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

• Check out the new Creative Workers.net! This site now houses the Put Creative Workers to Work policy platform, talking points, coalition and endorsers list, and action steps.  

• We urge all arts and cultural organizations to complete the new COVID-19 Impact Survey for Organizations. This revised survey enables Americans for the Arts to continue tracking the human and financial impacts of COVID-19 on arts organizations as well as understand the challenges with recovery and re-opening. All types of arts and cultural organizations should participate. Please share the link with other organizations and businesses in your community.
• Americans for the Arts and Artist Relief, with support from the Ford Foundation, have launched a new COVID-19 Impact Survey for Artists. This revised survey enables the partners to gauge what is happening to our creative economy and address what is needed to provide relief and spur recovery. All types of creative workers should participate practicing artists, culture bearers, educators and teaching artists, creative entrepreneurs, and hobby artists). Please share this link with your artist networks.
• Current Research Findings (April 20, 2021): COVID-19’s Impact on The Arts—As the virus continues to rage in our communities, so does its devastation of the nation’s arts sector. Cancellations have taken place at virtually every arts organization across the country, 1 in 10 arts businesses doubt their ability to survive, and two-thirds of the nation’s artists are now unemployed. Americans for the Arts leads the three premier national studies tracking the human and financial impacts of the COVID-19 crisis on the arts.
• Book Randy Cohen, VP of Research to speak to your community’s arts leaders and decision makers about the pandemic’s impact and the vital role the arts can play in rebuilding your community. 

• OFFICE HOURS! Extended through 2021 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.   
• For our latest breaking news, legislative updates and technical assistance on COVID 19 Federal Resources, please visit www.ArtsActionFund.org/COVID19Resources
• 2021 COVID-19 Arts Resources Table – The table provides information on all of the new and expanded federal resources for artists and arts organizations as a result of the economic aid package enacted on December 27, 2020.

• Book Nina for your next local, state, or national webinar related to CARES Act funding for the arts and political activities. Free for members.  

• Sharing reopening plans: 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)  

• Apr. 21, 2:00p ET: Creative COVID Fundraising Strategies

Hosted by Maryland State Arts Council. It is a strange time to be raising money, and yet support for the arts is vital to the country’s long-term recovery from the pandemic. Strategies for raising major gifts and raising money online have changed – and will continue to change. Join facilitator Elaine Grogran Luttrull to think about what makes sense for your organization.

FIELD NEWS

• Jersey’s Best: How Maplewood kept its arts and culture vibe alive and thriving during the pandemic
• Duke Chronicle: ‘Sacrificing my artistic passion’: Art students wrestle with creativity in pandemic
• The Post and Courier: Arts in Charleston are on the rise as the pandemic shifts, but the threat is far from gone

MUSEUMS & GALLERIES

• Hyperallergic: Get Vaccinated Under the Blue Whale at the American Museum of Natural History

THEATRE, DANCE & MUSIC

• Charlotte Observer: Opera Carolina is the largest arts group to return to Charlotte stages amid COVID
• WTVM Auburn: Jay and Susie Gogue Performing Arts Center hosts first COVID-19 friendly event
• Fast Company: How opera singers are using low-latency ‘jam session’ tech to prepare for live performances

RELIEF FUNDS & GRANTS

• Artist Rescue Trust (A.R.T.) Grant For the Web: A.R.T. will provide $1,500 over three months to artists in need and amplify the stories, performances and creations they had hoped to share with the world before the pandemic limited their ability to do so.
• Akonadi Foundation So Love Can Win Fund: Grants of $10,000 for Oakland-based organizers, storytellers, culture bearers, and healers. The So Love Can Win Fund provides general support grants for Oakland groups, formations, and collectives who employ organizing, arts and culture, healing, and locally-focused journalism or narrative efforts to push towards a collective vision of freedom and racial justice. Round 1 Deadline May 1.
• California Small Business COVID-19 Relief Grant Program: The amount of grant funding ranges from $5,000 to $25,000. Waitlisted small businesses and/or nonprofits not selected in Rounds 1, 2, 3, 4 or 5 and new applicants that meet eligibility criteria. Sixth Round opens April 28. Deadline May 4.

GENERAL NEWS

• TIME: Will You Need a Booster Shot of the COVID-19 Vaccine?
• Fast Company: COVID-19 public health messages have been all over the place – but we can do better
• TIME: As J&J’s COVID-19 Vaccine Remains Shelved, Who Will Be Most Affected?

MENTAL HEALTH

• Hyperallergic: The Pandemic’s Impact on Museum Workers’ Mental Health

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

• Feb. 2 – June 29, various: Mass Cultural Council - Recover, Rebuild, Renew Series

The Recover, Rebuild, Renew Series will include some 42 webinars and countless hours of one-on-one consulting. This series will be delivered in wide ranging formats, including multi-session webinars, single-topic webinars and meetings, small group and panel conversations, and on-on-one coaching. These offerings are open to all cultural organizations across the Commonwealth, regardless of their funding relationship with Mass Cultural Council. This series is provided at no cost to participants. The series will include opportunities to connect with other cultural organizations who have addressed similar challenges and can speak to their own experiences in a non-evaluative, judgment-free zone. We’ve organized the series into several tracks. Cultural organizations can register for all tracks, all sessions in an individual track, or mix-and-match any individual session. All sessions will be recorded and will be made available for viewing afterwards.