The Colorado Office of Economic Development and International Trade (OEDIT) announced today that grantees have been selected for an accelerated second round of funding in 2020 through the Arts in Society grant program, which is funded in part by OEDIT’s Colorado Creative Industries Division. After considering over 200 applications, the review panel awarded 32 Colorado artists and organizations a total of $495,000 in funding.
Arts in Society supports the integration of arts and culture into multiple disciplines critical to the health and well-being of Coloradans, whether it be a dancer working within a hospital system to bring awareness to nurse burnout and compassion fatigue or a coalition of community organizations using art to engage neighbors in participatory budgeting. The program funds collaborations across Colorado, bringing together artists and professionals from a wide variety of non-arts sectors to positively impact social justice and community welfare through empowering community-based initiatives. This latest round of funding has been accelerated in response to the devastating effects of COVID-19 on Colorado communities and will help to increase community resiliency through the arts.
Over the last four years, the Arts in Society grant program has provided over $2 million to projects that engage arts organizations and artists as partners in illuminating and finding solutions to a wide array of civic and social challenges faced by Colorado communities. This year’s second round of 2020 grantees will receive project funding between $7,500 and $25,000, in addition to professional development training through a community learning program. Awardees represent a diverse group of individual artists and activists, arts organizations and nonprofit organizations.