The RI State Council on the Arts (RISCA) has awarded close to $1 million in Covid Relief Funds (CRF) to artists, professional arts education associations, and arts and culture organizations. These grants announced today provide badly needed assistance to organizations, artists and arts educators who continue to experience economic hardship as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“I’m immensely proud that we can provide this essential support to artists and nonprofit arts organizations here in Rhode Island. These are difficult times for everyone in the arts sector,” Randall Rosenbaum, Executive Director of RISCA, said in announcing the grants. “The pandemic has closed concert halls, theatres and museums, and put working artists out of work. The ability to pay salaries and help artists pay rent and put food on the table is critical to the lives and livelihoods of these Rhode Islanders, and I’m happy that we are in a position to help.”
For artists, the CRF assistance is being distributed through the Rhode Island Artist Relief Fund, a charitable fund set up by RISCA to help artists who have lost income due to the pandemic. A total of $321,200 was divided up into grants and distributed to 390 artists.
For arts and culture organizations, and arts education associations, the funds are being dispersed directly through RISCA.
In addition to artists, and arts and culture organizations, grant recipients include 11 organizations associated with the Rhode Island Expansion Arts Program (RIEAP) and seven culturally specific nonprofits. RIEAP is a partnership among RISCA, RI Council for the Humanities (RICH) and Rhode Island Foundation to support community-based, culturally diverse arts and cultural organizations. The grants were specifically designed to save jobs, help cover revenue losses and additional COVID-19 costs incurred between March 1, 2020, and December 30, 2020. The recipient categories for this latest round of CRF for the arts and cultural organizations were as follows:
• RI Expansion Arts Program’s current cohort and alumni, culturally specific organizations,and arts and culture nonprofits. Total: $118,830.
• Nonprofit arts and culture organizations including professional arts education associations, which have been providing support to teachers and students during these unprecedented times. Total: $228,660.
• RISCA’s Investments in Arts and Culture (IAC) organizations, which provides operating support to more than 50 key nonprofit arts organizations in our state. Total: $331,380.
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