BOSTON - Wednesday,
September 1, 2021 - Mayor Kim Janey and the Mayor’s Office of Arts and
Culture, in collaboration with the Boston Cultural Council, today announced
the opening of applications for two grant opportunities for local arts
organizations. Boston Cultural Council grants are available for
organizations that benefit the public by offering arts programming in
Boston's neighborhoods, and this year an additional grant is available
through Reopen Creative Boston, which is funding available through the
American Rescue Plan Act for arts and culture organizations that need
financial support to recover from the economic impact of COVID-19 and
reopen their offerings to the public.
“The arts are
necessary for both our city’s financial recovery and healing those impacted
by the pandemic through creative self-expression,” said Mayor Janey. “I am
committed to investing in the local organizations that make up our diverse
arts community. These organizations have gone above and beyond to address
the needs of Boston residents throughout the pandemic. The City will
continue to support arts investments, as we get through this together.”
The Boston Cultural Council (BCC) works under the umbrella of the
Mayor's Office of Arts and Culture to annually distribute funds allocated
by the City of Boston and the Mass Cultural Council for local arts and
cultural programming. Through this program, organizations with annual
budgets under $2 million can apply for BCC grants of $2,000, $3,500, or
$5,000 depending on budget size.
The BCC focuses on
small to mid-sized organizations that uniquely serve the City's arts
ecosystem and prioritize cultural diversity, economic diversity, inclusion,
and equity, through both their staffing and audiences served. Nonprofit
cultural organizations whose missions or programming are focused on music,
film and video, traditional and folk art, visual art, theater, dance,
humanities, literary arts, performing arts, social/civic practice, and
multidisciplinary arts are eligible to apply as long as they are based in
the City of Boston, or offer programming in Boston.
BCC members
represent the city’s districts and are appointed by the Mayor. Council
members are selected on the basis of their demonstrated commitment to
Boston's cultural community and their knowledge of various arts
disciplines.
Earlier this year,
Mayor Janey announced that 152 arts and cultural
organizations received grants totaling $487,000 through the Boston Cultural Council in
fiscal year 2021.
Reopen Creative
Boston is a $3 million grant program to cover expenses related to reopening
the arts and culture sector and resuming cultural programming and services.
Arts and cultural organizations of any budget size that can demonstrate
they have been negatively economically impacted by COVID-19 are eligible to
apply.
Through Reopen
Creative Boston, the City is awarding grants of up to $50,000 to cover
costs for reopening and restarting programs, including payroll, new
technology, and consulting services. Organizations that operate and own
cultural facilities will be eligible for an additional grant up to $50,000.
Organizations with
budgets under $2 million are eligible to apply for both the Boston Cultural
Council grants and the Reopen Creative Boston grants, while organizations
with budgets over $2 million may only apply for Reopen Creative Boston.
This $3 million
initiative is the latest in the City’s investment in arts and culture
during the COVID-19 pandemic. At the beginning of this year, the City
partnered with The Boston Foundation and the Barr Foundation to award 17
local BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and People of Color) arts and culture
organizations with $25,000 unrestricted grants for COVID-19 relief. To better support arts organizations
facing financial losses, canceled programming, and closures caused by
COVID-19, the City of Boston also awarded $815,000 in grants to 146 local arts and
cultural organizations as part of the Arts and Culture COVID-19 Fund last year.
Additionally, throughout the COVID-19 public health emergency, the City of
Boston in partnership with Boston Center for the Arts (BCA) awarded grants
totaling over $330,000 to over 600 artists as part of the Boston Artist
Relief Fund, which was established to support artists whose creative
practices and incomes were adversely impacted by the pandemic.
“We’ve continued to
hear from the arts community about the significant negative economic impact
COVID-19 has had on artists, arts organizations, performance venues, and
cultural spaces, and it’s clear that we need to keep investing in these
groups in order to have an equitable recovery for the entire city,” said
Kara Elliott-Ortega, Chief of Arts and Culture for the City of Boston.
The deadline to apply for BCC grants and the Reopen Creative
Boston Fund
is October 15, 2021 at 5 p.m. ET. There will be a virtual webinar on September 8 at noon for organizations
interested in learning more about the application process. More information
can be found at boston.gov/arts-grants.
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