TUCSON—The Arts Foundation is pleased to announce we have been selected 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. The Arts Foundation is receiving $500,000 and will use this funding to distribute grants throughout Southern Arizona to eligible recipients 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 $20,200,000 to 66 local arts agencies nationwide for subgranting.“The NEA’s significant investment in local arts agencies, including the Arts Foundation for Tucson and Southern Arizona, is a key element in helping the arts and culture sector recover and reopen, while ensuring that that American Rescue Plan funding is distributed equitably,” said Ann Eilers, NEA’s acting chair. “These grants recognize the vital role of local arts agencies and will allow them to help rebuild local economies and contribute to the well-being of our communities.”
“The effects of this national investment in our local economies will scale beyond a one-time relief. Our board and team are building upon this opportunity to strengthen relationships with the full breadth of our constituency, so we can better position our services and responses to co-author the terms for a new future together,” said Adriana Gallego, Arts Foundation Executive Director. “With this in mind, we are working with public and private entities to ensure that arts and culture workers are resourced as an essential workforce, whose creative cognitive skill sets are integral to generating the imaginative solutions we will need to build the equitable future our communities deserve.”
“These NEA grants provided by the American Rescue Plan will be a much needed cultural and economic lifeline for the arts programs to recover from this pandemic.” said Rep. Raúl M. Grijalva. “I’m proud to support this critical aid for our cultural and artistic institutions that are such an important part of our social fabric and economic ingenuity in Southern Arizona.”
The Arts Foundation will implement ARP funding to complement Year 2 of a 3-year initiative to equitably rebuild arts economies in the borderlands and strengthen civic participation. Project Creosote Rebuilding Grants for those Organizing in the Arts will invest $450K in Southern Arizona’s arts economy with the goals to restore and create jobs, as well as incentivize arts & civic engagement. This is the second of three installments of the NEA’s American Rescue Plan funding. Last April, the NEA announced that 40 percent of its $135 million in ARP funding would be allocated to 62 state, jurisdictional, and regional arts organizations for regranting through their respective programs. The third installment of APR funding to arts organizations to support their own operations will be announced in early 2022.For more information on the NEA’s American Rescue Plan grants, including the full list of local arts agencies funded in this announcement, visit www.arts.gov/COVID-19/the-american-rescue-plan.
