The arts and culture sector fuels community engagement, economic development, our workforce and much more but now individuals and organizations that rely on filling seats and hosting crowds are thinking differently about how they can remain operational now and in the future. 

We are seeing new funding announcements and supports leveraged for arts and culture organizations across the state to mitigate the short-term and potential long-term effects of the pandemic.

The Michigan Council for Arts and Cultural Affairs (MCACA) is accepting emergency relief grant applications from Michigan arts and cultural organizations impacted by COVID-19 through this Friday, May 1. MCACA said the grants are made possible due to federal funding through the CARES Act and will provide up to $5,000 in grants to organizations for salary support, fees for artists and facility costs.

Michigan Humanities is also providing emergency CARES Act funding to museums, libraries, archives, historic sites and other humanities-focused nonprofits for general operating support with an emphasis on maintaining personnel.

The Community Foundation for Southeast Michigan (CFSEM) partnered with CultureSource, a member association for nonprofit arts and cultural organizations in Southeast Michigan in launching the COVID-19 Arts and Creative Community Assistance Fund, a regional fund supported by a dozen CMF members to assist the cultural sector during the COVID-19 crisis. 

“We see a growing need for arts and culture organizations to receive flexible capital that allows them to continue paying freelance artists and culture workers who keep the sector going.” Kamilah Henderson, senior program officer, CFSEM said. 

The fund is intended to provide relief money to keep organizations afloat.

“At CultureSource, we're seeing even the most fiscally responsible organizations being challenged financially given the uncertainty about when they can both reopen their doors and when audiences will feel comfortable returning,” Omari Rush, executive director, CultureSource told CMF.

Henderson said the fund will also address longer-term strategies as the sector must now reimagine its work to align with a virtual world, among other challenges. 

“We see a growing need for resources that will help organizations redesign the way they reach communities,” Henderson said. “Physically gathering is impossible right now, but artists and organizations are finding ways to connect to communities through digital innovation.”

Henderson shared that individuals and organizations are already leveraging creative solutions such as moving music lessons to digital formats and working with national peers on innovative ways that specific art forms can be as impactful through digital platforms as they may be in person. 

Rush said we will likely see a rippling effect when it comes to what this crisis means for organizations.

“In the long-term view we see organizations implementing stricter, more costly sanitation standards to prioritize community health,” Rush said. “Overall, organizations will be in a continual mode of rebuilding and reforming their work, whether that is flipping their service model or merging or strategically collaborating with other initiatives. In some cases, attempts to rebuild may ultimately lead to dissolution—all hard things to talk about, but like so many of the dreadful impacts of COVID-19 on human life, a reality we must all face.”

CultureSource has implemented a three-part approach to responding to impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic which includes research, relief and resiliency and innovation to address the short-term and long-term needs.

In addition to its partnership with foundations through the Arts and Creative Community Assistance Fund, CultureSource participates in a weekly roundtable dialogue of philanthropists as they monitor and insights about activity in the cultural sector and impacts of COVID-19 on the landscape.

Want more?

Learn more about CultureSource’s response to COVID-19.

Connect with the COVID-19 Arts and Creative Community Assistance Fund.