This month the National Endowment for the Arts announced their recommendations for 855 nonprofit arts organizations to receive direct funding through the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act. Recipient organizations are located throughout the U.S., and were chosen from a field of 3,100 eligible applicants. A total of $44.5 million in nonmatching funds will go to support staff salaries, fees for artists or contractual personnel, and facilities costs.
The funding is divided equally among small, medium, and large groups, with individual groups receiving $50,000 and nine regional arts organizations getting $250,000 to redistribute to smaller groups in their area.
Arts Endowment Chair Mary Anne Carter described the significance of the grants:
All of us at the National Endowment for the Arts are keenly aware that arts organizations across the country are hurting, struggling, and trying to survive and that our supply of funding does not come close to meeting the demand for assistance. That said, I am enormously proud of the over-and-above efforts of the Arts Endowment staff to swiftly and professionally manage such a large amount of additional work in a relatively short period of time on behalf of the American public.”
California arts organizations are slated to receive a total of $4,950,000 distributed through 91 individual grants.
Among the Bay Area and Northern California recipients:
Alonzo King LINES Ballet
AXIS Dance Company
California Institute of the Arts
California Symphony Orchestra, Inc.
County of Sonoma
Dimensions Dance Theater, Inc.
Djerassi Resident Artists Program
Gallo Center for the Arts
Idris Ackamoor & Cultural Odyssey
Kuumbwa Jazz Society
Monterey Jazz Festival
Movimiento de Arte y Cultura Latino Americana de San José, Inc.
Opera San José, Inc.
Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra and Chorale
Robert Moses Kin
Stockton Symphony Association, Inc.
Women's Audio Mission
World Arts West
Yerba Buena Center for the Arts
Los Angeles area and Southern California recipients include:
Heart of Los Angeles Youth, Inc.
Jazz Bakery Performance Space
Long Beach Opera
Long Beach Symphony Association
Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra Society, Inc.
Lula Washington Contemporary Dance Foundation
Ojai Festivals, Ltd.
Pacific Symphony
Piano Spheres
San Diego Youth Symphony
Villa Musica
For more information about the CARES-Act grants and a complete list of recipients, visit the NEA information page.
