Ohio Arts Council To Receive Stimulus Money Targeted at Preservation of Jobs in the Arts
by Jaclyn Reynolds
The Ohio Arts Council will receive $353,400 from the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Recovery Act). The Recovery Act provides $50 million to the NEA to be distributed in direct grants to organizations to preserve jobs in the nonprofit sector threatened by declines in philanthropic and other support in the recent economic downturn.
“We are very pleased to receive this money from the NEA and to be able to reinvest it in Ohio’s nonprofit arts sector,” said Julie Henahan, executive director of the Ohio Arts Council. “One of the main priorities of the OAC is to provide financial operating support to Ohio’s arts and cultural organizations and this money will go directly to where they need it the most—job preservation—at a critical point in Ohio and the nation’s efforts to boost our economy.” Forty percent of the $50 million received by the NEA is being distributed to state and regional arts agencies and 60 percent of the funds will be competitively awarded to nonprofit arts organizations that have received funding previously from the NEA. The Ohio Arts Council submitted its grant application March 13, outlining a plan to quickly disburse the funds to Ohio arts organizations with special attention to geographic equity and underserved populations. The Ohio Arts Council’s Recovery Act grant program, the Ohio Arts Jobs Preservation Grant program, will be open only to nonprofit arts organizations and will require grantees to use the funds for salary support, full or partial for one or more positions that are critical to an organization’s artistic mission, and/or fees for previously engaged artists and/or contractual personnel. The Ohio Arts Council has posted funding Guidelines, scoring criteria, FAQ, key dates in the funding cycle and contact information for constituents interested in applying at the Ohio Arts Jobs Preservation main page. The application is now open for eligible grantees and the deadline for applications is June 15, 2009. Interested applicants also will need to submit a separate Expression of Interest on Recovery.Ohio.gov. All necessary instructions for the OAC and State of Ohio pages are included in the Ohio Arts Jobs Preservation Grant Guidelines available at www.oac.state.oh.us/grantsprogs/OhioArtsJobsGrantsmain.asp. The Ohio Arts Council is a state agency that funds and supports quality arts experiences to strengthen Ohio communities culturally, educationally and economically.[top]