A Letter from Elise Walker
Together, we’re building a stronger, more resilient arts and culture sector in Washington state.
At ArtsFund, we focus on strengthening arts and cultural organizations by investing in their growth, amplifying their voices, and sharing meaningful data about the sector. Through advocacy, research studies, and convenings, we aim to support arts and culture in Washington because access to the arts fosters healthy communities.
Your partnership has been key in ArtsFund’s ability to serve Washington nonprofit organizations. In fiscal year 2024, that service included:
Distributing $10M in statewide funding through the 2024 Community Accelerator Grant in partnership with the Paul G. Allen Family Foundation.
– Welcoming 8 new organizations to the Cultural Partners Network.
– Expanding Board Leadership Training to statewide participants.
– Delivering timely research to help nonprofits advocate for their programs.
Your commitment to the communities you serve makes our work possible. As we continue to support the arts and culture sector across the state, we strive for a community where the arts are accessible to all and valued as central and critical to a healthy society.
Visit us online to read the full report!
Sincerely,
Elise Walker
Sr. Communications and Digital Marketing Manager
LEADERSHIP
Statewide Convening with Nonprofit Finance Fund
Mark your calendars! Nonprofit Finance Fund (NFF) returns to host a highly rated, virtual statewide Convening on Scenario Planning. This event will include two follow-up group coaching sessions for those who want to take a deep dive into the Convening takeaways. Save the date for June 12.
About Nonprofit Finance Fund
For over 40 years, the Nonprofit Finance Fund has been working to connect money to mission, providing nonprofits with strategic financial management consulting services, access to capital, thought leadership, and advocacy.
ADVOCACY
ArtsFund Advocacy Updates
Introducing ArtsFund Advocacy Updates — a monthly advocacy update spotlighting key legislative and policy developments that impact arts and cultural nonprofits at the state and federal levels. Each month ArtsFund will deliver concise and timely updates on three priority issues, empowering artists, organizations, and advocates with current information to help the cultural community understand and respond to the quickly changing legislative landscape.
For updated resources, you can visit our Policy & Advocacy Resources webpage. This is an aggregation of resources from community organizations, nonprofit arts and culture leaders, and government agencies to share with our community. We can’t speak to each organization’s individual needs, so having this sort of library of resources allows us to best serve the community as things shift and develop.
– Building for the Arts is fully funded at $18M. The state legislative session ended on April 27. The biennial capital budget included full funding for the long-running Building for the Arts program, which ArtsFund supports. This funding amounts to $18 million to cover 38 projects across 21 legislative districts. The budgets still need to be officially signed by Governor Ferguson, which should happen in late May, with the budgets taking effect on July 1. Learn more about Building for the Arts and the projects in the package here.
– Additional legislative priorities included prohibition in traveling animal acts, open captioning for movies, and Washington’s marine forest. Along with the budgeting that happened in this year’s legislative session, there were a number of arts and cultural priorities in lawmaking as well. These bills are now with the Governor to be signed or vetoed by mid-May; those that are signed into law will take effect on July 27, 90 days after the end of session. Some of the highlights include SB5065 prohibiting the use of certain animals in traveling animal acts (already signed by the Governor); SB5486 requiring open motion picture captioning in movie theatres; and HB1631 establishing bull kelp as the state marine forest. You can find information about these bills, including weekly bill reports tracking their progress, on the Heritage Caucus website.
– Resignations and grant cancellations at the National Endowment of the Arts. National Endowment of the Arts sees several resignations and staffing changes and at the beginning of this month, news broke that the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) had issued widespread cancellations of previously awarded grants and rescissions of grant offers, an unprecedented reversal of federal support for the arts nationwide. The notices cited a shift in agency priorities aligned with the current administration. Shortly thereafter, several of the Artistic Field Directors and members of their staff shared that they would be accepting the Deferred Resignation Program offer and leaving the agency. The full scope of this will continue to develop, as will responses and strategies for navigating, but a good place to start is a nonprofit checklist for what to do when your federal grant or contract is terminated from the National Council of Nonprofits.
Improve your Accessibility with this Free Tool
You can now audit your organization’s physical space, programming, and communications for accessibility with the new arts & culture accessibility self-assessment tool from Open Door Arts Massachusetts. Familarize yourself with the legal responsibilities around access, set goals for your organization, and leave with a plan to implement or improve your current accessibility measures. Information Sessions on how to complete and utilize the tool are held monthly via Zoom.
Take the Online assessment.
Use code AAWA25 to join other Washington state arts & culture organizations in the move towards access for all (see full instructions). Using this optional code will include your anonymous responses in an aggregate data set which ArtsFund may access in the future for analysis and advocacy purposes.
GRANTMAKING
Apply through June 6
The Community Accelerator Grant is a $10M investment in Washington state’s arts and culture sector funded by the Paul G. Allen Family Foundation and administered by ArtsFund. This program provides unrestricted grants to cultural nonprofit organizations and tribal entities in amounts of $2,500 – $25,000 in order to boost the organization’s ability to invest in their missions and essential roles.
Start your application today!