$16 Million for Arts Nonprofits in Final Budget

$16 MILLION for NC ARTS COUNCIL GRANTS to NONPROFIT ARTS ORGANIZATIONS was included in the final state budget, passed by the NC General Assembly and signed into law by the Governor on Thursday, November 18^th. The budget allocates an additional $11 million to Grassroots Grants ($10 million in FY2022 and $1 million in FY2023) to “provide grants for economic assistance to local arts nonprofits organizations impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic,” while an additional $5 million for General Grants would be allocated in FY2022 to “provide grants to nonprofit arts organizations to address financial hardships, support programming, and ensure events and facilities are safe for the public.”

Arts North Carolina is grateful to all the legislators, advocates, artists, arts leaders and arts lovers that have worked so hard over the last year to help make this unprecedented allocation possible.

In addition to the NC Arts Council funding, other arts entities within the NC Department of Natural and Cultural Resources (NCDNCR) were allocated funds for operations, relief, and capital projects. Several arts nonprofits secured funding for capital projects, for which there is no formal granting process through the NC Arts Council or any other state agency. Legislators also allocated operating and relief funds, often unsolicited, directly to a handful of arts nonprofits. Arts NC discourages this practice because the NC Arts Council distributes state government funds for operations and programming to organizations equitably across all 100 counties, with appropriate oversight and measured accountability. Arts NC has created a summary of all arts related allocations from both the state’s general fund and federal American Rescue Plan funding in this two-year spending legislation.