More Than $500,000 Granted
To Help Local Arts & Culture Nonprofit Organizations & Individual Artists address COVID impact
LOUISVILLE, KY (April 24, 2020) – One Louisville: COVID-19 Response Fund and Fund for the Arts have collectively awarded more than $500,000 in financial support to Greater Louisville’s nonprofit arts and culture organizations and artists.
Together, the Fund for the Arts and the One Louisville: COVID-19 Response Fund each contributed $250,000 to provide COVID-19 relief funding to 25 organizations and artists. The One Louisville Fund worked in partnership with Fund for the Arts to direct grant dollars to organizations and artists providing innovative, virtual content designed to inspire, comfort, heal and uplift the community during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The One Louisville: COVID-19 Response Fund was created to provide financial assistance to help those who are disproportionately impacted by the virus and its economic consequences. To date, it has supported nonprofit organizations and individuals in our community with more than $4 million in grants.
“Louisville’s arts organizations and artists are at the forefront of efforts to bring this community together every day,” said Mayor Greg Fischer. “During this time of social distancing and isolation, our arts community has been innovative and community-focused, despite their own profound losses. We must continue to uplift them as they work to inspire us.”
The Fund for the Arts also provided COVID-10 Emergency Support Grants to nine arts and culture organizations to support their essential functions and core staff. Grant awards were made to organizations identified as extraordinary or essential, and/or serving a vulnerable population, and demonstrating both financial need and a strong plan for sustainability.
In addition, the Fund for the Arts has awarded grants to 68 individual artists whose income has been impacted due to the COVID-19 crisis. The emergency relief grants are to help address food, housing, and healthcare needs. Thanks to the Whitney Fund, the Fund for the Arts can award another $30,000 to artists in need over the next several weeks.
The Fund for the Arts Culinary Initiative, in partnership with Ashbourne Farms, also is distributing relief grants to Apron, the LEE Initiative, and directly to local chefs to support the sustainability of their restaurants in response to the pandemic.
The Fund for the Arts launched the Cultural Lou Recovery Campaign with a goal of $10 million by August 30, 2020. The Cultural Lou Recovery Campaign will help support the cultural sector to stabilize during the immediate crisis and to raise critical funds to help recover and rebuild for the future.
Below are the grants made possible in the past two weeks:
Arts & Culture Organizations receiving One Louisville Fund Grants, informed by Fund for the Arts
• AMPED
• Commonwealth Theatre Center, Inc.
• Elevator – Artist Relief Trust
• Kentucky Shakespeare, Inc.
• KMAC Museum
• Looking for Lilith Theatre Company
• Louisville Ballet
• River City Drum Corp Cultural Arts Institute
• Squallis Puppeteers
• StageOne: The Louisville Children’s Theatre, Inc.
• The Little Loomhouse
• The Louisville Orchestra, Inc.
• Young Authors Greenhouse
• Young Poets of Louisville
• Steam Exchange
Arts, Culture, Culinary Organizations receiving COVID-19 Emergency Relief Grants from Fund for the Arts
• Acting Against Cancer
• Actors Theatre of Louisville
• Bunbury Theatre
• Kentucky Center for African American Heritage
• Kentucky Opera
• Louisville Youth Choir
• Pandora Productions
• West Louisville Performing Arts Academy
• Yew Dell Botanical Gardens
Robert Barry Fleming Actors Theatre’s Executive Artistic Director, Robert Barry Fleming said, “Thanks to the Funds’ support, I look forward to continuing to sing and shout from our virtual and live stages about the goodness and rich spirit in this community, and our collective belief in the power of storytelling to elevate our ability to transform and liberate through the arts.”
“I am inspired by the generosity of this community year after year,” said Christen Boone, Fund for the Arts’ president and CEO. “This initial round of stabilizing funds is critical, but this isn’t a finish line. We still have a long way to go to raise the critical amounts needed to ensure our treasured organizations come out of this in a position to keep their doors open to serve this community for years to come.”
To make a gift to the Fund for the Arts Cultural Lou Recovery Campaign, visit: https://fundforthearts.org/culturallourecovery/
About the One Louisville Fund
Managed by the Community Foundation of Louisville, the goal of this Fund is to attract and provide financial assistance to help those who are disproportionately impacted by the virus and its economic consequences. Grants will be directed by the One Louisville by the One Louisville Fund Committee, whose membership includes representatives of the philanthropic, nonprofit, corporate, and government sectors. Donate to the fund at https://www.cflouisville.org/one-louisville/
About Fund for the Arts
Fund for the Arts is a regional nonprofit with the mission to maximize the impact of the arts on economic development, education, and quality of life in our community. The Fund is a convener, promoter, leader, and driver of Imagine Greater Louisville 2020, the region’s arts & cultural plan. It facilitates the largest arts grant program in Kentucky as well as conducts one of the oldest united arts campaigns in the country.
