ANN ARBOR, MI — The Ann Arbor Art Center has announced plans to use a $100,000 federal stimulus grant to add staff resources to reactivate and expand programs.
The nonprofit, located at 117 W. Liberty St. downtown, made the list of 567 arts organizations across the country recommended by the National Endowment for the Arts to receive a combined $57.8 million under the American Rescue Plan to help the arts and culture sector recover from the pandemic.
The Art Center has pivoted during the pandemic with both virtual and outreach programming, believing “art cannot be canceled,” President and CEO Marie Klopf said in a statement.
The center is proud its team remained intact and is thrilled to begin welcoming the community back for in-person programming, Klopf said, adding the federal funds will fuel a swift recovery by enabling and strengthening visual arts programming throughout the community.
The American Rescue Plan Act was signed into law in March 2021 and included $135 million for the arts. This is the third installment of arts funding from it.
“Our nation’s arts sector has been among the hardest hit by the COVID-19 pandemic,” NEA Chair Maria Rosario Jackson said in a statement. “The National Endowment for the Arts’ American Rescue Plan funding will help arts organizations rebuild and reopen. The arts are crucial to helping America’s communities heal, unite and inspire, as well as essential to our nation’s economic recovery.”
The NEA’s latest announcement included 10 organizations in Michigan expected to receive nearly $1.4 million.
In addition to the Ann Arbor Art Center, others on the list include Access on behalf of the Arab American National Museum in Dearborn ($100,000), the Detroit Public Theatre ($100,000), Heritage Works in Detroit ($150,000), the Michigan Opera Theatre in Detroit ($150,000), the Music Hall Center for the Performing Arts in Detroit ($150,000), the Sphinx Organization in Detroit ($150,000), the Interlochen Center for the Arts ($150,000), the Kalamazoo Institute of Arts ($150,000) and the Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians in Peshawbestown ($150,000).
For more information on the Ann Arbor Art Center, including upcoming events, classes and visual art opportunities, visit annarborartcenter.org.
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