NEA CARES Act Funding for TN Arts

From Anne Pope, Executive Director –

The federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act recognizes that the nonprofit arts industry is an important sector of the U.S. economy. As previously published, Congress appropriated $75 million to the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) through the CARES Act. The NEA will award 40% of these funds directly to state and regional arts agencies. The CARES Act funding amount for the Tennessee Arts Commission is $474,800. CARES Act funds will be non-matching.

The Commission expects to subgrant 100% of the CARES Act funds. State staff are monitoring and reviewing on-going federal guidance and working with the Commission board to determine the most effective and efficient way to distribute these limited funds. For comparison, in FY2019, the Commission made grants of $5.5 million with a combination of state and federal funds to 778 individual nonprofit and public entities in all 95 Tennessee counties. More information on CARES Act funds will be distributed as soon as available.

The CARES Act designates the remaining 60% of the NEA funds for direct grants to nonprofit arts organizations all across the U.S. National competitive direct NEA grants of $50,000 to arts nonprofits will be announced by June 30th. Eligible organizations must apply for these grants by April 22, 2020. Visit the NEA guidelines by clicking here. Tennessee organizations that are NEA award recipients within the past four years and are eligible to apply directly to the NEA are encouraged to do so.