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 |
|---|---|---|---|
Suzy McCalley | Support of Black and White project which unites Suzana, a Brazilian American singer-songwriter, and Mombaça, a seasoned musician to create an album of original music. | $20,000 | 27101, 27105 |
The AFAS Group | Support of ARTivity UNLEASHED and ABOUND, An Innovative and Welcoming Artistic Haven for the Community. Funds will support repairs of the ARTivity Park. | $50,000 | 27101 |
The Art SHAC | Support of The Art SHAC, a place where people in Winston-Salem and surrounding areas can get affordable, gently used art materials. | $20,000 | 27101, 27103, 27105 |
The Art of Laughter | Support of The Art of Laughter: A Comedy + Art Showcase that puts community artists in the spotlight created and curated by Visions Event Center. | $11,197 | 27101 |
The DOSE Artist Collective | Support of new and emerging works that touch on subjects of queer life, BIPOC diaspora, and creative freedom. | $68,000 | 27101, 27127, 27249 |
The Dream School Summer Filmmaking and Drone Camp | Funds will allow the Dream School to provide an introduction to Smartphone Photography and Filmmaking and an introduction to Drone Piloting. | $14,804 | 27101, 27105, 27107 |
The Körner's Folly Foundation | Support provided to activate accessible community spaces and increase capacity at Körner’s Folly Visitors Center. | $40,000 | 27284, 27107, 27009, 27051 |
The Queer Fear Film Festival | Support provided for the Queer Fear Film Festival, a 3-day hybrid film festival (in-person and virtual) showcasing new independent short and feature genre films. | $10,000 | 27101 |
Tonya Sheffield | Arts Council contracted with Tonya Sheffield and The Dream School to film the exhibit Straw Into Gold and the community artist talk back session with Rosa Johnson. | $5,000 | 27101 |
Tre4 Center of Fine Arts | Support of recording studio, topline melody writing, and music production project as an opportunity for teen to learn the process of audio production and topline production. | $75,000 | 27127 |
Triad Cultural Arts | Provide Capacity Building Funds to implement the work of Triad Cultural Arts and the hiring of a new executive director to replace its founding director. | $146,575 | 27105 |
United Way of Forsyth County | Support the Bridging 52 street mural project by paying local artists to create the LIVE UNITED art piece on the 4th street bridge that crosses over HWY 52. | $10,000 | 27105 |
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