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For Immediate Release
June 24, 2021
Information: Sarah Sidman | 206-788-3051 | sarahsidman@artsfund.org
ArtsFund, Vice President of Strategic Initiatives & Communications
ARTSFUND DISTRIBUTES $2.2 MILLION IN KEYSTONE GRANTS
TO REGIONAL ARTS COMMUNITY IN MIDST OF RECOVERY
Seattle, WA – 66 nonprofit arts and cultural organizations in King and Pierce counties will receive operating support grants totaling $2,244,893 thanks to ArtsFund’s generous annual campaign donors. With this allocation, and including this week’s distribution of the Nonprofit Community Recovery grants, ArtsFund has awarded nearly $98 million to over 650 arts and cultural nonprofits since its founding in 1969.
ArtsFund, a Seattle-based nonprofit and the nation’s fifth largest united arts fund, supports the arts through leadership, advocacy, and grant making in order to build a healthy, equitable, and creative Washington. Annual grant making, powered by corporate and individual donations, has been a central component of the organization’s mission since its inception. ArtsFund’s annual allocations grants are distributed as general operating support enabling grant recipients to invest the funds where needed most to advance their missions.
Revenues from ArtsFund’s 50th annual drive, which ends on June 30, 2021, support the 2021 grant allocations as well as additional programs and services reaching nearly 150 cultural organizations throughout the Central Puget Sound region.
ArtsFund’s annual keystone granting program operates in tandem with its targeted grant making initiatives including the Multicultural Arts Project, and most recently, the Nonprofit Community Recovery grants (a program administered by ArtsFund and the Washington State Department of Commerce in an effort to assuage the profound impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on nonprofit organizations). While these targeted grant programs allow ArtsFund to invest resources around mission-central focus areas, ArtsFund’s flagship grant program supports individual organizational health and strengthens our local arts ecosystem as a network of complimentary and interdependent institutions that imbue the Puget Sound region with creativity and innovation.
ArtsFund President & CEO Michael Greer stated, “While we are relieved that the vast majority of ArtsFund’s Cultural Partners have made it through the most intensive period of pandemic closures, we know that our community is not out of the woods yet. Having gone through a year of little to no earned revenue, with exhausted reserves and a lean workforce, arts and cultural organizations need substantial resources to meet the costs of reopening. ArtsFund has been honored to serve this community for over 50 years, and as we move into a new chapter together, we hope that our grants can help bring artists and community members back into creative spaces to collectively reimagine a new way forward.”
ArtsFund’s allocations are awarded by a panel of public, private, and corporate grantmaking experts who engage with ArtsFund in a thorough vetting process, evaluating application materials and interviewing the leadership of arts groups. Groups are evaluated based on their mission, community impact, organizational health, and commitment to equity. The 2021 Allocations Committee was led by Co-chairs Erika Nesholm, Executive Director of the Nesholm Family Foundation, and Tim Otani, Director, External Affairs Manager – NW & Chicago, MUFG Union Bank.
For more information on ArtsFund’s grant recipients, visit: http://www.artsfund.org/about-arts-fund/arts-groups-we-support.
For a list of ArtsFund’s cultural partners, visit https://www.artsfund.org/culturalpartners.
For more information about ArtsFund, visit: http://www.artsfund.org/about.
2021 ArtsFund Grants
5th Avenue Theatre | $91,240
ACT Theatre | $92,410
Artist Trust | $15,360
ArtsWest | $15,820
Auburn Symphony Orchestra | $1,047
Book-It Repertory Theatre | $14,900
Burke Museum | $14,410
Central District Forum for Arts & Ideas | $6,420
Early Music Seattle | $6,850
Earshot Jazz Society | $17,590
Frye Art Museum | $11,950
Henry Art Gallery | $80,350
Intiman Theatre | $10,990
Jack Straw Productions | $8,160
Meany Center for the Performing Arts | $14,800
MoPOP | $20,130
Museum of Glass | $7,690
Northwest African American Museum | $10,520
Nordic Museum | $18,940
Northwest Film Forum | $7,830
Northwest Sinfonietta | $2,954
On the Boards | $33,490
Pacific Northwest Ballet | $165,230
Hugo House | $10,140
Seattle Art Museum | $186,980
Seattle Arts & Lectures | $27,720
Seattle Chamber Music Society | $17,290
Seattle Children’s Theatre | $67,620
Seattle Men’s Chorus and Seattle Women’s Chorus | $12,520
Seattle Opera | $164,410
Seattle Pro Musica | $5,350
Seattle Public Theater | $6,750
Seattle Repertory Jazz Orchestra | $14,980
Seattle Repertory Theatre | $105,000
Seattle Shakespeare Company | $37,730
Seattle Symphony Orchestra | $179,870
Seattle Theatre Group | $49,290
SIFF | $16,060
Spectrum Dance Theater | $17,620
Symphony Tacoma | $15,570
Tacoma Art Museum | $38,500
Tacoma Arts Live | $59,980
Tacoma Musical Playhouse | $9,780
Tacoma Opera | $5,580
Taproot Theatre Company | $13,208
Three Dollar Bill Cinema | $4,650
Town Hall Seattle | $32,640
Vashon Center for the Arts | $3,950
Velocity Dance Center | $7,320
The Vera Project | $24,180
Village Theatre | $78,715
Whim W’Him | $2,330
Wing Luke Museum of the Asian Pacific American Experience | $60,525
ArtsFund Youth Arts Opportunity Fund Grants
Arts Corps | $10,000
Asia Pacific Cultural Center | $7,500
Book-It Repertory Theatre | $2,500
Coyote Central | $10,000
Hilltop Artists | $12,500
Intiman Theatre | $12,500
Jack Straw Cultural Center | $5,000
MoPOP | $12,500
Museum of Glass | $5,000
Music Works Northwest | $5,000
Northwest African American Museum | $2,500
Northwest Folklife | $12,500
Pacific Northwest Ballet | $2,500
Red Eagle Soaring | $12,500
Seattle Arts & Lectures | $2,500
Seattle JazzED | $10,000
Snohomish County Music Project | $5,000
Seattle Repertory Theatre | $7,500
TeenTix | $10,000
NFFTY | $7,500
Totem Star | $10,000
The Vera Project | $5,000
Village Theatre | $2,500
Wing Luke Museum of the Asian Pacific American Experience | $7,500
Youth In Focus | $7,500
Kreielsheimer Remainder Foundation Grants | $65,900
Total 2021 ArtsFund Allocations Grants* | $2,244,893
*ArtsFund Plestcheeff Design and Decorative Arts Grants totaling $46,100 will be awarded late summer 2021.
2021 Allocations Committee
Tim Otani, Co-chair
Director
External Affairs Manager – NW & Chicago
MUFG Union Bank
Erika Nesholm, Co-chair
Executive Director
Nesholm Family Foundation
Jane Broom
Sr. Director, Microsoft Philanthropies
Microsoft Corporation
Brian Carter
Executive Director
4Culture
Calandra Childers
Deputy Director
Seattle Office of Arts & Culture
Jonathan Cunningham
Senior Program Officer
Seattle Foundation
Mark Dederer
Director, Philanthropic Services
Hohimer Wealth Management
Ellen Ferguson
Trustee
The Hugh and Jane Ferguson Foundation
C’Ardiss Gardner Gleser
Director of Programs and Strategic Initiatives
Satterberg Foundation
Dwight Gee
Retired Executive Vice President
World Justice Project
Michael Greer
President & CEO
ArtsFund
Jeremey Williams
Senior Vice President
SVP | Seattle Market Executive
Local Markets Organization
Bank of America
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About ArtsFund:
ArtsFund supports the arts through leadership, advocacy, and grant making in order to build a healthy, equitable, and creative Washington. Founded in 1969, the Seattle-based nonprofit has been building community through the arts for over 51 years. ArtsFund was originally founded to bring corporate and civic leaders together to help establish and sustain our region’s arts and cultural institutions. ArtsFund has supported 650 arts and cultural nonprofits with nearly $98 million in grants and provided valuable leadership and advocacy. Learn more at artsfund.org.
ArtsFund’s Mission: ArtsFund supports the arts through leadership, advocacy, and grant making in order to build a healthy, equitable, and creative Washington.
ArtsFund’s Vision: A community with a dynamic, equitable, and robust cultural sector where the arts are accessible to all and valued as central and critical to a healthy society.