Arts Midwest

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) was signed into law by President Obama on February 17, 2009. It is an unprecedented effort to jumpstart our economy, create or save millions of jobs, and put a down payment on addressing long-neglected challenges so our country can thrive in the 21st century. The Act includes measures to modernize our nation’s infrastructure, enhance energy independence, expand educational opportunities, preserve and improve affordable health care, provide tax relief, and protect those in greatest need.

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act provided $50 million to the National Endowment for the Arts for distribution in direct grants to fund arts projects and activities which preserve jobs in the nonprofit arts sector threatened by declines in philanthropic and other support during the current economic downturn. Sixty percent of the funds, or $30 million, are being competitively awarded by the NEA to nonprofit organizations throughout the country that meet the eligibility criteria established for this program.

Forty percent of the funds, or $19.8 million in one-time grants, have been distributed to the state arts agencies (including all nine states in the Midwest region) and regional arts organizations to support the arts sector of the economy. The NEA’s state and regional partners are investing their ARRA funds in projects that assist arts organizations in retaining critical staff as well as artists and other contractual personnel. These critical staff will enhance the ability of arts organizations to realize their artistic and public service goals.

Arts Midwest received $542,000 from the NEA for arts job preservation in the Midwest. Arts Midwest’s funds will be added to the funding pool to be disbursed by each of our nine state arts agencies using the granting process they develop. Once each state arts agency’s panel has made its funding recommendations, Arts Midwest will work with each state arts agency’s staff to determine which applications will be supported by Arts Midwest’s ARRA funds. Grants to those organizations will be issued directly by Arts Midwest.

View of list of Arts Midwest’s ARRA Grantees.

Questions? For more information on Arts Midwest’s American Recovery and Reinvestment Act grants, please contact Adam Perry, Senior Program Director, at 612.238.8013 or adam@artsmidwest.org.