Like restaurants and retail, the arts have taken a big hit as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. Closed museums, galleries, schools, and event venues mean lost revenue for both arts organizations and individual artists. Despite these enormous challenges, we are encouraged by the uplifting responses and creative solutions offered by so many in our field. In the midst of this crisis, the Mississippi Arts Commission is committed to helping the arts sector weather this storm.

For current grantees who were approved for funding within the past fiscal year, we are working to finalize grant payments as quickly as possible. If you have questions about your grant, contact your program director.

For those who recently applied for a MAC grant by the deadline of March 9, 2020, we are on schedule in processing applications. Grant panel dates and times will be posted to the MAC website at arts.ms.gov/grants by April 13, 2020. Panels will be conducted remotely via webinar and will be publicly accessible. Awards will be announced during the first week of July 2020.

For those interested in upcoming grants, applications for MAC’s minigrants will open on May 1, 2020, with a deadline of June 1, 2020.

Other opportunities for funding:The economic relief package recently passed by Congress includes funding for the National Endowment for the Arts, a portion of which will be distributed to MAC and other state arts agencies. We will notify everyone as soon as this funding is available to our agency. You can learn more about the stimulus funding provided to the NEA here.

Disaster loan assistance for small businesses and eligible non-profits is available through the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA). More COVID 19 information and resources for the arts sector is available on MAC’s Emergency Preparedness page.

As more information becomes available, we will share it with you. The arts sector is full of brilliant, resilient, creative problem-solvers. We’ll get through this together. Stay artful!