Arts United of Fort Wayne launches arts & culture fund

FORT WAYNE, Ind. (Inside INdiana Business) – Arts United of Greater Fort Wayne Inc. has launched the Arts & Culture Nonprofit Resilience Fund. The organization says the fund will support anchor arts and culture nonprofits as they reopen and reorganize their programs amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

Arts United says the fund will be used to create grants, benefiting up to 18 regional nonprofits. To date, $2.7 million has been committed to the Resilience Fund by the Edward D. & Ione Auer Foundation, The James Foundation, and the McMillen Foundation, among other donors.

“The impact of these organizations is profound, and they share a long history of working together in service to our community. Today, they are working hard to reopen programs as safely as possible,” said Doug Wood, board chair of Arts United. “Unfortunately, for a time, their audiences and revenues will continue to be much smaller than in the past. When we reach the end of the pandemic, we want to see our community’s level of cultural vibrancy return and our arts and cultural nonprofits positioned for growth and impact, not closure.”

Arts United says the grants will be distributed in September, and again in January and April 2021.

In addition to establishing the fund, Arts United is coordinating the Arts & Culture Reopening Guide. The organization says it is partnering with the Community Foundation of Greater Fort Wayne to offer rapid-action Artist Relief Grants.