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Rocket Relief Fund

Posted by ArtsKC – Regional Arts Council ; Posted on 
Call to Artist; Grant Application - DEADLINE :  
Rocket Relief Fund
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A new emergency relief fund is now available for artists who have been adversely affected by the coronavirus pandemic. In response to the severe impact on Kansas City’s local artist community, Charlotte Street Foundation, Spencer Museum of Art, ArtsKC – Regional Arts Council, with underwriting from the Andy Warhol Foundation for Visual Arts and Theater League Kansas City, are partnering to provide $120,000 in emergency aid.

Artists can apply for Rocket Relief funds immediately through this linkBeginning May 1, ten eligible artists will be randomly selected each week to receive benefits until the funds are distributed. Applications may continue to be submitted and eligible applicants will be added to the pool until funds are distributed.

Applications will be accepted on an ongoing basis beginning immediately. Ten eligible artists will be randomly selected and notified on a weekly basis beginning May 1, and grants will continue each week until funds are depleted. To be entered for the first drawing on May 1, artists should plan to complete the application by 11:59 PM, April 24. Artists can still apply for the fund after April 24 to be eligible for future drawings. Applications will be accepted on a rolling basis as long as funds are available. Once an artist has entered an application, they will remain in the pool until all Rocket Relief funds are distributed. Artists with questions should email rocketrelief@charlottestreet.org for help regarding the application process.

The Rocket Relief fund aims to provide emergency support to individual artists in the Missouri/Kansas bi-state region within 80 miles of Kansas City. This grant is intended to help artists whose incomes have been impacted by the coronavirus pandemic and who need assistance with basic expenses such as food, rent, medical costs, and child care. Rocket Relief utilizes a lottery method that is weighted to prioritize applications based on emergency needs.

This fund is open to all self-identifying visual, multi-disciplinary, and performing artists within an 80-mile radius of Kansas City. Grant amounts are available as flat stipends of $1,000. Once artists have entered the pool and been confirmed as eligible, they will remain in the weekly selection process until all funds are distributed. Funds are for individual artists specifically and nonprofit entities are not eligible for funding.

The emergency aid grant is established by $60,000 in funds provided by the Andy Warhol Foundation for Visual Arts, $40,000 from Theater League of Kansas City, and $20,000 from ArtsKC Regional Arts Council.

“Artists are critical to our cultural vibrancy and sense of connection to one another. Our ongoing partnership with Charlotte Street and the Warhol Foundation allows us the great honor of providing direct support to artists in this challenging time,” said Spencer Museum Director Saralyn Reece Hardy.

“We’re excited to join the Charlotte Street Foundation, Andy Warhol Foundation, Arts KC, and Spencer Museum of Art in extending this help to our artistic community,” explained Theater League president Mark Edelman. “Actors, stage managers, directors, designers and backstage technicians forced out of work by this public health crisis need our support more than ever.”

“Artists are integral to our collective recovery. The Rocket Relief Grants will provide funding to individual artists, who are a key part of the region’s artistic success. ArtsKC is eager to join this funding partnership as one step toward securing the future of our vital arts community.” – Dana Knapp, President & CEO, ArtsKC – Regional Arts Council.

Rocket Relief has been made possible by the generosity of the Andy Warhol Foundation’s regional regranting program. The Warhol Foundation has authorized its re-granting partners to re-allocate the $100,000 grants typically used for administration and distribution of regranting funds (In our region, the Rocket Grants Program, administrated by Charlotte Street Foundation and the Spencer Museum of Art), to create and support facilitation of coronavirus emergency relief funds in their communities. As a result of this opportunity, the $60,000 annually allocated toward Rocket Grant awards will be distributed in emergency grants to visual and multidisciplinary artists in the Rocket Grants region. The Rocket Grant program will resume its intended project-based funding framework in 2021. Additionally, the generous funding and administrative support that has enabled this opportunity to be extended to all disciplines is being provided by ArtsKC and Theater League. At launch, $120,000 in total is available in grants to artists of all disciplines in the Rocket Grants region.

If you or your organization would like to contribute additional funds to this emergency grant program, please contact Charlotte Street Foundation’s Associate Director of Development at margaret@charlottestreet.org or ArtsKC’s Manager of Grants at hbeffa@artskc.org and indicate that you would like to contribute to the Rocket Relief.

Applications are only accepted online through the Call for Entry (CaFÉ) systemEmailed or hard copy submissions will not be accepted. The following eligibility requirements are addressed in the application.

Discipline

Discipline: Art, Dance, Film, Literary, Music, Theatre, Multi-Disciplinary