Forsyth County ARPA Funding
About the Program
In March 2022, the Forsyth County Board of Commissioners earmarked $4.5 million from the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) to be managed by Arts Council of Winston-Salem & Forsyth County. In January 2023, Arts Council received a contract from Forsyth County Government and began making allocations to provide aid to the local arts and cultural sector, including arts and cultural organizations and artist small businesses. The funding supports recovery, new revitalization and expansion of community-based arts programming, arts workforce development programs, and technical assistance. Between January and September 2023, Arts Council’s Public Support and Community Engagement Committee reviewed hundreds of requests totaling more than was available through these once-in-a-lifetime ARPA funds. The below summarizes projects approved by Arts Council’s Public Support and Community Engagement Committee thus far. At this time, we are not accepting new requests for ARPA funding.
Committee members: Jake Wharton, Chair, Jim DeCristo, Kenneth Pettigrew, and Talitha Vickers. Arts Council staff oversight: Chase Law, Rebecca Bender, Shannon Stokes, and Cécile Boynton.
Forsyth County ARPA Awards/Allocations
Award Recipient | Project Description | Amount Awarded/Allocated | Populations Served |
|---|---|---|---|
Arts Council of Winston-Salem & Forsyth County | Artist Micro-contracts (please note: this has not been awarded. It's been set aside as a fund for artists and will be launched in the beginning of 2024.) | $50,000 | 27101 |
Arts Council of Winston-Salem & Forsyth County | An Arts Council program with a focus on arts and education expansion to support teacher art supplies and school enrichment programs through microgrants. | $125,000 | Focus on Schools in Forsyth County area codes: 27101, 27105, 27127, 27107 |
Arts Council of Winston-Salem & Forsyth County | Support community-based projects focused on arts and wellness in Forsyth County focused on the national "Arts For EveryBody" project. | $125,000 | 27101 |
Arts Council of Winston-Salem & Forsyth County | Arts Council Marketing Fellowship | $25,000 | 27101 |
Arts Council of Winston-Salem and Forsyth County | Remaining funds will be used to support professional development in our community or special projects that are in line with the approved ARPA buckets for support. | $33,898 | takes place in 27101; and serves multiple Forsyth County zip codes |
Arts District of Winston-Salem | Support of ADWS and their mission to connect with and amplify diverse voices and visions, bringing them together at the heart of our city through events like ArtCrush. | $40,000 | 27101 |
Authoring Action: Voices from the Dwelling | Authoring Action partners with The Dwelling congregation to develop an engagement that will amplify the voices of Winston-Salem’s homeless and housing insecure. | $90,000 | 27101 |
Bookmarks | Support of Book with Purpose, a program designed to bring people from different walks of life together in learning and discussion on the themes of identity, and belonging. | $42,500 | 27101, 27127, 27106, 27284 |
Cashavelly Morrison | Songbird Supper Club, a free monthly event to empower women's authentic expression, curated by Cashavelly Morrison at West Salem Public House. | $30,000 | 27101 |
Center for Creative Economy | Capacity building funds to support two paid programmatic interns over two years. | $125,000 | 27101 |
Charlene Hunt | NC Native American Cultures A to Z - A colorful picture book highlighting the cultural preservation of NC Native Americans through a contemporary lens. | $6,000 | Forsyth County and Tribal Communities. |
Chase Clark | “Chase at Wake” can be best described as a breakthrough podcast detailing the life of a student of color navigating life at Wake Forest University. | $4,000 | 27109, 27235 |
Timeline
Application Deadline: As of June 2023, we are not accepting any new applications.
Please Note: All applications and required supporting documents must be submitted via the Submittable Grants Portal.
Review of Application: Applications will be reviewed by Arts Council Public Support and Community Engagement Committee on the 3rd Wednesday of every month. To be considered at the monthly review meeting, applications must be submitted by the 5th of the month.
Award Notification: By the end of each month the application was submitted.
Project Period: All projects must be completed by December 31, 2024
Reporting: Monthly reporting will be required as outlined in the Eligibility Documents below.
Eligibility Criteria
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Must be an organization, business entity or individual artist that resides and/or produce most of their program and services in Winston-Salem/Forsyth County.
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ARPA contract recipients must acknowledge the receipt of eligibility documents for the ARPA Fund Application, and agree to comply to all guidelines, procedure and policies of this contract award process
Evaluation
Arts Council staff will review all applications to ensure their eligibility. All eligible applications are evaluated by Arts Council Public Support and Community Engagement Committee on the 3rd Wednesday of every month.
Applications will be reviewed and evaluated based on the following guidelines:
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BUDGET: Is the budget clear with detailed expenses? Does the project budget align with the project narrative?
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SUSTAINABILITY: Is the sustainability plan for this project clear and feasible?
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COMMUNITY IMPACT: Is it clear as to the constituency being served in this project? How does this align with Arts Council strategic visioning roadmap.
Note: At least 50% of the ARPA Funds must serve project initiatives in disproportionately impacted communities, and provide initiatives in areas that are at or below 200% of the Federal Poverty level. More information about the Federal Poverty level can be found in our resource drive below.
For ARPA Contract Recipients
Please note that part of ARPA compliance is that Contractors will give proper credit to Arts Council of Winston-Salem and Forsyth County and Forsyth County Government with use of logos in all publicity, including on flyers or advertisements and will use the following tagline acknowledgement:
“The Project Name is a sponsored project of the Arts Council of Winston-Salem & Forsyth County and funded through ARPA supported by the Forsyth County Board of Commissioners.”
You can share all project marketing and/or promotional information with our CMO and VP, Development, Katie Hall, khall@intothearts.org.
Requirements
Contact
General Questions:
Shannon Stokes
Vice President of Strategy and Community Impact
(336) 747-1416
To Schedule a Call with Grants Team:
Cécile Boynton
Community Grants and Services Manager
(336) 747-1412