TCG Receives Support from National Endowment for the Arts

Theatre Communications Group, the national organization for theatre, has announced they have been approved to receive an American Rescue Plan grant from the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) to help the arts and cultural sector recover from the pandemic. TCG is recommended to receive $150,000 and may use this funding to save jobs and to fund operations and facilities, health and safety supplies, and marketing and promotional efforts to encourage attendance and participation. Grants have been recommended to organizations in both rural and urban communities; in all 50 states, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and Washington, DC; and represent all 15 of the NEA's artistic disciplines. Among the recommended organizations, 27 percent are first-time NEA grantees and 78 percent are small or medium sized organizations with budgets of less than $2 million.

"Our nation's arts sector has been among the hardest hit by the COVID-19 pandemic. The National Endowment for the Arts' American Rescue Plan funding will help arts organizations rebuild and reopen," said Dr. Maria Rosario Jackson, chair of the NEA. "The arts are crucial to helping America's communities heal, unite, and inspire as well as essential to our nation's economic recovery."

"When the pandemic hit, we quickly realized two things: first, that our field would face catastrophic revenue loss; and second, that we needed our collective power more than ever," said Teresa Eyring, executive director and CEO, TCG. "We then made a series of values-based decisions to remove barriers to accessing our programs and services, offering more than 50 hours of free programming in 2021 alone. We were also on the front lines of advocating for the largest federal investment in the arts since the WPA in the 1930s. With this funding from the NEA, we can continue to offer urgent and accessible programming, such as our series of COVID-19 webinars with public health professionals. The NEA's commitment to supporting small and mid-sized arts organizations, many for the first time, is also a welcome step toward equitable funding. Yet we know that with the Omicron variant cancelling performances and postponing shows, the need for robust federal funding for theatres and theatre-makers remains critical. We're staying focused on tangible advocacy opportunities, such as retroactively reinstating ERTC for the fourth quarter, accessing the remaining $2 billion in SVOG funds, and exploring emerging opportunities in FEMA funding."

The American Rescue Plan was signed into law in March 2021 when the NEA was provided $135 million for the arts sector. The funding for organizations is the third installment providing more than $57.7 million for arts organizations. In April 2021, the NEA announced $52 million (40 percent) in ARP funding would be allocated to 62 state, jurisdictional, and regional arts organizations for regranting through their respective programs. The second installment in November 2021 allocated $20.2 million to 66 local arts agencies for subgranting to local artists and art organizations.

For more information on the NEA's American Rescue Plan grants, including the full list of arts organizations funded in this announcement, visit www.arts.gov/COVID-19/the-american-rescue-plan.

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