East Bay and Oakland artists can get up to $2,000 apiece in unrestricted grant money, in a program from the same nonprofit that gave COVID-19 artists grants in SF.
San Francisco was among the first cities to carve out an “artists' bailout,” a $2.5 million effort whose proper name is the Arts Relief Program that was announced right when things got bad-bad in March and set aside $1.5 million for individual artist grants. That pile of grant money was administered by the Center for Cultural Innovation, who are at it again, as the Chronicle reports that a similar program will give $625,000 in grants to East Bay artists.
KPIX adds that it’s called the East Bay/Oakland Relief Fund for Individuals in the Arts, and it’s not just for Oakland. The grants are available to any “artists, teaching artists, culture bearers, and nonprofit arts workers” in Alameda or Contra Costa County affected by the pandemic, though about half of the grant money ($300,000) will be set aside specifically for Oakland residents. Grants will go as high as $2,000 per artist.
“We’re investing directly in our most vulnerable artists and culture workers, who have been incredibly hard hit by the COVID-19 crisis,” Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf said in a statement on the Kenneth Rainin Foundation website. “Arts and culture are woven into the fabric of Oakland. And the work of these culture placekeepers is needed more than ever to help us make sense of these difficult times.”
The Kenneth Rainin Foundation put together most of this grant money, with a few other arts foundations in the mix too. Applicants must be full-time residents of Alameda or Contra Costa County, and not receiving California unemployment benefits.
Applications are available online at the Center for Cultural Innovation website, but the application process closes on Friday, June 5 at 5 p.m. Grant winners will be notified on Friday, June 12.
Image: Mural by Trust Your Struggle collective, Image by Oakland Art Murmur via Facebook
