City of Boulder Office of Arts and Culture is offering Arts Administration Rehiring Grants and Artist Hiring Incentive Grants designed to respond to arts industry, COVID-related workforce impacts through targeted grants to arts and culture organizations. Funded through the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA), these grants are enhancements to rehire arts administration positions that were eliminated due to the pandemic, and to employ Boulder-area visual, performing, and literary artists to perform or create new work.
“Artists had a rough time through the pandemic” says City Councilperson Matt Benjamin. “These musicians, photographers, painters, authors… they are often gig economy workers who lost jobs and contracts due to the restrictions, venue closures, and recession. They are also a keystone sector of Boulder’s economy; the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) points out that our city has one of the highest concentrations of working, professional artists in the country. Yet, their industry is not bouncing back as quickly as the rest of the economy. This funding from the city’s ARPA grants will help fill in that gap and build back resilience among these small business owners.”
Arts Administration Rehiring Grants target support positions for arts businesses and nonprofits that were lost because of the pandemic. Applications are open through July 11. Ten grants of $87,900 each, divided over three years (2022-2024), are available. The Boulder Arts Commission will decide on the grants at their meeting on Wednesday, July 20 at 6 p.m. The meeting is open to the public.
Applications for the Artist Hiring Incentive Grants open July 1. These grants will incentivize local arts businesses and organizations to employ Boulder artists for performance and the creation of new works. Twelve grants of $3,000 each will be available and will be decided by a lottery system among all eligible applicants. More information will be available by July 1 at the City of Boulder Office of Arts and Culture webpage.
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