COVID information specifically relevant for arts and cultural heritage organizations and artists [last update: July 27, 2021]:

  • The Vermont Humanities Council is distributing $1.2 million in Covid-19 Cultural Recovery Grants with the Vermont Arts Council. The deadline for submitting your application for the first round of grants was Wednesday, July 21 at 5:00pm. If you missed this deadline, don’t worry! Applications for a second round of grants will be due September 14. On July 1 they hosted a webinar to answer questions about the grants. The video recording of the webinar is now available, as is as the slide deck from the presentation by Katherine Sims. More info here. 
  • The CERF+ COVID-19 Relief Grant CERF+ — the Artists Safety Net is offering a fourth round of COVID-19 Relief Grants. The $1,000 grants are for artists working in craft disciplines who are facing dire circumstances due to food, housing, and/or medical insecurities as a result of the ongoing pandemic.
    In the first three cycles of the program, CERF+ awarded 888 grants to artists in 48 states, 3 territories, and the District of Columbia.
    The fourth cycle of CERF+’s COVID-19 Relief Grant will begin accepting applications on August 10 and will close on August 31, 2021. Priority will be given to Black, Indigenous, People of Color, as well as folk and traditional artists.
    Due to the magnitude of this pandemic, artists that received a COVID-19 Relief Grant in a previous cycle are not eligible to receive another COVID-19 Relief Grant. Our goal is to provide some relief to as many artists as possible.
     

National resources, present…

  • Jovan Johnson’s combination marketing + micro grant for artists (similar grants also available for Black or Minority business owners and women who own businesses). While there is not currently a cap on the number of monthly marketing grantees, there is currently (1) $100 micro-grant each month per program. Marketing assistance will continue indefinitely. No fees are required of applicants.
  • Americans for the Arts has been tracking the human and financial impacts of COVID-19 since the pandemic began. Take the NEW survey to assess the economic impact of COVID-19 on the arts and culture sector. 

…and past

  • A coalition of national arts grantmakers came together to create an emergency initiative to offer financial and informational resources to artists across the United States.  Artist Relief provided $5,000 grants to artists facing dire financial emergencies due to COVID-19:  https://www.artistrelief.org/.  The fund closed in December 2020.
  • The Americans for the Arts Action Fund developed a seven-page table that provides information about  CARES Act funds from the perspective of a nonprofit arts org, a governmental arts agency, a commercial arts company, a self-employed individual artist, and as a taxpayer. Last updated:  May 28th.
  • Review the Americans for the Arts digest of arts support included in Federal COVID-19 relief bill (posted 3.26.2020) and the National Council of Nonprofits analysis of what is in the bill for nonprofits. 
  • As part of the CARES Act, the National Endowment for the Humanities received $75 million to assist cultural organizations and humanists impacted by the coronavirus:  $30 million of that will go directly to state Humanities Councils.  The National Endowment for the Arts received $75 million for arts organizations in need.  The Institute of Museum and Library Services received $50 million to address the digital divide.
  • The National Endowment for the Arts made the following awards in Vermont:
    • Kingdom County Productions, Barnet, $50,000
    • Dorset Theatre Festival, Dorset, $50,000
    • Vermont Folklife Center, Middlebury, $50,000
    • Community Engagement Lab, Montpelier, $50,000
    • Yellow Barn, Putney, $50,000
    • Weston Playhouse Theatre, Weston, $50,000
  • The National Endowment for the Humanities made the following awards in Vermont:
    • Vermont Historical Society, Barre, $133,512 for “Preserving and Expanding Access to Vermont’s
    History
    • Vermont Folklife Center, Middlebury, $97,017 for “Listening in Place: COVID-19 Archival
    Outreach Project”
    • University of Vermont, Burlington, $69,263 for “Virtual Visitor Engagement at the Fleming
    Museum of Art”
    • Lake Champlain Maritime Museum, $53,036 for “Navigating for the Future”
    • Sheldon Art Museum Archaeological and Historical Society, Middlebury, $29,362 for “Archives
    Alive: Building Primary Source Collections During COVID-19

Other useful resource aggregators:

Art is still happening in Vermont and artists and organizations are documenting and reflecting on the pandemic. Learn more.