During the COVID-19 pandemic, many entertainment venues and events went dark. Arts events, live music and festivals all but vanished.
The Sedona Arts Center closed for in-person events from March 2020 until May of this year, when it hosted a small gathering for its Patron Circle members.
On Aug. 4, SAC put on its first outdoor event, Celebrate Sedona, when close to 150 people attended.
On Monday, Aug. 23, the Sedona Arts Center had something more to celebrate: It received $393,313 from the Shuttered Venue Operators Grant.
This federal grant was part of the American Rescue Plan Act, established to keep businesses afloat and workers on payroll. Initially, this plan was for large music venues and for-profit events but eventually included nonprofit venues as well.
“It is a huge relief for us to have that money and provide stability for our organization. We were essentially closed for in-person events since March 2020,” SAC Executive Director Julie Richard said.
On Friday, Aug. 27, the office of U.S. Rep. Tom O’Halleran [D-District 1] announced that venues in Congressional District 1 would receive $4,748,900 in SVOG funds.
O’Halleran voted to establish the program, which provides support to businesses in the music and entertainment sector that were forced to shut their doors due to pandemic restrictions.
“As a lifelong lover of music, I know that live performance and art have the power to heal, to bring us together and to expand our world view, as well as the power to stimulate the economies of growing states like Arizona,” O’Halleran stated in a press release. “Independent venues were some of the first places to close and the last to open; when we push forward again as a nation, we cannot do so starved of the experiences that bring us together.”
From the SVOG, $9.04 billion was distributed nationwide. Arizona received $194,017,734 for live venues, live performing arts organizations museums, movie operators, live venue promoters and theatrical producers.
The Sedona Art Center was the only nonprofit organization to receive the SVOG in Sedona. Richard was excited about receiving the funding.
“Over the next several months, as we get confirmation where we are going to go, there are a lot of things to invest in including programs, events, as well as the building, and we are going to need matching funding as well because the money that we are getting is not going to be enough,” she said. ”We have about $2 million worth of deferred maintenance and building projects that need to happen, so this is really a great thing to get. We definitely need more funding to help us with all of these issues.”
Some of the issues Richard may be referring to, in addition to the structure of the Art Barn, is the parking lot.
In a March blog post on the SAC website, Richard stated, “Shortly after I arrived, I started meeting with staff and board members to determine their priorities, concerns and wishes for the future of SAC.
“An urgent issue that came up was the deterioration of our parking lot and the retaining wall that holds it up. We have been meeting with contractors and hope to get a firmer grip on the cost involved in replacing/repairing it in the coming weeks.
“In the meantime, we have blocked off much of the lower parking lot due to safety concerns.
Parking is still available in the field lot and between the gallery and barn.”
Richard has been director since February, moving from Maine. She was the executive director of the Maine Arts Commission and president and CEO of the West Valley Arts Council that served the 13 cities and towns in the West Valley of Phoenix. Additionally, Richard is knowledgeable in grant writing.
“I have been involved in Advocacy National League for many years. Actually, I sat on a National Council for Americans for the Arts and … I was on weekly calls with them throughout the pandemic just tracking various relief bills and how to navigate them and getting the word out to our constituents. This was just in part and parcel to that, so when the American Rescue Plan came out, I just asked my finance manager to track it and keep our eyes open and she was aware when it would be open and we just applied and received the money,” she said.
In addition to the federal funds, SAC also had two Paycheck Protection Program grants and a COVID-19 EIDL Loan, which provides economic relief to small businesses and nonprofit organizations that have experienced a temporary loss of revenue.
“The SVOG is retroactively paying our expenses from the pandemic …. I can’t say yet what we are going to spend it on. I can tell you that there is about 25 years’ worth of deferred maintenance on our building that needs to happen.
“There are plenty of things we can spend the money on. We also have created a lot of new programs this year that we are hoping to get off the ground.
“We are also going after quite a few American Rescue Plan grants as well, but we won’t know about those until January,” Richard said.
Richard said that so far she has applied for 28 grants since February, in comparison to only four grants that have been applied for in the past.
“We are applying for more grants than we ever have before here at this organization,” she said. “I am trying to bring a bigger focus on my organization in particular at the state and national levels. Sedona has somewhat not been as aware or as participative in advocacy at the state and national levels and we have a really powerful story to tell as well as more information and data to share with constituents and with our elected officials that can really help tell the story in support of the arts. So, I think that it is part of our responsibility as professional art organizations in this community and we will be doing more of that as well. That’s definitely been a gap here,” she said.
In addition to the SVOG, SAC also accepted a $5,000 grant from the Arizona Commission of the Arts to participate in a rural and aging cohort that will launch in a couple of weeks.
Richard has been planning new programs and events for this year including a program for older adults, a youth public art program, a “birdie style” fundraising event, a tailgate quick draw and launching “Vision and Sound,” an experience that will celebrate African-American artists and culture. She also has been active in raising staff salaries to a state standard, something she saw as another gap here.
“We need to be more professional and we are getting there. I really see the future being bright and I am excited to be able to lead this organization through that.”
“We are just starting to ramp up again,” Richard said. “When you have an arts organization that is used to having a lot of events and programs happening all of the time, and in-person workshops, which really are not totally ramping up again until probably late September, early October, it takes a toll on your revenue streams. So our donors and the income we received from the gallery and the in-person ceramic classes throughout the pandemic certainly kept us going during the pandemic.”
