Toward Solvency and Wholeness The Forum and NEH help humanities and cultural organizations weather the pandemic
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s March came to a close, Alaska’s museums, community centers, libraries, and cultural organizations found themselves shuttered by COVID-19. As we braced for the resulting loss in revenue from cancelled ticket sales, workshops and tours, educational programs, venue rentals, and fee-for-service work, the federal CARES act rolled out relief funding that included money to help sustain the $878-billion arts and cultural economic sector through the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) and the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA). NEH received $75 million in funds diawarded across the state rected to reach “large and small cultural organizations, as well as educators, curators, scholars, filmmakers, and other humanists.” Approximately 40 percent of the appropriation, or $30 million, was sent directly to the 56 state and jurisdictional humanities councils to support local cultural nonprofits and educational programming around the country. As Alaska’s state humanities council, the Forum led the distribution and administration of Alaska’s share of this federal funding through a new COVID-19 Emergency Relief Grant program. Working quickly to create a process that would get support out to organizations in need, the Forum opened applications in late April. Through these grants, a total of $425,750 has been awarded to 73 nonprofit and tribal organizations across the state to be used for rent and facility expenses, utilities, staffing, and other operational costs associated with maintaining organizations’ solvency. nonprofit “The Forum is honored to be able to play a role and tribal in supporting organizations dedicated to preserving organizations and sharing Alaska’s unique cultures and history and to engaging people in civic dialogue and meaningful conversation,” reflected the Forum’s President and CEO, Kameron Perez-Verdia. “Together, we form a powerful network of libraries, museums, theaters, historical associations, media outlets, councils, and educational and tribal organizations. Our archives and exhibitions, resources, and public programming support access, education, and connection among people in communities across Alaska.” Grantees expressed gratitude and relief for this funding. Some were able to piece together grants from a number of supporting agencies and sources; others found it difficult to find support available to arts and humanities organizations. NEH Chairman Jon Parrish Peede reflected on the vitality of the funding in a statement in late March: “To the extent that healing is to come during and after this pandemic, it will be through humanities fields from philosophy to literature to history to religious studies— through the act of documenting, preserving, sharing, and reflecting— that our communities will move toward a greater sense of wholeness.”
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A L A S K A H U M A N I T I E S F O R U M S U M M E R 2020
COVID-19 EMERGENCY RELIEF GRANTEES 49 Writers, Inc. Affinityfilms, Inc. Alaska Aviation Museum Alaska Children’s Institute for the Performing Arts Alaska Geographic Alaska Jewish Museum Alaska Law Enforcement Museum Alaska Native Heritage Center Alaska Veterans Museum Alaska Women Speak Alutiiq Heritage Foundation Anchorage Community Theatre Anchorage Museum Association Artchange, Inc. Athabascan Fiddlers Association Best Beginnings Bethel Broadcasting, Inc. (KYUK) Bethel Council on the Arts Bristol Bay Historical Society Bunnell Street Arts Center Cape Decision Lighthouse Society Capital Community Broadcasting (KTOO Public Media) Center for Alaskan Coastal Studies Chapter 100 of Veterans for Peace Clausen Memorial Museum
