Across the state, federal relief funds are coming to Arizona communities to support nonprofit arts and culture organizations experiencing significant hardship due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Since July 1, 107 grants totaling $1.72 million have been announced.
Statewide grantees Catitude Gallery and Studio, a community arts center in Goodyear, TheaterWorks, a community/youth theater organization in Peoria, a performing arts center in Wickenburg, a symphony orchestra in Yuma, Prescott’s Museum of Indigenous Peoples, Phoenix’s historic Black Theatre Troupe and community arts centers in Bisbee and Kingman.
The grants are funded through a $75 million allocation to the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) included in the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act.
The Arizona Commission on the Arts announced the recipients of its AZ CARES grants. Each of the 86 recipients will receive $5,000.
According to the Arts Commission’s Organizational Programs Manager, Claudio Dicochea, “Because artists and creatives are the engines that propel much of the value that organizations make available to their communities, AZ CARES builds on the foundation provided by the NEA in focusing on organizations that are centering or upholding commitments to creative workers—artists, makers, tradition bearers, educators, designers, and other content creators—during the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond.”
The Arts Commission gave grants to 55% of the eligible applications submitted for this relief opportunity.
Dicochea acknowledged many worthy organizations who applied and were not selected for funding. “This is strictly an outcome of the amount funds available to distribute through this particular relief program and is by no means a reflection of the quality of an organization’s programming or the depth of their need.”