Fund for the Arts taking applications for Emergency Support Grants for Artists

Applications open to performing artists living in the Greater Louisville area

By Elizabeth Kramer

Reader — If you enjoy articles about regional arts and creativity, share them and/or sign up here: artsbureau.substack.com.

By early Monday, Louisville’s Fund for the Arts had nearly a dozen applications for its Emergency Support Grants for Artists, which opened late last week. Requests may be for up to $500.

Courtesy Fund for the Arts

“We know that every artist has had a lot of their income either disrupted or halted and so really the focus is first on the critical needs around helping people who are struggling for basic needs — shelter, food, medicine,” said Fund President and CEO Christen Boone.

The Fund will begin awarding the grants next week, said Boone.

The Robert & Clarita Whitney Fund (overseen by The Community Foundation of Louisville) has contributed half of the $60,000 for the grants. The other donors (GE Appliances, a Haier Company, David Jones Jr. & Mary Gwen Wheeler, LG&E/KU Foundation, Lift A Life Foundation, David Jones Jr. & Mary Gwen Wheeler, and Mary & Bob Rounsavall) allowed their existing donations to the Fund be redirected to this effort.

Boone noted the Fund has taken this and other actions to focus on addressing the COVID-19 pandemic’s effect on the Louisville arts. The Fund’s primary focus remains on organizations, she said. While distributing this money, Boone said the Fund will coordinate with Elevator Artist Resource, which announced Saturday that it is providing grants to artists of any discipline living in the Greater Louisville area and throughout Kentucky from a $75,000 and is raising more money for this purpose.

Meantime, the Fund has reorganized its traditional annual campaign and increased this year’s goal to $10,000, Boone said. The board of directors also has bolstered the campaign’s leadership by naming Campbell Brown, president and managing director of Brown-Foreman’s Old Forester, to join current campaign manager David Wombwell, market president for US Bank. Brown is a descendent of the Brown-Foreman founder George Garvin Brown. Boone said Brown and Wombwell have ties to corporate and philanthropic community.

Note: This post was updated on April 9 to include a link to the Fund for the Arts’ press release about the current campaign.