Arts Huntsville Celebrates Arts Community Funding In State Of The Arts Program

Press release from the City of Huntsville:

January 19, 2022

Arts Huntsville hosted a celebration of the arts on Jan. 19, saluting the Huntsville Arts & Cultural Grant Program recipients and featuring local guest speakers. Now in its tenth year, the 2022 Arts & Cultural Grant Program provided grant funding to 19 local arts organizations for support of their community programming.

The Huntsville City Council awarded $250,000 in pass-through grant funding as part of the City’s FY22 budget, and eligible Huntsville-based non-profit arts organizations completed detailed grant applications in the fall of 2021. A citizen-grant panel with experience in varied artistic disciplines and representative of each of Huntsville’s five City Council districts reviewed the applications, and the FY22 Arts & Cultural grant panel included: Donnisia Tibbs, District 1; Sally Warden, District 2; Daria Hammond, District 3; Steven Jackson, District 4; and Marilyn Lands, District 5. The panel convened in meetings in November and December 2021 to assess the grants and allocate the available City grant funds to eligible applicants.

“While COVID-19 has continued to impact artists and arts organizations across the city, our community has demonstrated how much they value the arts,” said Arts Huntsville Executive Director Allison Dillon-Jauken. “From sold-out performances, new artist studios, and arts events in new venues, area residents and visitors have shown they are more eager than ever for arts experiences. Through the City of Huntsville’s increased funding for the FY22 Huntsville Arts & Cultural Grant Program, this year’s arts grantees can continue to create accessible arts experiences for children and adults from across the community.”

During today’s State of the Arts celebration, 2021 Alabama National Association of Elementary School Principal’s (NAESP) National Distinguished Principal Amy Mason, principal at Madison County Elementary School in the Madison County School System, gave special remarks, as did Huntsville City Mayor Tommy Battle.

First launched in 2013 by Mayor Battle, the Huntsville Arts & Cultural Grant Program is designed to nurture artistic excellence, encourage public access to arts and cultural programming, expand arts education opportunities and develop the organizational capacity of Huntsville’s nonprofit arts and cultural organizations. The program initially awarded $100,000 in city-funded grants to many area arts organizations in 2013. In 2020, $170,000 was awarded. This year, the fund’s award amount increased to $250,000, up from $185,000 in 2021.

This press release was produced by the City of Huntsville. The views expressed here are the author’s own.