Mid-America Arts Alliance (M-AAA) is pleased to announce twenty-seven grantees receiving funding from the United States Regional Arts Resilience Fund within the six-state region of Arkansas, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, Oklahoma, and Texas. A program created through collaboration with our five sister US Regional Arts Organizations, Arts Midwest, Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation, New England Foundation for the Arts, South Arts, and Western States Arts Federation, the USRARF was funded through a $10 million grant from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and amplified in the Mid-America region through additional funding from The Windgate Foundation in Little Rock, Arkansas for visual arts organizations. The grant amounts range between $30,000 and $100,000, a significant investment supporting the resilience of small to mid-sized arts organizations that are led by or supporting communities of color, rural communities, and historically underresourced populations, in response to the impact of COVID-19.

“We are honored to provide this critical support to these extraordinary arts organizations within the Mid-America region,” said Mid-America Arts Alliance President and CEO Todd Stein. “In focusing on organizations led by or supporting communities of color and rural communities, we reinforce the importance of these organizations and their vital role within our arts ecosystems. The arts have the power to unite, uplift, and propel our region forward, and it is a crucial need to fund these organizations that are often overlooked and historically underresourced.”

The United States Regional Arts Resilience Fund provides non-matching grants to arts and cultural organizations across the US that face economic hardships caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. The fund targets rural and urban organizations that have statewide, regional, or national impact. These grants support small and mid-sized arts organizations of all artistic disciplines, especially those that are historically underresourced, and those representing underresourced populations, communities, and art forms. The grants support expenses associated with general operations, immediate response activities, future scenario planning, support for new media needs, help with the costs of collaborations, and costs associated with helping organizations reimagine their work and increase their resilience. M-AAA acknowledges

the close collaborative partnership with the Arkansas Arts Council, Kansas Creative Arts Industries Commission, Missouri Arts Council, Nebraska Arts Council, Oklahoma Arts Council, and the Texas Commission on the Arts and their advocacy for and understanding of the importance of these crucial funds to support rural and underresourced organizations across the region.

Here are the Mid-America Arts Alliance United States Regional Arts Resilience Fund grant recipients.

American Jazz Museum, Kansas City, Missouri; $50,000

Arts & Science Center for Southeast Arkansas, Pine Bluff, Arkansas; $75,000

The Black Archives of Mid-America, Inc. - Kansas City, Kansas City, Missouri; $30,000

Black Liberated Arts Center, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma; $30,000

Cara Mia Theatre, Dallas, Texas; $65,000

Dallas Black Dance Theatre, Dallas, Texas; $85,000

Dance of Asian America, Houston, Texas; $40,000

DeltaARTS, West Memphis, Arkansas; $50,000

El Museo Latino, Omaha, Nebraska; $50,000

The Ensemble Theatre Houston, Houston, Texas; $75,000

Greenwood Cultural Center, Tulsa, Oklahoma; $100,000