Federal coronavirus aid will soon be headed to arts and humanities organizations in Washington.
Humanities Washington will be the conduit for money for humanities groups. The state Arts Commission will send out for arts groups.
Julie Ziegler from Humanities Washington says the grants will help recoup the money lost when organizations had to cancel events.
“Unlike most of our grants, which tend to be project-oriented, we are hoping to offer general operating support to organizations so they will have the flexibility to use these funds to keep staff on, to pay utility bills, to give them the most flexibility we can and to recover from this," Ziegler said.
Most organizations, she says, have been creative in developing ways to keep their supporters engaged. Humanities Washington developed a series it calls Cabin Fever Questions.
“To try to give people some prompts they could use when they’re sitting around the dinner table or sitting in their living room with their roommates, who they didn’t expect to be quarantined with. They’re thought-provoking questions that give people an opportunity to discuss some really big ideas," Ziegler said.
She says she’s not sure yet how much her organization will have for grants. She says the organization is developing a streamlined application process.