Ann Arbor Art Center (A2AC) to Receive $100,000 Grant from the National Endowment for the Arts
ANN ARBOR – The Ann Arbor Art Center is pleased to announce they have been approved to receive an American Rescue Plan grant from the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) to help the arts and cultural sector recover from the pandemic. The A2AC is recommended to receive $100,00 and may use this funding to save jobs and to fund operations and facilities, health and safety supplies, and marketing and promotional efforts to encourage attendance and participation. In total, the NEA will award grants totaling $57,750,000 to 567 arts organizations in all 50 states, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and Washington, DC.
“Our nation’s arts sector has been among the hardest hit by the COVID-19 pandemic. The National Endowment for the Arts’ American Rescue Plan funding will help arts organizations, such as the A2AC rebuild and reopen,” said Dr. Maria Rosario Jackson, chair of the NEA. “The arts are crucial in helping America’s communities heal, unite, and inspire, as well as essential to our nation’s economic recovery.”
“Throughout the pandemic, the A2AC quickly pivoted with both virtual and outreach programming believing that “art cannot be cancelled”. We are proud to announce that our team remained intact. We are thrilled to begin welcoming our community back for in-person programming. Funding from the NEA’s American Relief Plan will fuel a swift recovery by enabling and strengthening our visual arts programming throughout the community”, said Marie Klopf, President and CEO of the A2AC.
The recommended funding will allow the A2AC to add staff resources necessary to reactivate and expand multi-disciplinary program offerings. These internal collaborations will enhance mission delivery and provide fresh opportunities for learning, seeing, making, and collaborating within the visual arts.
The American Rescue Plan was signed into law in March 2021 when the NEA was provided $135 million for the arts sector. The funding for organizations is the third installment providing more than $57.7 million for arts organizations. In April 2021, the NEA announced $52 million (40 percent) in ARP funding would be allocated to 62 state, jurisdictional, and regional arts organizations for regranting through their respective programs. The second installment in November 2021 allocated $20.2 million to 66 local arts agencies for sub granting to local artists and art organizations.
For more information on the NEA’s American Rescue Plan grants, including the full list of arts organizations funded in this announcement, visit www.arts.gov/COVID-19/the-american-rescue-plan.
For more information on the A2AC, including upcoming events, classes, and visual art opportunities, visit annarborartcenter.org.
About the Ann Arbor Art Center (A2AC)
For over a century, the nonprofit Ann Arbor Art Center (A2AC) has sparked creativity in people of all ages, backgrounds, and artistic abilities. Our mission is to be a contemporary forum for the visual arts through education, exploration, collaboration, and exhibition and to engage minds, expand perspectives, and inspire growth in students of all ages, teachers, artists, and the community. We are empowered to carry out our mission through the support of individuals, corporations, and foundations who believe in the value of our work and in creativity’s essential role in sustaining and elevating our shared experience. In fulfilling our mission, the Art Center serves as a regional hub for the visual arts. It prioritizes the long-standing partnerships we cultivate as a keystone for Ann Arbor’s healthy cultural and civic life ecosystem. Join the conversation on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and Twitter.
