South Amboy's Indigenous Arts Council Gets Grant From NJ

SOUTH AMBOY, NJ – The Redhawk Indigenous Arts Council was recently awarded a grant from the New Jersey Arts and Culture Renewal Fund as part of a total $664,500 in grants given to 30 nonprofits statewide.

The Redhawk Indigenous Arts Council, a 28-year-old non profit, uses song, dance, theater and works of art to educate the general public about Native American heritage representing artists from north, south, central American, Caribbean and Polynesian Indigenous communities.

It wasn’t immediately clear how much the Redhawk Indigenous Arts Council received from the grant funding in 2023. Since its founding in 2020, the Fund has awarded over $7.4 million to more than 200 organizations across New Jersey.

The Fund, hosted by the Princeton Area Community Foundation, offers critical funding for many of the state’s smaller nonprofit organizations in the arts, culture and historical sectors.

“The New Jersey Arts and Culture Renewal Fund directly addresses disparities in funding that were present before the pandemic and have increased in its aftermath,” said Sharnita C. Johnson, Vice President of Strategy, Impact and Communications at the Victoria Foundation and Co-Chair of the Fund.

“The smaller cultural organizations supported by the New Jersey Arts and Culture Renewal Fund serve multiple functions in their communities. They are important anchors central to community wellbeing and quality of life in the areas they serve.”

The New Jersey Arts and Culture Renewal Fund is an unprecedented collaboration between private and public donors, according to a news release from the organization. Its co-chair, Jeremy Grunin, who also serves as the president of the Grunin Foundation, said the fund organization is grateful to be entering their third year of grant making as the effects of the pandemic are still being felt in the sector.

Smaller arts and culture organizations contribute greatly to our understanding of each other and of our world, said Lynne Toye, Executive Director of the New Jersey Arts and Culture Renewal Fund.

“By supporting organizations that tell inclusive stories, we are helping to provide opportunities for representation of all who contribute to the rich and diverse cultural community of New Jersey,” she said.

Grants ranged in size from $2,000 to $50,000, with an average grant size of $22,000.