LOCAL NEWS
More than 600 artistic organizations receive donation from ArtsFund
Apr 5, 2023, 8:23 AM | Updated: 11:48 am
More than 670 arts and culture organizations across Washington have been named as recipients of the Community Accelerator Grant and were awarded anywhere from $2,500 to $25,000 each. (Photo courtesy of Children of the Setting Sun Productions)
(Photo courtesy of Children of the Setting Sun Productions)
More than 670 arts and culture organizations across Washington have been named as recipients of the Community Accelerator Grant and were awarded anywhere from $2,500 to $25,000 each.
The grants are made possible by a $10 million donation from the Paul G. Allen Family Foundation and administered by ArtsFund.
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ArtsFund is a nonprofit that works to support the arts throughout King and Pierce counties. Founded in 1969, ArtsFund has distributed more than $100 million in grants to more than 650 large and small arts groups.
In 2022, ArtsFund awarded more than $2.1 million in grants to arts and cultural nonprofits, giving “crucial funding” for arts groups to continue their craft.
The recipients were made public on Tuesday, half a year after ArtsFund announced it was creating an advisory panel to distribute the grants to arts, cultural and tribal groups.
The Community Accelerator Grants focused on communities with less access to mainstream funding, including organizations centered on BIPOC, LGBTQ+, rural communities, and people with disabilities. But, every eligible organization that applied for a grant received something. In all, 671 organizations received funding, and ArtsFund says the average grant size is $14,909.
ArtsFund CEO and President Michael Greer expressed gratitude to the Paul G. Allen Family Foundation for funding the program.
“Our hope is that their philanthropy inspires others to continue to invest in this sector and see how possible it is to make an investment that is meaningful, equitable, and expeditious,” Greer said.
The organization says the grant funds are unrestricted and may be used any way each organization determines. In their applications, recipients most often said they would use the funds to pay for salaries and labor, programming, rent, mortgage, and facility upgrades.
A full list of grant recipients can be found here.
Editor’s Note: A previous version of this article stated ‘Part of the Allen Foundation gift is being paid for by a billion-dollar auction of the late Microsoft co-founder’s impressive art collection.’ This is incorrect. The Foundation’s funding of the Grants is not related to the auction. We regret the error.
