The state Department of Parks, Heritage and Tourism is accepting applications from nonprofit arts groups through June 8 for grants that are financed with federal coronavirus funds.
The grants will range from $1,000 to $15,000.
After the Legislative Council signed off Wednesday on an appropriation totaling $441,500 for the grants, the department started accepting applications at noon Thursday.
The deadline is 4:30 p.m. June 8, said department spokeswoman Melissa Whitfield.
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"Now ... the Arts Council can get a grants review committee together," composed of arts council staff members from other states, she said.
"We would really like to get the funds in the hands of the arts organizations that need it by the end of June," Whitfield said.
In the past, the Arts Council has presented grants of more than $10,000 for legislative review, and "we are trying to determine if this will be required for this particular grant," she said.
The department originally announced that it would begin accepting applications May 18. But after consulting with state lawmakers, department Secretary Stacy Hurst decided to postpone the start until the Legislative Council acted on her request to give the agency the authority to spend the money.
The department's Arkansas Arts Council received the money from the National Endowment for the Arts for covid-19 relief for nonprofit arts organizations. The grant is part of the $75 million that Congress appropriated to the National Endowment for the Arts as part of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act.
Metro on 05/29/2020