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UPDATE:  The COVID-19 Emergency Relief Fund is no longer providing grants to arts organizations. As we shift our focus from relief to recovery, we are no longer accepting gifts for the COVID-19 Arts Emergency Relief Fund. Please consider supporting the ongoing recovery of the sector via our annual fund.

ArtsFund recently announced a new grantmaking program, the Community Accelerator Grant, a historic investment in Washington’s arts and culture sector. Funded by the Paul G. Allen Family Foundation, these funds are intended to boost arts organizations’ ability to invest in their missions and essential roles serving communities across the state. Visit the Community Accelerator Grant page to learn more.

ArtsFund created the COVID-19 Arts Emergency Relief Fund to help stabilize the sector with immediate relief grants for arts organizations negatively impacted by COVID-19. Arts organizations are bracing for worst case scenarios which could include closure, bankruptcy, and insolvency. The goal of ArtsFund’s COVID-19 Arts Emergency Relief Fund is to help arts and cultural organizations maintain essential functions and retain core staff throughout the current public health crisis so that they are positioned to reopen when possible.

Grants

ArtsFund allocated $3,152,500 in COVID-19 Arts Emergency Relief grant awards to 106 organizations throughout the Central Puget Sound Region. The relief grants were allocated in two rounds. In round one of the grant making, $2,640,000 was distributed to 80 King County cultural nonprofits. In round two of the grant making, $512,500 was distributed to 26 cultural nonprofits in King, Pierce, and Snohomish counties. Click here to view a full list of recipients.


Bellevue Art Museum

 

About the Fund

ArtsFund, along with a coalition of arts and cultural organizations, created the COVID-19 Arts Emergency Relief Fund to provide short-term relief in the form of unrestricted grants to arts organizations which have been particularly hard hit during this public health emergency. The global pandemic is having catastrophic effects on nonprofit arts and culture organizations. Click here for more information on sector impacts. The ArtsFund Foundation seeded the fund with $1 million. Additional gifts and pledges have pushed to total over $3.1 million. 100% of the money raised in this fund was used for Relief grants. Donations for this fund are now closed.

Pacific Northwest Ballet

Intiman Theatre

Supporters

Thank you to our generous individual, foundation, and business partners who support the arts and cultural community in the Central Puget Sound Region through the COVID-19 Arts Emergency Relief Fund.  

List is current as of 6/25/2020. 

$100,000+
Anonymous Fund of the Philadelphia Foundation
ArtsFund Foundation
Carl and Renee Behnke
Joshua Green Foundation
Microsoft Corporation
Paul G. Allen Family Foundation
Mary Pigott
WarnerMedia
Anonymous 

$50,000-$99,999
The Barton Family Fund
The Hilton Family Fund
Peter and Peggy Horvitz
Norcliffe Foundation
Pivotal Ventures LLC
The Sahsen Fund
Cynthia Stroum

$10,000-$49,999
Anonymous STG Board member
Judi Beck and Tom A. Alberg
Glenn H. Kawasaki Foundation
The Grousemont Foundation
Max and Helen Gurvich
Lucy Helm
Lynn Hubbard and David Zapolsky
KING 5 Television / TEGNA Foundation
Martin-Fabert Foundation
Beth McCaw
Mey Share Foundation Inc.
Susan M. Payne
Audrey and David Rostov
Scan|Design Foundation by Inger & Jens Bruun
The WaterWheel Foundation
Anonymous 

$1,000-$9,999
Julia Becke
The Bernstein Davenport Charitable Giving FundEdward and Adele Bolson
Susan M. Coliton
Alison Danz
Jill and Matt Deasy
Jim and Gaylee Duncan
David Enslow
Beth Etscheid
Kevin and Lynne Fox
Sharon Griggins
The Gutierrez Family
Jason Hunke
Alan Ruder and Deborah Hyman 
Alison Ivey
Carla and Don Lewis
Mary Anne Stusser Martin and Charles Martin

Suzanne McGill
Anna, Rían, and Shane McHugh
Steve Miller and Pam Cowan



Chuck Nordhoff and Maribeth O’Connor
Cheryl and Tom Oliver
Kyle and Michele Peltonen
Carol and Doug Powell
Salm Rojo Charitable Fund 

Jeff and Martha Sherman
Marcia and Peter Sill
Kahran Singh
Graham Smith and Karen McNeill
Delphine and Charles Stevens
Mary Anne Stusser Martin and Charles Martin
Laura Stusser-McNeil and KC McNeil
David Taft
Sylvia Wolf and Duane Schuler
Case van Rij 

Sally and David Wright
Anonymous (6) 

We also thank all the many donors who have given below $1,000. For complete donor list, click here.

We regret any omissions or errors. Please email info@artsfund.org with corrections.

Grant Making Process

ArtsFund worked closely with a review panel to recommend grants that respond to the most immediate and critical needs among arts and cultural organizations. Members of the review panel were selected based on their deep knowledge and understanding of the arts sector. All King County-based organizations in the Cultural Partners Network were invited to apply for the first round of funding. Arts organizations that were a Cultural Partners Network member and did not receive funding in the first round were invited to apply for the second round of funding, including groups in Pierce and Snohomish counties. The panel reviewed the organizations’ responses to determine how the available funds could have the greatest impact in the near term. The panel recommended the grantees, and they were approved by the ArtsFund Executive Committee. The first round of grants were announced on Monday, May 4, 2020. The second round of grants were announced on Wednesday, July 1, 2020.

Contact Us

We are no longer accepting gifts for the COVID-19 Arts Emergency Relief Fund. Please consider supporting the ongoing recovery of the sector via our annual fund.

For more information, contact Annual Giving Manager Kaitlin Hurley at kaitlinhurley@artsfund.org.

For all other inquiries, please contact info@artsfund.org.