Arts Alive! has been approved to receive a $50,000 American Rescue Plan grant from National Endowment for the Arts
Arts Alive! is pleased to announce 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. Arts Alive! is approved to receive $50,000, 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.
In total, the NEA will award grants totaling $57,750,000 to 567 arts organizations in all 50 states, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and Washington, DC. This was a competitive award with only about 7% of applicants being recommended for funding.
“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, such as Arts Alive!, rebuild and reopen,” said Dr. Maria Rosario Jackson, chair of the NEA. “The arts are crucial in helping America’s communities heal, unite, and inspire, as well as essential to our nation’s economic recovery.”
“We were thrilled to receive this funding. During the last two years we slowed down our fundraising to allow local arts organizations to take priority for local donor dollars,” says new Arts Alive! board co-chair Alison Wilder, “Arts Alive! does so much. It works hard for the arts community here, so this funding, it’s an investment in the Monadnock region’s creative sector and all of us who care about it.”
Performance at Nova Arts
This funding will be directed towards operational expenses, like staff salaries; will support capacity of Arts Alive!’s fiscal sponsee, Nova Arts; and will pay contractors and creative workers to improve the organization’s communications, digital assets, and ongoing DEI work.
Arts Ambassador Meetup in December 2021
“As a small organization we were able to make it through the worst of the pandemic, but we didn’t just ‘survive,’ we responded and thrived - on a shoestring,” says Executive Director, Jessica Gelter. “We brought Nova Arts on as our next incubated project - creating a new full-time job in the arts, we doubled down on our Discover Monadnock project to promote the arts in any way we could, we offered workshops and meetups for artists to learn and connect in a swiftly digital age, we provided significant support to Keene ArtWalk to continue this great outdoor accessible arts program without pause for the pandemic, we dove deeply into work on the Arts Corridor project in downtown Keene, and we launched a program for artlovers to get involved in the work - the Arts Ambassadors program.”
Two other organizations in New Hampshire will receive awards from this program. One is Kimball Jenkins - a beautiful, historic space in Concord, New Hampshire that connects community to the arts with vibrant programming, classes, and presentations. The other is the Black Heritage Trail of New Hampshire, which just unveiled its first historic marker outside of Portsmouth in September - that marker is here in the Monadnock region of New Hampshire.
Eric Russell, long time Arts Alive! board member and board co-chair, says, “The American Rescue Plan grant from the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) is a terrific acknowledgment of the vital role Arts Alive! has played in supporting our vibrant arts community, especially over the last two years. We’re absolutely delighted for this recognition. We intend it to deepen our commitment to local arts scene and help fulfill Arts Alive!’s strategic initiatives.”