1 December 9 Ohio Arts Organizations Receive COVID-19 Relief Grants from Arts Midwest Totaling $260K December 1, 2020 For Organizations, For the Public, News, Organizations Arts Midwest, ArtSpace, Athens, Black Swamp Arts Festival, Bowling Green, Chillicothe, Columbus, coronavirus, COVID-19, grants, Homerville, Lima, Majestic Theatre, Maroon Arts Group, Nelsonville, OAC, Ohio Arts Council, ORMACO, Paper Circle, Passion Works Studio, Piqua, Piqua Arts Council, Regional Arts Resilience Fund, Youngstown, Youngstown Playhouse 0 Sixty-one Midwestern arts and culture organizations, including nine based in Ohio, have received COVID-19 relief grants from Ohio’s regional arts organization, Arts Midwest, through the second phase of the United States Regional Arts Resilience Fund. Selected organizations will each receive a grant ranging from $10,000 - $50,000. Recipients may direct Resilience Fund grants to their most pressing needs and opportunities, from response activities to investments that build resiliency and sustainability. The Resilience Fund’s goal is to support historically under-resourced arts and culture organizations across the United States as they work to weather the COVID-19 pandemic. In line with these priorities, 32 of the funded organizations are based in rural areas, 25 are led by and serving people of color, and five are led by and serving Native and Indigenous communities. In November, Arts Midwest announced that 30 mid-to-large-sized organizations, including four in Ohio, received a total of $1.5 million in aid during a first wave of funding. Today’s second round of award announcements was made possible by an anonymous donor who provided a matching investment of $1.5 million to support smaller organizations with annual budgets between $50,000 - $249,000. A list of Ohio recipients in round two of the Resilience Fund grants and their award amounts follows: Passion Works Studio (Athens) - $50,000 Black Swamp Arts Festival (Bowling Green) - $35,000 Majestic Theatre (Chillicothe) - $15,000 Maroon Arts Group (Columbus) - $15,000 Ohio Regional Music Arts and Cultural Outreach (Homerville) - $20,000 ArtSpace Lima (Lima) - $40,000 Paper Circle (Nelsonville) - $10,000 Piqua Arts Council (Piqua) - $25,000 The Youngstown Playhouse (Youngstown) - $50,000 Ohio Arts Council Executive Director Donna S. Collins thanked Arts Midwest for their leadership in providing much-needed aid to more Midwestern arts organizations through this second round of funding. “We are grateful to Arts Midwest and the anonymous donor who expanded the Resilience Fund to reach organizations that are the binding threads in the fabric of their communities,” she said. “The arts in Ohio are strengthened through the work of arts and cultural organizations of all sizes. We applaud the tenacity and creativity championed by arts leaders throughout the state and thank them for their hard work and dedication in such trying times.” “As the pandemic continues to wreak havoc across the nation, smaller arts and culture organizations are deeply hurting,” said Torrie Allen, president and CEO of Arts Midwest. “We are grateful to the Mellon Foundation and our anonymous funder for investing in the creative core of the Midwest. We are hopeful that these funds will help organizations across our region weather the storm so that they can keep serving their communities for years to come.” For more information on all the United States Regional Arts Resilience Fund recipients, visit the Arts Midwest website. ABOUT ARTS MIDWEST Arts Midwest believes that creativity has the power to inspire and unite humanity. Based in Minneapolis, Arts Midwest grows, gathers, and invests in creative organizations and communities throughout the nine-state region of Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota, and Wisconsin. One of six nonprofit United States regional arts organizations, Arts Midwest’s history spans more than 30 years. For more information, visit artsmidwest.org. ABOUT UNITED STATES REGIONAL ARTS ORGANIZATIONS Arts Midwest, Mid-America Arts Alliance, Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation, New England Foundation for the Arts, South Arts, and Western States Arts Federation occupy a unique niche in the U.S. cultural ecosystem. They partner with the National Endowment for the Arts, the National Endowment for the Humanities, state arts agencies, and others to develop and deliver programs, services, and products that support and advance the arts. Learn more at usregionalarts.org. ABOUT THE ANDREW W. MELLON FOUNDATION Founded in 1969, the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the largest national supporter of the arts and humanities, endeavors to strengthen, promote, and, where necessary, defend the contributions of the humanities and the arts to human flourishing and to the well-being of diverse and democratic societies by supporting exemplary institutions of higher education and culture as they renew and provide access to an invaluable heritage of ambitious, path-breaking work. Additional information is available at mellon.org. ABOUT THE OHIO ARTS COUNCIL The Ohio Arts Council is a state agency that funds and supports quality arts experiences to strengthen Ohio communities culturally, educationally, and economically. Connect with the OAC on Facebook, follow us on Twitter, or visit our website at oac.ohio.gov. ### Article by Amanda Etchison, Communications Strategist Featured image: Athens, Ohio's Passion Works Studio is one of nine Ohio arts and culture organizations selected to receive COVID-19 relief grants from regional arts organization Arts Midwest through the second phase of the United States Regional Arts Resilience Fund. Photo courtesy of Passion Works Studio. Comments are closed.