Fund for the Arts Culinary Initiative’s Relief Effort Awards $115k In Grants Supporting
the Local Culinary Community
Grants Support Basic Needs and Restaurant Relief Efforts
LOUISVILLE, KY (May 29, 2020) Fund for the Arts Culinary Initiative Strategic Relief Fund, launched in partnership with Ashbourne Farms, has awarded more than $115,000 to 7 restaurants and organizations. These grants have been made possible by the generous support of Austin & Janie Musselman, Regrow by Ashbourne Farms, Brook & Pam Smith, Appalachian Impact Fund, Jeff Gordon, Joey Wagner, and numerous community donors.
Fund for the Arts Culinary Initiative Strategic Relief Fund focused on supporting the basic needs of our culinary arts community and providing relief funds to culinary institutions that have been a pillar to our community.
The Fund for the Arts Culinary Relief Effort awarded the following grants:
- $45k to Restaurant Relief Grants to:
- $15k to Mayan Café
- $15k to The Fat Lamb Modern Kitchen & Bar
- $15k to The Wrigley Taproom & Eatery
- $30k to Southeast Kentucky Food & Farm Stimulus Fund
- $15k to APRON
- $15k to the James Beard Foundation
- $10k to the LEE Initiative
“The Mayan Cafe is truly honored and humbled to have received this grant from the Fund for the Arts Culinary Arts Initiative,” said Anne Shadle, General Manager of the Mayan Cafe. “These past few months have been the most difficult of the 20+ years that we have been in business. Receiving this grant has shown us that this community loves us and is fighting alongside us. We are excited to begin serving food again this June and will be able to do so with the help of this grant and all the good folks in Louisville.”
“We have a long-term commitment to Kentucky’s culinary excellence, world-class hospitality and providing quality farm-to-table foods,” said Rodney Wedge, Chief Operating Officer at Ashbourne Farms. “It drives everything we do, including our commitment to giving back to the community we serve. In this time of need, we are dedicated to supporting and sustaining our restaurants and hospitality businesses, which are the backbone of our local and regional economies and the lifeblood of a vibrant community, helping to define what is unique, authentic, and important to us.”
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- including the culinary arts- to help add stability during the immediate crisis and to raise critical funds to help recover and rebuild for the future.
“I am so proud of our community right now,” said JP Davis, Fund for the Arts’ Senior Vice President. Not only have donors like Austin & Janie Musselman and the team at Ashbourne Farms shown great leadership and generosity- they have allowed us to expand our reach and support our local culinary artists who add flavor and zest to our community. I am so thankful to see the impacts we are making together.”
To make a gift to the Fund for the Arts Cultural Lou Recovery Campaign, visit: https://fundforthearts.org/culturallourecovery/
About Regrow by Ashbourne Farms
As part of the Ashbourne Farms’ dedication to preserving a strong, equitable culinary community, Regrow by Ashbourne Farms is a philanthropic relief program dedicated to seeding and regrowing Kentucky’s culinary landscape in the wake of COVID-19. Through a series of grants to qualifying recipients, Regrow seeks to ease point-in-time financial burdens placed on culinary institutions, provide basic needs to hospitality workers, and to help regrow a stronger and more equitable culinary community.
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.
