Good Afternoon,

Here is the latest Coronavirus (COVID-19) news update.

Best,

Marissa Shadburn

Field Education Coordinator

Americans for the Arts

202.371.2830 x2027

Pronouns: she/her/hers

From: Jerelle Jenkins <jejenkins@artsusa.org>
Sent: Tuesday, September 22, 2020 2:14 PM

Greetings,

Here’s the latest Coronavirus (COVID-19) news…

A reminder that we are circulating this news digest weekly on Tuesday. We are continuing to update the Resource Center on a regular basis. If you see interesting or helpful items or have a resource to share, please email me at jejenkins@artsusa.org.

We invite you to share this news roundup with your networks and colleagues.

AFTA NEWS/UPDATES

• #artcreateshope. Tell us how the arts create hope for you! Share your story on social media of the arts creating hope in your life. Don't forget to tag @americans4arts and include #ArtsCreateHope in your posts. Need a little inspiration? Use our sample language and download images to get your social post started.
• To Rebuild and Reimagine the United States Post-Pandemic, We Must Put Creative Workers to Work,” a policy proposal developed with over 100 partners throughout the creative community to Put Creative Workers to Work in the national recovery—activating the creative economy and drawing upon the creative energies of the country’s 5.1 million creative workers to energize Americans, reimagine how communities can thrive, and improve the lives of all. Click here to view the full proposal, and follow the endorsement link at the top to submit your endorsement. You can sign on as either an individual or as an authorized representative for an organization.

• OFFICE HOURS! Extended through the end of this year on Fridays (excluding holidays) from 11:00a to 12:00p EDT. Join Nina Ozlu Tunceli with the Americans for the Arts Action Fund to get answers to your most pressing questions about navigating the CARES Act relief programs. Check the link for any additional dates or occasional blackout dates.  
• CARES Act Table of Federal Arts Funding Opportunities – This helpful table breaks down the CARES Act so you can determine which funding opportunities apply to you, whether you represent a nonprofit organization, a governmental agency, a commercial arts company, a self-employed gig worker, or just a taxpayer. The table is regularly updated and links to helpful FAQs are listed on the last page.
• Book Nina for your next local, state, or national webinar related to CARES Act funding for the arts and/or ArtsVote 2020 legislative and political activities. Free for members.
• Please complete our revised COVID-19 survey for organizations. It still collects the critical up-to-date estimates that we need for our collective advocacy efforts. However, we’ve removed less relevant questions and added short sections on re-opening plans and the impact of the racial equity movement. You can keep up with the survey results by visiting the project dashboard as well as by downloading a handy 1-page summary of all our COVID-19 impact research. Link to Revised Survey: https://surveys.americansforthearts.org/s3/CoronavirusImpactSurvey

• Sample plans for reopening: AFTA is collecting and sharing reopening plans. Some communities are closer than others to restarting businesses and allowing the public back into museums and cultural sites. As we receive examples of plans to reopen (please send them to services@artsusa.org), we will be sharing them on the resource center. 

FIELD PROGRAMMING

(We will feature new offerings here – free to low-cost opportunities. Previous listings have been moved down to below the signature)

• Sep. 22, 2:00p ET: The Art of Mass Gatherings: Managing Modifications, Virtualizations, and Expectations

The performing arts sector is encountering an unprecedented challenge for hosting in-person events safely during this global pandemic, climate crises, and recession. Fortunately, these calamities offer the opportunity for artists and presenters to employ their creativity and ingenuity to develop new types of shared experiences. These free PAR webinar sessions will begin with a framework to help guide decision makers to either modify or virtualize their gatherings using case studies from Denver’s 5 Points Jazz Festival (May 2020) and Alabama’s Women in Jazz Festival (September 2020). Webinars will explore the experiences and hard-won wisdom related to re-opening venues, making audiences feel safe, and exploring new operational protocols for venues and artists.

• Sep. 23 - Nov. 18, Various: The Economic Future of the Coachella Valley

It will take several years, but the Coachella Valley will bounce back from the devastating effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. When it does, the local economy with be healthier, more diverse, and better educated and prepared to weather the uncertainties of the future. How will we get there? To answer to this complicated question, Palm Springs Life partnered with the Coachella Valley Economic Partnership and the law firm Slovak Baron Empey Murphy & Pinkney to produce the webinar series The Economic Future of the Coachella Valley, featuring leaders from cross-section of the region’s most critical industries.

• Sep. 29, 2:00p ET: Disaster Response for Performing Arts Organizations

Emergency response can be a daunting prospect for performing arts organizations. This webinar will lay out the basic tenets of responding to an emergency including support organizations, working with vendors, and helpful resources for organization and planning. There will also be a brief introduction to the Incident Command System so that performing arts centers can work more seamlessly with their local first responders.

• Oct. 6, 2:00p ET: COVID-19: Beyond Quick Wins - Safeguarding Your Financial Future

COVID-19 has negatively affected the financials of many communities. These same communities have already implemented many quick wins such as eliminating travel and discretionary spend, cutting personnel costs, and pausing capital expenditures. Looking to the future, how can these same communities maximize CARES Act funding while continuing to address potential declining revenues and ongoing increased expenses? Join us to learn from your peers and Crowe’s local government consulting practice leaders to discuss strategies and tools that can help you continue to navigate your path forward.

FIELD NEWS

• USA TODAY: COVID crisis: We need all hands on deck to save America's arts and culture economy
• Associations Now: 5 ways to make your virtual event more accessible

• Columbus Dispatch: Continued COVID pandemic threatens future of central Ohio arts groups
• Georgetowner: Pandemic Forces Performing Arts Leaders to Rethink
• New Jersey Stage: The Return of Art All Day
• Current: Center for Performing Arts offers a new online series
• MUSEUMS/GALLERIES

• Hyperallergic: 37% of Major Galleries Cut Staff During the Pandemic
• American Alliance of Museums: Open Source Solidarity: Starting a Mutual Aid Fund at Your Museum
• KFoxTV: NMSU Reopens Art Museum After More Than Five Months
• American Alliance of Museums: Mutual Aid In a Time of Crisis

• THEATRE & DANCE

• Business Insider: Fauci: We won't be able to sit in theaters without masks until a year after an effective coronavirus vaccine is created
• Broadway World: Up on the Marquee: THE MUSIC MAN prepares for Broadway's Return at the Winter Garden Theater
• ABC 7: Coronavirus takes a toll on performing arts; Ballet Arkansas expects $400,000 in losses
• Tennessean: Hendersonville Performing Arts Company keeps the show going, despite pandemic
• Mississippi State University: Theatre MSU adapts season to include COVID-19 safety measures
• Tuscon.com: Tucson’s The Rogue Theatre trailblazes an answer to live shows amid COVID-19
• KXAN.com: How Austin's iconic Paramount Theatre survived the COVID-19 pandemic
• Theatre Story Archive, an oral history project, is currently collecting Quarantine Stories from actors, stage hands and audiences. The goal of the project is to capture the feelings, experiences, and responses to the challenge of COVID-19 in our individual and shared lives. Theatre communities create together in shared spaces and with shared energy. Artists have an impulse to create and share stories with others. We have had to wrestle with creating art in new ways or not being able to create art. Social media can’t capture the depth of our stories. Let’s share the valuable connections we have and our impulse to create by capturing the setting, the feelings, the journey that each of us has gone through and are still going through. We are storytellers, often of the stories of other characters, however, there is power in telling of own stories and connect through the diversity of our lived experiences.

• RELIEF FUNDS

• Arts Administrators of Color Arts Leaders of Color Emergency Fund: $200 grants. Supports BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and people of color) artists and arts administrators impacted by COVID-19. Application ongoing.
• Creators of Culture Grant: Grants are expected to range from $3,000 to $5,000 each. Grants are focused on artists and arts venues in southeastern Michigan. Deadline: September 30, after that funding decisions will be made in the order that applications are received until all funding has been allocated.
• Sipp Culture Artist Relief Fund: Provides financial resources to independent artists and under-resourced tiny arts organizations as emergency relief during the COVID-19 pandemic. Deadline: October 1
• Foundation for Contemporary Arts Emergency Grants: COVID-19 Fund: $1,500 grants. Supports artists who have had performances or exhibitions canceled or postponed due to COVID-19. Open to individual artists based in the U.S. Deadline: December 1

GENERAL NEWS

• TIME: The Great Vaccine Race: Inside the Unprecedented Scramble to Immunize the World Against COVID-19
• Inc: 6 Ways to Come Back From the Pandemic With a Stronger Team
• Center for Rural Affairs: Stories of Rural Resiliency: Community Newspapers Persevere During Pandemic, Other Challenges
• The New Yorker: How Can We Pay For Creativity in the Digital Age?
• TIME: 'How Am I Going to Make It?' Months of Eviction Uncertainty Are Taking a Toll on Millions of Families
• Nonprofit Quarterly: A Quick Hands-On Lesson in Teleworking Laws in the Age of COVID-19

EQUITY/MENTAL HEALTH

• HuffPost: 10 Sneaky Ways Your Coronavirus Anxiety is Coming Out
• Quartz: The disproportionate mental health effects of Covid-19 on Black and Latino populations

• Deseret News: COVID-19 got you down? Technology can help manage your mental health
• Chapelboro.com: Duke Experts share advice on Preserving Mental Health Amid COVID-19
• FastCompany: As wealthy parents turn to ‘pandemic pods,’ startups aim to make them equitable

ON THE LIGHTER SIDE

• NPR: If You Have To Wear A Mask, It Might As Well Be A Masterpiece
• The Arts Fuse: Shelter in Place Attractions: September 20 through October 6 -- What Will Light Your Home Fires
• Good News Network: Fires Have Helped These Endangered Woodpeckers Make a Comeback, and It's a Reminder of Nature's Resiliency

Thanks for reading. We hope you find this news digest to be a helpful tool to navigate this very complex situation, and welcome feedback at services@artsusa.org. If you were forwarded this and want to sign up for the Local Arts Network listserv to receive it directly, click here.

____________________

Jerelle Jenkins

Local Arts Services Coordinator

Americans for the Arts

FIELD PROGRAMMING

• Sept. 16 12:00p ET: Legal Issues of Livestreaming

Because of COVID-19, many performing arts organizations are considering livestreaming events or presenting prerecorded performances online, but there are many legal issues for presenters and artists to consider before moving into this new realm of arts programming. On Wednesday, September 16 from 12-1 pm, Georgia Lawyers for the Arts and Georgia Council for the Arts are presenting a webinar on the Legal Issues of Livestreaming. This session will present a broad overview of the issues performing arts organizations and artists should consider before livestreaming or presenting taped events. Participants may ask questions of the presenter.

• Sept. 16 - Oct. 21, Wednesdays 2:30p - 3:45p ET: Starting SmART: Strategies for Dealing with the Money Side of Your Creativity

Starting SmART: Strategies for Dealing with the Money Side of Your Creativity is a six-week process to jumpstart excellent financial habits for your creative career. Each session will address a common financial question faced by creative entrepreneurs through an action-oriented answer. Participants will receive materials and personalized answers to their questions throughout. All sessions will be recorded, so participants can catch up if they miss a session.

• Oct. 7, 2:00p ET: Fast Forward to Digital: Government Billing and Payment Trends by Generations

Billing and payment preferences for citizens are evolving, a trend that was true before COVID and that has been accelerated by the pandemic. Now, with the push to move services online, local officials must understand how preferences and security concerns differ across generations, what new payment methods are emerging and how to serve all citizens within the county. This webinar, developed in partnership with ACI Worldwide and the National Association of County Collectors, Treasurers, and Finance Officers, will address these issues and share consumer research findings on each topic.

ON DEMAND - 2020 Awakening: Reimagining Art for the New Normal Hosted by Artist Relief, members of For Freedoms and the Wide Awakes joined to discuss the art community's role in the age of COVID and the possibilities ahead. In this current moment and new era, how can art serve efforts toward equality, justice, and healing?