JCAC to Receive $150K Grant from National Endowment for the Arts
The Jersey City Arts Council (JCAC) is pleased to announce they have been selected to receive an American Rescue Plan grant from the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) to help the Jersey City arts and cultural sector recover from the pandemic. JCAC is receiving $150,000 and will use this funding to distribute grants in their community to eligible recipients to save jobs and to fund operations and facilities, health and safety supplies, and marketing and promotional efforts to encourage attendance and participation. In total, the NEA will award grants totaling $20,200,000 to 66 local arts agencies nationwide for subgranting.
“The NEA’s significant investment in local arts agencies, including the JCAC, is a key element in helping the arts and culture sector recover and reopen, while ensuring that American Rescue Plan funding is distributed equitably,” said Ann Eilers, NEA’s acting chair. “These grants recognize the vital role of local arts agencies and will allow them to help rebuild local economies and contribute to the well-being of our communities.”
“We’re excited to be selected for this opportunity and to be among so many fantastic local arts agencies doing important work serving their communities,” said MacAdam Smith, Interim Executive Director of the JCAC. “Building on our Artist Relief Fund from last summer, this new program will bring continued support to those arts organizations hardest hit by the lockdown. The arts are an integral part of a happy, healthy and thriving Jersey City. Hopefully this grant brings more recognition to the outstanding creative work being done here.”
The JCAC plans on launching their subgranting program early next year. Nonprofit arts organizations across Jersey City will be eligible to apply, though priority will be given to organizations currently working in or developing programming for under-served sections of the city. Full guidelines will be announced by the JCAC in the upcoming months.
This is the second of three installments of the NEA’s American Rescue Plan funding. Last April, the NEA announced that 40 percent of its $135 million in ARP funding would be allocated to 62 state, jurisdictional, and regional arts organizations for regranting through their respective programs. The third installment of APR funding to arts organizations to support their own operations will be announced in early 2022.
For more information on the NEA’s American Rescue Plan grants, including the full list of local arts agencies funded in this announcement, visitwww.arts.gov/COVID-19/the-american-rescue-plan.