Arts + Creative Industries Update - In the time of COVID-19 | View in browser

CREATIVE WASHTENAW Aid - Still Collecting. Still Giving

The recent spike in COVID-19 cases delays reopening arts & cultural venues!

If you are an artist, creative worker, organization or business in need of aid, please apply. Aid funds are available.

If you are in a position to give, please do because there is need! It may be months before you are to able to purchase a ticket to a local venue to see a live performance by your favorite, theater company, music ensemble, dancer troupe or sit back to enjoy fresh popcorn and enjoy an independent film.

Aug 3 deadline approaching for Region 9 Minigrants

$4,000 Arts & Cultural Project Minigrants

Arts & Cultural Projects Minigrants provide special opportunities to address local arts and cultural needs. These projects connect communities with the world by exploring, sharing and supporting creative expression. By doing so, they promote the health and well-being of communities and citizens throughout Michigan. MCACA believes that sharing creative experiences and expressing creativity build powerful connections between people, in our communities, in the world around us and in ourselves.

$1,500 Professional & Organizational Development Minigrants

Professional & Organizational Development minigrants assist non-profit arts and cultural organizations, artists, cultural specialists, administrators and educators with opportunities that specifically improve their management and/or bring the individual or the organization to another level artistically. In addition, the Minigrant POD program gives Michigan and individual Michigan arts and cultural organizations, artists, cultural specialists, administrators and educators a presence at national conferences and workshops.

Call for Minigrant Reviewers
Serve on Region 9 Minigrant Panel! 

The Arts Alliance convenes an independent minigrant review panel of artists, creative workers, consumers and residents residents representing from the Region 9 counties. 

Serving as a minigrant reviewer is a fabulous way to learn about grant writing and reviewing from the funder’s perspective. Past reviewers have reported that serving on a panel improved their grant writing and helped them learn about the arts and cultural programs and projects in their regions.

Reviewers are charged with reviewing all submitted grant applications according to the program guidelines and criteria. The reviewers meet as a panel to discuss the applications before making funding recommendations. The Michigan Council for Arts and Cultural Affairs Council makes the final funding decisions. .

Reviewers must be able to attend one of two 90-minute Zoom training sessions scheduled for July 22 at 4:30 p.m. and July 28 at 4 p.m.

Join us for CWHH - the easiest hour of the month!

Creative Washtenaw Happy Hour #9
is fine in the Summertime

Pour yourself a cool one and live a little easy.
CWHH always delights with its guest list and conversation.

Wednesday, July 29, 2020
4:30 - 6:00 p.m.

Call in:  312-626-6799 | Meeting ID: 873 0614 0448 | Password: 457066

Advocacy & Action

National Council on Nonprofit

Time to Tell Congress: Include Urgent Nonprofit Policy Priorities in COVID-19 Legislation. Read here! They were still accepting signatures sign though it says it closed on July 10.

US Mayors adopt Resolution on the 88th Annual Meeting

Importance of Local Arts Agencies During a Crisis at its 88th Annual Meeting. Read here!

Join the Arts Action Fund

It's FREE and takes just a minute. Add your name and be counted so Congress knows their are millions of arts and creative workers, educators, businesses and citizens who insist that arts and creativity are critical to our country. Join here for updates and calls to action.

COVID-19 Arts + Creative Industries Survey Results

Americans for the Arts

COVID-19’s Impact Surveys on the arts + creative sector:

Arts & Creative Organizations/Businesses Dashboard

The Arts: Research & Tracking weekly update

Arts & Creative Workers Dashboard

The COVID-19 Audience Outlook Monitor Survey

A worldwide tracking study of audience attitudes about attendance at arts and cultural programs during and after the COVID-19 Crisis, the Audience Outlook Monitor brings timely and essential data to the sector’s decision-making about when and how to resume programming.

The first results are now available for Southeast Michigan and other regions represent the first phase of a multi-phase study that will track how audiences feel about returning to events in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Southeast Michigan audience survey highlights:

  • 75% of respondents would be comfortable walking around a museum or gallery with social distancing and other health safety measures
  • 24% of respondents would be comfortable attending a performance venue seating 1000 or more people with social distancing and other health safety measures
  • 19% of respondents are ready to return to cultural events as soon as it is legally allowed
  • 21% of respondents are waiting for the rate of new infections to drop to near zero
  • 47% of respondents are waiting for broad availability of testing and treatment, vaccination, or immunity
  • 62% of respondents trust the organization that sent them the survey to determine when it is safe for them to resume attending

Grants & Relief Funds Available

See The Arts Alliance's COVID-19 Aid, Assistance & Resources page for more opportunities.

Ann Arbor Area Community Foundation Grants

Community Investment 2020 Rolling Grant Program is seeking opportunities to invest funds in community-based projects that specifically support 1) Relief and recovery efforts related to COVID-19 and/or 2) Programs that work to bring equity/resources to marginalized communities. We are seeking opportunities that will meet an emerging need in the community and/or address capacity issues at the agency, collaborative, or sector levels.

The Cultural Economic Development Rolling Grant Program is seeking opportunities to invest funds in new or existing programs that are serving communities through arts and culture leading to economic recovery and growth by focusing on three areas: Individual artists, COVID-19 Recovery, and Racial Equity.

Michigan Humanities Grants

Fall 2020 Humanities Grant draft proposals are currently being accepted with a final application deadline of August 27. Visit the Humanities Grant website for additional information.

Grants & Relief Funds Announced

Wild Swan Theater

MI H.O.P.E. Grants Announced

Wild Swan Theater received $5,000 and Washtenaw County Historical Society/Argus Museum $2,500 of emergency CARES Act funding distributed by  Michigan Humanities. The $661,085 in Michigan Humanities Organizations Pandemic Emergency Grants (MI H.O.P.E.) to 116 Michigan cultural and community organizations impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic with an with an emphasis on maintaining personnel, in 53 counties across Michigan.

NEA Announces CAREs Act Emergency Grants

We are glad to see that Ann Arbor Film Festival and UMS are on the list of 23 Michigan organizations to each receive $50,000 CAREs Act Emergency grants from the National Endowment for the Arts.

Congress invested a mere $75 million of the CAREs Act in the arts + creative industries, a sector that generates 4.5% of GDP. Read article

The trickle down to Michigan? Between direct grants from the NEA and the Michigan Council for Arts and Cultural Affairs allocation: $1,652,400 or 2.2%. There are 200 nonprofit arts + cultural organizations in Washtenaw County and 21 of them received a total of $143,500. 

Need-to-Know Info About $$$, Taxes & More

Congress Passes Partial UI Fix for Self-Insured Nonprofits

The U.S.Senate and House unanimously passed legislation clarifying that self-insured nonprofits do not have to pay 100 percent of their unemployment bill upfront and wait for repayment from the state. The Protecting Nonprofits from Catastrophic Cash Flow Strain Act (S.4209) fixes the requiring nonprofits to fully reimburse states for the costs of their COVID-19 related unemployment insurance (UI) claims and then seek to be repaid half of the money they just paid. Once the President signs the bill into law, which is expected, reimbursing nonprofits will be charged no more than 50 percent for theirCOVID-19 related UI claims due to a provision in the CARES Act.

Paycheck Protection Program Extended Through August 8.
More than $130 Billion is still available for loans.

More than $130 Billion is still available for loans.

SBA still accepting Emergency Injury Disaster Loan applications for small businesses and nonprofits.

Ends $1,000 per employee EIDL Advance program after exhausting $20 billion in emergency funding provided to it by Congress, the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) announced Saturday, July 11.  The EIDL program loans offer a 3.75% interest rate for small businesses and 2.75% for not-for-profit organizations, a 30-year maturity, and an automatic deferment of one year before monthly payments begin. Businesses can apply for EIDL loans on the SBA disaster assistance page.

Find more on The Arts Alliance's COVID-19 Resource Pages

MI Legislation + 411 for Workers & Businesses
Federal Legislation + 411 for Workers & Businesses

Local & State Media Sources

Promote your programs and events to 50,000 through U-M

Send info to Sydney Hawkins Arts & Culture Communications Manager | University of Michigan | arts.umich.edu | 734.615.8765

They are happy to support messaging from other arts organizations and promote anything going on via central U-M Marcom channels. They have an events list that goes out to 50k+ staff and faculty each week!

WEMU 89.1 FM

Local news coverage plus local arts + creative coverage including Art & Soul with Lisa Barry, Cinema Chat with Russ Collins of the Michigan Theater, creative:impact with Deb Polich and On the Ground Ypsi with Concentrate.

Bridge Magazine

Michigan's nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization.

Concentrate

Concentrate Magazine tells the narrative of Washtenaw County’s narrative people and businesses, new development, cool places to live, and the best places to work and play. The website and weekly online magazine are published Wednesdays.

The Arts Alliance Resources

For the fastest updates and breaking news!

- Follow The Arts Alliance on Facebook
- Follow The Arts Alliance on Twitter

The Arts Alliance’s COVID-19 Resources - Aid, assistance and grants for artists, creatives and organizations

Contact us anytime at info@a3arts.org or 734-213-2733.

The Arts Alliance. Arts + Creative Industries = Impact

The Arts Alliance is the arts + creative industry authority in Washtenaw County. A regional agency, its mission is to advocate for and support Creative Washtenaw and ensure that the greater Ann Arbor, Michigan, region remains a great place to create, live, work, learn, play and visit.

The intrinsic and aesthetic values of the arts and creativity are determining factors of success for the members of The Arts Alliance: Creative people from students to industry experts leading the sector locally, nationally and internationally. They are professionals and amateurs who have creative practices, own creative businesses, hold creative jobs in profit, nonprofit and government entities; and offer creative products, services and programs throughout the Washtenaw community.

The Arts Alliance serves Ann Arbor, Chelsea, Dexter, Manchester, Milan, Saline, Whitmore Lake and Ypsilanti plus the 21 townships in the county.

It is committed to, forever evolving and learning about diversity, equity and inclusion.This includes leaning in to listen and act on how the communities it serves define the intrinsic and aesthetic qualities of art and creativity be it by the cultural expert, the credentialed scholar, the journeyed or self-taught master and/or the astute consumer of the form.

The Arts Alliance is supported by its members, the National Endowment for the Arts and the Michigan Council for Arts and Cultural Affairs.

For more information, please go to a3arts.org or contact info@a3arts.org or 734-213-2733.