The pandemic has created significant challenges for organizations with business models centered on in-person engagement. The arts and culture sector has been particularly strained, forced to reimagine what engagement looks like in the pandemic. 

Data from Grantmakers in Arts shows that as of the end of 2020 63% of creatives were unemployed due to the pandemic. 

According to a survey by Americans for the Arts, an estimated $14.6 billion was lost in the arts and culture sector in 2020 due to the impact of COVID-19.  

Throughout the pandemic Michigan philanthropy has been leading through crisis, providing more flexibility to nonprofit partners, creating new partnerships and deepening collaboration to support the nonprofit sector and the communities we serve. 

Several CMF members have also been working closely with arts and culture organizations to ensure they can continue providing community engagement opportunities in the pandemic and beyond. 

As the pandemic unfolded, CMF connected with the Community Foundation for Southeast Michigan (CFSEM) to learn more about their partnership with CultureSource, a member association for nonprofit arts and cultural organizations in Southeast Michigan. 
 

CFSEM and CultureSource worked together 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. 

Recently, CFSEM announced that five organizations will receive $55,000 from the assistance fund for projects that creatively connect with their audiences while adhering to social distancing regulations.
 

CFSEM has also continued to administer Staging Change Detroit, a joint effort with the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation where members of 10 professional theater organizations in Detroit joined together in a cohort designed to network and develop strategies to grow Detroit’s theater scene.

“We have had the opportunity to learn a number of lessons from our partners in the arts sector and in particular, the Staging Change program,” Gregory Yankee, senior program officer, CFSEM, told CMF.  “Staging Change’s 10 participating theater organizations have faced the expected challenges for a traditionally ticket-based, in-person experience like theater. They are thinking ahead on how to adapt to technological needs while continuing to address important societal concerns. For funders, this might mean working with organizations as they revisit their earned revenue models in the COVID-19 era, as well as the availability of safe, accessible space for performances.”

The Max M. & Marjorie S. Fisher Foundation partnered with a Detroit theater organization, Shakespeare in Detroit (SiD) for their 2021 Summer Conservatory. A special youth-lead production of “Romeo and Juliet” revisits the classic Shakespearean tale featuring youth actors from the city of Detroit and will be recorded and offered virtually.

“The foundation believes that this is a critical time to continue supporting the arts community. This is a chance to double-down on support to our existing partners, to practice active listening and to deepen community engagement by responding to needs that are brought to our attention,” Chelsea R. Landry, program partner at the Fisher Foundation, told CMF. 

More than a year into the pandemic, nonprofits, especially arts and culture organizations, have had to adapt to the impacts the pandemic has had on their ability to fill seats and host crowds. 

“Despite the many hardships caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, we have seen tremendous creativity and innovation from our grant partners. It is an exceptionally difficult task to reimagine your organization’s work to fit such an unpredictable situation, but our grant partners have managed it. We are incredibly proud to play a small role in their success,” Landry said.

Yankee said that while the business models of these organizations are changing to adapt to the constraints of the pandemic, continued support is needed. 

“The last year has provided ample opportunity to highlight the importance of a healthy nonprofit arts and culture sector. Who hasn’t found relief or escape in something created or performed? Those performances and that creativity deserves ongoing support and with potential changes to what ticketing and earned revenue looks like, that might mean flexibility on what funders will consider supporting,” Yankee told CMF. 

Landry shared that funding in the arts sector may continue to look different in the post-pandemic world.

“We believe we need to be flexible, not only with our specific grant requirements, but in every interaction we have within the community. Moving forward into a post-pandemic world will require greater collaboration and empathy than our sector may have seen in the past,” Landry shared.