The pandemic has created significant challenges for organizations with business models centered on in-person engagement. The arts and culture sector has been particularly strained, forced to reimagine what engagement looks like in the pandemic. Data from Grantmakers in Arts shows that as of the end of 2020 63% of creatives were unemployed due to the pandemic.
According to a survey by Americans for the Arts, an estimated $14.6 billion was lost in the arts and culture sector in 2020 due to the impact of COVID-19. Throughout the pandemic Michigan philanthropy has been leading through crisis, providing more flexibility to nonprofit partners, creating new partnerships and deepening collaboration to support the nonprofit sector and the communities we serve.
Several CMF members have also been working closely with arts and culture organizations to ensure they can continue providing community engagement opportunities in the pandemic and beyond.
As the pandemic unfolded, CMF connected with the Community Foundation for Southeast Michigan (CFSEM) to learn more about their partnership with CultureSource, a member association for nonprofit arts and cultural organizations in Southeast Michigan. CFSEM and CultureSource worked together in launching the COVID-19 Arts and Creative Community Assistance Fund, a regional fund supported by a dozen CMF members to assist the cultural sector during the COVID-19 crisis.
Recently, CFSEM announced that five organizations will receive $55,000 from the assistance fund for projects that creatively connect with their audiences while adhering to social distancing regulations. CFSEM has also continued to administer Staging Change Detroit, a joint effort with the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation where members of 10 professional theater organizations in Detroit joined together in a cohort designed to network and develop strategies to grow Detroit’s theater scene.
The Max M. & Marjorie S. Fisher Foundation partnered with a Detroit theater organization, Shakespeare in Detroit (SiD) for their 2021 Summer Conservatory. A special youth-lead production of “Romeo and Juliet” revisits the classic Shakespearean tale featuring youth actors from the city of Detroit and will be recorded and offered virtually.
“The foundation believes that this is a critical time to continue supporting the arts community. This is a chance to double-down on support to our existing partners, to practice active listening and to deepen community engagement by responding to needs that are brought to our attention,” Chelsea R. Landry, program partner at the Fisher Foundation, told CMF.
