Key Findings:  

Eleven Local Arts Agencies adopted a variety of strategies to distribute a cumulative $100 million in relief funds to the arts and cultural sector nationwide. Several common practices emerged in three areas:

Advocacy

• Tactics: LAAs advocated effectively through grassroots efforts and intra-governmental partnerships and proposals.  

• Future Implications: External and Internal advocacy work solidified support for the sector and gave funding agencies “seats at the table” within local government funding deliberations that were not available prior to the pandemic and that LAAs will work to retain.  

Process

• Trust-based approaches: Simplified applications and streamlined reporting were frequently used to get funds to cultural organizations as effortlessly and efficiently as possible. This was often possible because grantees had a history of funding from their local arts agencies and a well-known track record of delivering mission-driven public service.  

• Use of funds: Funds tended to be used for one of two purposes: 1) backfill funding to cultural organizations for pandemic-related losses; and 2) creation of new agency programs designed to support recovery of the local arts and cultural sector as part of the city’s general rebound from the pandemic. Some successful initiatives even transitioned to permanent agency offerings. 

Equity

• Emphasis on equity: Equitable distribution was critically important to the local arts agencies. 

• Priority groups: Most agencies opted to prioritize funding for one or more of the following groups:
  • organizations serving low socioeconomic communities
  • organizations and artists holding specific demographic traits
  • organizations serving city- and county-level communities hardest hit by the pandemic
  • organizations in specific geographic areas selected to meet equity goals