We are excited to announce that we have awarded a total of 154 emergency relief grants amounting to $235,640 through our WNY Arts Emergency Relief Fund. The fund, which opened on May 1, 2020 in response to COVID-19’s devastating impact on Western New York arts and cultural industry, supported 86 arts and cultural organizations and 68 individual artists. The average award amount was $2,262 per organization and $642 per individual.
Grantees represent all arts and cultural forms and are located in all five counties of Western New York, including Erie, Niagara, Allegany, Cattaraugus, and Chautauqua counties. In addition to the 68 individual artists, teaching artists, and creative workers who received funding, grants were awarded to the following nonprofit arts and cultural organizations:
1891 Fredonia Opera House
Alleyway Theatre, Inc.
American Repertory Theater of WNY
Aquarium of Niagara
Artpark & Company
Ballet Artists of WNY (DBA: Neglia Ballet)
Buffalo and Brandy
Buffalo and Erie County Botanical Gardens Society
Buffalo Arts Studio
Buffalo Center for Arts and Technology
Buffalo Gay Men’s Chorus
Buffalo Girlchoir
Buffalo Inner City Ballet
Buffalo Jazz Collective
Buffalo Maritime Center
Buffalo Niagara Choirs
Buffalo Niagara Concert Band
Buffalo Niagara Heritage Village
Buffalo Philharmonic Chorus
Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra
Carnegie Art Center
Carousel Society of the Niagara Frontier
Cattaraugus County Living Arts Association
CEPA Gallery
Chautauqua Regional Youth Ballet
Chopin Singing Society
Colored Musicians Club of Buffalo NY
Danceability, Inc.
El Museo Francisco Oller y Diego Rivera
Explore & More Children’s Museum
Explore Buffalo
Fenton History Center
German-American Musicians Association
Graycliff Conservancy
Hamburg Natural History Society/Penn Dixie
Harmonia Chamber Singers
Hispanic Heritage Council of WNY
Historic Palace
Historical Society of Dunkirk
Hull House Foundation
Infinity Visual and Performing Arts
Irish Classical Theatre Company
Jewish Repertory Theatre
Just Buffalo Literary Center
Kenan Center
Kleinhans Music Hall Management
Lewiston Council on the Arts
Lock City Glee Club
Locust Street Neighborhood Art Classes
Lucille Ball Little Theatre of Jamestown
Martin House Restoration Corporation
MusicalFare Theatre
National Comedy Center
New Phoenix Theatre on the Park
Niagara Arts & Cultural Center
Niagara County Historical Society
Niagara Falls Underground Railroad Heritage Center
Nusantara Arts Inc.
Pappy Martin Legacy Jazz Collective
Preservation Buffalo Niagara
Reg Lenna Center for the Arts
Road Less Traveled Productions
Rock Autism
Roycroft Campus Corporation
Roycrofters-at-Large Association
Second Generation Theatre Company
Shakespeare in Delaware Park
Springville Center for the Arts
Squeaky Wheel Film & Media Art Center
Starring Buffalo
Stitch Buffalo
Sugar City
The Big Easy in Buffalo
The Fountain Arts Center
The Kavinoky Theatre
The Niagara Regional Theatre Guild
The Olean Theatre Workshop
The Subversive Theatre Collective
The Western New York Artists Group
Theatre in the Mist
Theatre of Youth Company
Torn Space Theater
Tri-County Arts Council
Ujima Company
West Falls Center for the Arts
Western New York Book Arts Collaborative
ASI created and administered the WNY Arts Emergency Relief Fund with generous support from Fund for the Arts, a funder’s cooperative of public, private, family, and corporate foundations that assesses the needs of our arts community, promotes collaboration, and strengthens the sector through systems change approaches. This fund was also supported by the Marilyn Gohr McTaggart Reveal Fund at the Community Foundation for Greater Buffalo, a Family Fund at the Community Foundation for Greater Buffalo, and the individual donors of ASI’s GoFundMe campaign.
In addition to the fund, we have provided learning opportunities through our Reopening Together weekly professional development series throughout the month of June, where attendees gained valuable insight into state guidelines and the specific challenges each art form currently faces. ASI has also surveyed both Western New York’s creative field (Emergency Relief Survey) and our patrons (Audience and Patron Intent Survey) to inform the future COVID-19-related initiatives we will coordinate.
In response to the feedback received, we are currently exploring other opportunities to assist the sector and will share that news shortly. As we head into reopening, which we know will look different for every organization, our goal remains to ensure that our creative industry makes it to the other side of this crisis.
Visit the WNY Arts Emergency Relief Fund page for more information or contact Holly Grant at holly@asiwny.org or 716-833-3004 x512.
