members to receive money through the Resilience Fund. The thirty selected organizations will each receive $50,000 - $55,000 as a one-time investment with no matching funds required.

"These organizations play a critical role in the civic and economic vitality of our communities and are core to our quality of life in the Midwest," says Torrie Allen, President and CEO of Arts Midwest. "We are proud to be partnering with our state arts agencies, the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, and our fellow U.S. Regional Arts Organizations on this recovery effort and are humbled by the continued need for support within and beyond these communities."

The United States Regional Arts Resilience Fund will continue to support organizations across the Midwest beyond this first wave of funding. Thanks to a gift from an anonymous donor, an additional $1.5 million in support will be invested in Midwest organizations that are small, rural, and/or led by and serving people of color and Indigenous communities in late November 2020.

United States Regional Arts Resilience Fund Recipients

ArtForce Iowa

The Englert Theatre

Vesterheim Norwegian-American Museum

American Indian Center

Congo Square Theatre

Enrich Chicago

National Museum of Mexican Art

Threewalls

Asante Arts Institute

Eiteljorg Museum of American Indians & Western Art

Community School of the Arts

Grandville Avenue Arts & Humanities

Heritage Works

Ramsdell Regional Center for the Arts

Art of the Rural

Hmong Cultural Center

New York Mills Regional Cultural Center

Southeast Asian Diaspora Project

Theater Mu

International Music Camp

North Dakota Museum of Art

Plains Art Museum

Cleveland Public Theatre

Dayton Contemporary Dance Company

Karamu House

Stuart's Opera House

Aberdeen Community Theatre

Black Hills Playhouse

The Heritage Center at Red Cloud Indian School

Oneida Nation Arts Program