Sixty-three arts organizations in the state have received grants from the Alabama State Arts Council to cover their operating costs as they resume hosting exhibitions and in-person performances amid the pandemic of COVID-19.

In June, the Alabama State Council on the Arts announced its Alabama Arts Recovery Program, a grant program designed to provide arts organizations in the state with grants of $ 10,000, $ 15,000, $ 20,000 and 25,000. $ in financial support as they attempt to return to a semblance. normalcy after facing mandatory closings, reduced capacity, and far fewer in-person events in 2020.

On September 14, the council announced the recipients of these recovery program grants. The council has awarded a total of $ 814,100 to organizations in more than 25 cities across the state.

Here are the organizations that received the awards, ranked by grant amount:

$ 5,000:

Alabama Woodturners Association, Birmingham

Birmingham Boys Choir Foundation, Birmingham

Community Actors Studio Theater, Anniston

Huntsville Master Chorale, Huntsville

Jemison Carnegie Foundation, Talladega

MEOW Cares, Inc., Montgomery

Pride of Atmore, Atmore

Self Express Productions, Winfield

All the backstage theater, Guntersville

Gadsden Theater, Gadsden

Walker County Arts Alliance, Jasper

$ 6,600

Shelby County Arts Council, Columbiana

$ 7,500

Vinegar, Birmingham

$ 10,000

Azalea City Center for the Arts, Mobile

Carnegie Visual Arts Center, Decatur

CEPA Management Corp, Pell City

East Coast Art Association, Fairhope

Huntsville Community Choir Association, Huntsville

King’s Canvas Gallery and Studio, Montgomery

Birmingham Opera House, Birmingham

Patti Rutland Jazz DBA Alabama Dance Works, Dothan

Southeast Alabama Community Theater, Dothan

Steel City Men’s Choir, Birmingham

The Arts Association of Eastern Alabama, Opelika

Kelly Fitzpatrick Memorial Gallery, Wetumpka

Huntsville Theater, Huntsville

Troy-Pike Cultural Center of the Arts, Troy

Wetumpka depot players, Wetumpka

Winston County Arts Council, Arley

$ 15,000

Alabama Jazz Hall of Fame, Birmingham

Association of Alabama Orchestras, Huntsville

Andalusia Ballet Association, Andalusia

Community Ballet Association, Huntsville

Dance levels, Pinson

Dauphin Island Heritage and Arts Council, Dauphin Island

DRUM The Program, Montevallo

Encore Opera Theater, Toney

Kentuck Museum Association, Northport

Klein Arts & Culture, Harpersville

Merrimack Hall Performing Arts Center, Huntsville

Opera Mobile, Mobile

Princess Theater Center for the Performing Arts, Decatur

Actor’s Charity Theater, Tuscaloosa

Tri-State Community Orchestra, Dothan

Tuscaloosa Children’s Theater, Tuscaloosa

Tuskegee Repertory Theater, Tuskegee

Ursula Smith Dance, Birmingham

$ 20,000

Alabama Blues Project, Tuscaloosa

Alabama Contemporary Art Center, Mobile

Bib & Tucker Sew-Op, Birmingham

Black Belt Treasures, Camden

Desert Island Supply Co., Birmingham

Fantasy Playhouse Children’s Theater, Huntsville

Huntsville Community Drumline, Huntsville

Mobile Arts Council, Mobile

Sidewalk Film Center & Cinema, Birmingham

Space One Eleven, Birmingham

Studio by the slopes, Irondale

Tennessee Valley Art Association, Tuscumbia

Tuscaloosa Symphony Association, Tuscaloosa

Walnut Gallery, Gadsden

Wiregrass Blues Society, Dothan

The Alabama Arts Recovery Program is funded by federal dollars from the US bailout distributed by the National Endowment for the Arts. The NEA received $ 135 million under the American Rescue Plan Act. In April, the NEA announced that it would direct 40% of those funds to 62 state, jurisdictional and regional arts organizations. The National Endowment for the Arts recommended that the Alabama State Council on the Arts receive an award of $ 814,100 during the first distribution of federal stimulus funds.

Funding for the Alabama Arts Recovery Program will begin October 1, and the organizations that received the awards must use the money by September 30, 2022. The Alabama State Council on the Arts has announced that it would distribute the grants in two installments: one in October, and a second after the completion of a progress report.

In order to qualify for the Alabama Arts Recovery Program, applicants had to be from 501 (c) 3 organizations located in Alabama, have an artistic orientation, and be able to list operating expenses that were split into five categories: personnel costs, installation costs, health supplies, safety, marketing / promotion, technology and equipment. Applicants were also required to provide a mission statement, operating budgets and the demographics of staff and employees.

In the September 14 press release, the State Council named five specific types of expenses that the Alabama Arts Recovery Program will support:

• Full-time and part-time salaries; contractual staff / artist fees related to general operations
• Installation costs
• Health safety supplies for staff and the public
• Promotion and marketing of artistic organizations reopening to the public
• Technology and equipment that support arts organizations
  

“Throughout the pandemic, the Council has supported Alabama’s arts and culture sector through our grants. As arts organizations statewide safely reopen and resume operations in person, we continue to support recovery through the Alabama Arts Recovery Program, ”said Dr. Elliot Knight, Director executive of the Alabama State Council on the Arts in the same release. “These federal funds will support general operating and personnel costs, allowing organizations to continue to provide artistic opportunities and creative experiences to our citizens and communities.”