Arts organizations can seek funds to offset COVID-19 impact

A number of Las Cruces and Doña Ana County-based arts organizations will be eligible to apply for $1.5 million in state and federal funds to pay employees and independently contracted artists and arts administrators and educators across the state to help offset the impact of COVID-19.

The local organizations eligible to apply for the funds include A Children’s Theatre of the Mesilla Valley (ACT), the City of Las Cruces, the Doña Ana Arts Council (DAAC), Las Cruces Symphony Orchestra, Las Cruces Community Radio and Project in Motion modern and aerial dance company (PIM) of Las Cruces.

The funds will be allocated by New Mexico Arts, a division of the New Mexico Department of Cultural Affairs.

“We are going to have to exercise some caution when we begin to reopen the doors that were closed in March. So, keeping the arts funded and supported will still have some challenges as we continue to ensure we are attending to the basic needs in our community first and foremost,” said DAAC Executive Director Greg Smith.

“One of the ways we will rebuild jobs and a healthy economy here is through the arts, the creative economy,” Smith said. “In the immediacy of this crisis, it may be a struggle to see what happens once it has passed. However, that is precisely what many of us are compelled to do. Any vision for our future has to include the creative economy actively helping us get to a better place.”

“The future of the arts is as uncertain as the new vaccine we all hope for,” said PIM founder Hilary McDaniel-Douglas. “Likewise, there is no time that the arts and the inspiration they provide have been more necessary. We fall just a year short of being able to apply for NEA funding, so this is very needed.

Performing arts are being redefined as we speak, as this juncture has closed traditional means of revenue like live performance which we rely on for a large part of our income.”

“We are planning to apply for this funding,” said ACT Artistic Director Kelly King. “As a children's performing arts group, we feel strongly that our work is vital to the arts in Las Cruces. Local youth get their first taste of performing arts through groups such as ACT. Also, we are adamant in our mission to provide high quality theatre and film experience to children regardless of their socioeconomic, experience or ability levels.”

Arts and culture spending contribute about $6 billion each year to the state’s economy and have been “especially hard hit by COVID-19 closures,” New Mexico Arts said in a news release. An early and small sampling by respondents to a national arts survey shows that in February and March 2020 arts organizations in New Mexico suffered economic losses and/or incurred additional COVID-19 related expenses of more than $1.2 million, with 90 percent of arts organizations having canceled programming and 67 percent saying staff cuts are likely. A third of respondents said they are not confident their organizations will survive the impact of COVID-19.

The application period will close May 15, 2020. For more information on eligibility and for the application form, visit www.nmarts.org.