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| Design by James Hindle |
The Northampton Arts Council announced a COVID-19 Artist Relief Grant. All artists and cultural producers who have been financially impacted by COVID-19 and contribute to the cultural vibrancy of Northampton, Florence, and Leeds are eligible to apply here (deadline has passed.) The application is due May 15, 2020. The Northampton Arts Council usually administers the ArtsEZ grant round in the spring to support local arts and cultural projects that take place in Northampton, Florence, and Leeds. Since all public gatherings are on hold, and in light of the severe economic impact of COVID-19, the Board has voted to allocate $10,000 to fund artist relief.
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This decision was made in response to an artist input survey that we administered to local artists, in which seventy-four artists shared their concerns about loss of income due to cancelled exhibitions, concerts, performances, and more. We are grateful to the many artists who are using this time to create and support our local community online. The Board would like to award as much money in artist relief as possible; to that end, we invite members of the community to donate to our artist relief fund via GoFundMe.
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“Artists and cultural producers play a vital role in making Northampton a great place to live and work. We want to ensure that members of our artistic community have the support they need to make it through this crisis and create beauty on the other side of it,” said Brian Foote, Executive Director of the Northampton Arts Council. “I’m grateful to the Northampton Arts Council Board for making the decision to allocate this fund towards artist relief and to the community for an outpouring of support for local artists at this time.”
In addition to the new artist relief grant, The Northampton Arts Council is pleased to inform all grant recipients who were awarded funds during our ArtsEZ 2019 and our Local Cultural Council FY20 grant cycles that they have been automatically granted a 6 month extension. Grant recipients can complete the public component of their project at a later date or shift to an online format open to the public. All previously awarded grants have also been automatically and immediately converted into artist relief funds for any artists who need to use their grant to offset any living expenses incurred during this difficult time.
The Northampton Arts Council remains committed to supporting arts and culture in the City of Northampton. Our monthly board meetings will continue via Zoom, under the leadership of executive director, Brian Foote. All are also invited to join the Northampton Arts Council Facebook Group, which aims to create an online community for artists and cultural producers or check out our COVID-19 Resource page. The Board will continue to seek new ways to bring our community together, even remotely, through the arts.
