SLFRF-Funded Program Overview

The Regional Arts Commission of St. Louis, in partnership with the City of St. Louis, distributed revenue replacement and tourism grants funded by the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds for eligible St. Louis City artists and arts organizations. Branded ARPA for the Arts, the grants provide a unique opportunity for RAC to support financial stability and cover temporary shortfalls while economic conditions continue to normalize within the arts and culture sector.

The ARPA for the Arts revenue and income replacement grants were one-time grants to working artists and arts organizations based in St. Louis City who experienced financial loss between April 1, 2020 and December 31, 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. RAC distributed just under $3.5 million to 54 arts organizations and 166 working artists from June to November 2023.

In 2024, ARPA for the Arts Tourism Grants will investment nearly $6.1 in 38 public art and innovative artistic projects to increase regional and national tourism to St. Louis over a three-year period [2024-2026]. The grant program also includes a professional development curriculum designed to help artists and arts organizations diversify revenue, attract new audiences, and strengthen board governance. Visit the Website

Advocacy

Community support was a key driver in the allocation of ARPA funds to RAC. Hundreds of arts organizations, artists, and government officials engaged in 18-months of advocacy efforts to catalyze support for and ultimately the passage of Board Bill #66, which appropriated the funds to support the sector. Citizen surveys and town halls all showed overwhelming support for the arts in St. Louis. RAC’s Commissioners and staff leveraged this enthusiasm to develop and implement the ARPA for the Arts program. The success of this program was also built on a foundation of trust RAC cultivated with the St. Louis community over the past four decades. See Advocacy Efforts

Process

RAC worked with city government officials to ensure trust-based philanthropy was embedded into the program from start to finish, simplifying application processes and getting money out the door to artists and organizations in St. Louis City.

Equity

The income replacement grant distribution model prioritized applicants located in Qualified Census Tracts. These Census tracts were characterized by having 50% or more of the households with incomes below 60% of the Area Median Gross Income or have poverty rates of 25% or more. See Map of St. Louis’ Qualified Census Tracts

Moving Forward

As the remaining SLFRF funds are dispersed by RAC, new initiatives and community input are driving positive change in St. Louis’ arts and culture sector. In 2023, RAC launched a new Research & Evaluation team to make more robust arts and culture data available to arts sector stakeholders. Beginning in 2024, RAC will turn all non-ARPA funded grants to artists and arts organizations into unrestricted funds. RAC will also accept program support grant applications from non-arts organizations aiming to produce arts-related programming in the St. Louis region. Further, RAC will offer two grant opportunities per year for artists. These new and improved initiatives developed over the course of the pandemic are intended to improve artistic offerings in the St. Louis community, provide strong evidence in support of trust-based philanthropy and catalyze more public and private investment in the arts and culture sector. See Future Efforts of RAC

As the leading public catalyst for arts and culture in St. Louis, the Regional Arts Commission (RAC) leverages the power of creativity to strengthen and enrich its community. RAC envisions a region where every resident has the freedom, resources, and opportunities to enjoy a full creative life – to share and celebrate their stories, art, and culture and feel a sense of belonging wherever they live, work, or play.  

For nearly 40 years, RAC has distributed more than 7,000 grants investing over $100 million to build a world-class regional arts and culture community. Visit the RAC Website