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COVID-19 (Coronavirus) and Arts Funding: Update and action items

Submitted by admin on March 11, 2020

Grantmakers in the Arts is sharing resources and guidance on COVID-19 (coronavirus disease) and encouraging grantmakers to support their grantees by treating their funding flexibly in these difficult and rapidly shifting circumstances.

The arts and culture sectors are seeing the negative impacts from strategies of social distancing and limiting travel. Organizations are seeing declines in ticket revenue, or being pushed to cancel performances or postpone events. Artists may have their gigs and performances cancelled, or need to turn down opportunities that require travel and large crowds. Artists and organizations are also feeling the impact of and working to address increases of racism and prejudice toward Asian communities.

Grantmakers throughout the field are strategizing how best to support their cultural communities. Grantmakers cannot know how this crisis will impact their resources in the future. But we do know what grants we have in the field now. Our central advice is to support grantees’ treating those resources flexibly. This recommendation is also a central piece of our ongoing Capitalization work as well as Rebecca Thomas’ article in the winter 2020 GIA Reader, Are Cultural Organizations Recession-Ready?

GIA would like to share a link to our colleagues CERF+, and to NCAPER: National Coalition for Arts’ Preparedness & Emergency Response and its resources as well as to NCAPER Director Jan Newcomb at jnewcomb@ncaper.org.

While the spread and impact of the virus here in the U.S. is not yet known, you should have a plan in the event that, in the interest of public health, your organization needs to delay or cancel events or temporarily close. As The New York Times reported, World Health Organization officials said on March 11, 2020, “the spread of the coronavirus across more than 100 countries now qualifies as a global pandemic.”

We cannot prevent or respond to crises without the embrace of the full humanity of all peoples. GIA believes that the valuing of our full humanity is the power of arts and culture. We know you are working to support your cultural communities and look forward to sharing your work with peers across the nation.

Eddie Torres
GIA President & CEO

Field-Wide Responses & Calls to Action

Racial Equity & Justice Response

Webinars, Articles, & Resources

Information Hubs

Rapid Response & Emergency Funds

This list of resources will be regularly updated.