The City of Dallas Office of Arts and Culture to receive $250,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Arts as part of the American Rescue Plan

The City of Dallas, Office of Arts and Culture (OAC) is pleased to announce they have been selected 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 City of Dallas is receiving $250,000 and will use this funding to distribute grants in their community to eligible recipients 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 is awarding grants totaling $20,200,000 to 66 local arts agencies nationwide for subgranting.

“The NEA’s significant investment in local arts agencies, including the City of Dallas, Office of Arts and Culture is a key element in helping the arts and culture sector recover and reopen, while ensuring that that American Rescue Plan funding is distributed equitably,” said NEA’s acting chair Ann Eilers. “These grants recognize the vital role of local arts agencies and will allow them to help rebuild local economies and contribute to the well-being of our communities.”

City Councilmember for District 7 (Fair Park and South Dallas) Adam Bazaldua said, “As the Chair of the Quality of Life, Arts and Culture Committee, I am delighted that the NEA is recognizing the work we are doing to support the artists who bring so much vibrancy, beauty, and sense of community to places across Dallas. The pandemic hit the arts so hard, and the NEA grant for $250,000 will allow the OAC to continue its work supporting artists and improving our quality of life.”

OAC Director, Jennifer Scripps, added, “The OAC’s work addressing cultural equity and access to arts and cultural experiences across our city predates the pandemic, but the many challenges of the last two years has made our recovery work via arts and culture even more urgent and more impactful.”

The funds will be used to support arts projects by ALAANA (African, Latinx, Asian, Arab, and Native American) artists and organizations across Dallas in the Culture of Value micro-grants program. The program’s goal is to further develop a “Culture of Value” that the arts are essential to a thriving, equitable society. The Culture of Value program was piloted by the City of Dallas, Office of Arts and Culture in the Fall of 2020 in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the needs of ALAANA artists across Dallas, and the needs of our neighborhoods to experience arts across Dallas. The pilot program supported 71 artists and organizations through over $200,000 in grants to create art experiences virtually and in neighborhoods across Dallas for residents in diverse communities.

This is the second of three installments of the NEA’s American Rescue Plan funding. Last April, the NEA announced that 40 percent of its $135 million in ARP funding would be allocated to 62 state, jurisdictional, and regional arts organizations for regranting through their respective programs. The third installment of APR funding to arts organizations to support their own operations will be announced in early 2022.

For more information on the NEA’s American Rescue Plan grants, including the full list of local arts agencies funded in this announcement, visit www.arts.gov/COVID-19/the-american-rescue-plan.

For more information about the Culture of Value program of the City of Dallas, Office of Arts and Culture, visit https://dallasculture.org/cultureofvalue/.