Coronavirus is taking a huge toll on the arts, but you can help the fight

Even though we’ve been told to think globally and act locally, it was sometimes a difficult concept to grasp. Not anymore. A global pandemic with dire consequences for our own community has made the global/local connection real.

Many of us are reasonably safe and secure. We can shelter in place, buy the things we need, and hope that we, our families, friends and neighbors aren’t stricken with the virus. A significant number of people in our community are those deemed essential. They haven’t stopped working and are putting in long hours at great risk. They have become our heroes.

As we wait this out, we know we are the lucky ones who will have a job, go back to school, or enjoy our retirement when this is over and life returns to normal. But for too many in our community this “inconvenience” that the majority of us are dealing with is a disaster for them.

This crisis has had a devastating impact for the arts and culture sector. With events, concert halls, galleries, studios, museums and programs forced to shut down, working artists and performers have lost the means to support themselves and their families. The nonprofits that support them are also in dire straits.

Without immediate action, individual artists and the arts organizations which support them could sustain irreparable damage.

LexArts, in partnership with Blue Grass Community Foundation, will address the urgent need of nonprofit arts organizations, artists, and performers living, working, creating and/or performing in the LexArts/BGCF common service area by taking immediate action to deploy financial resources through the Arts Resilience Initiative.

Focused on lost income, the fund will quickly provide one-time relief to eligible artists and arts organizations on a first-come, first-served basis. Leading the list of Arts Resilience Initiative donors is The Knight Foundation Donor Advised Charitable Fund at Blue Grass Community Foundation, which is putting up a $50,000 match opportunity to challenge the community to rise to the occasion and support local arts.

Additional initial gifts include $15,000 from the Jenna and Matthew Mitchell Family Foundation, $10,000 from the EE Murry Family Foundation, $11,111.11 from The Groovalution, a gift from Stockyard, LLC, and $10,000 from The Fund for Greater Lexington, a community endowment at Blue Grass Community Foundation.

Thanks to the support of these generous donors, the fund is able to move swiftly and issue a first round of grants totaling $30,000 to the LexArts 2019/2020 General Operating Support Partners: the Carnegie Center for Literacy and Learning, Central Kentucky Youth Orchestras, the Lexington Art League, Lexington Children’s Theater, Lexington Philharmonic and the Living Arts & Science Center.

The arts have played a major role in the revitalization of Lexington. Won’t you join us in supporting the working artists and the entities that bring art to life in our community? It’s easy: go online to bgcf.org or call 859.225.3343 to contribute to the Arts Resilience Initiative.

And please remember as you review your discretionary “giving” budget, it is important to provide relief monies, but also equally important to make sure our arts organizations can continue to produce after we’ve maneuvered through this crisis. Of necessity, LexArts will continue to conduct its annual Fund for the Arts Campaign at this time. To donate go online to: lexarts.org/GIVE or call 859.255.2951

Fran Taylor currently chairs the board of Blue Grass Community Foundation, is immediate past chair of LexArts Fund for the Arts Campaign and is the owner of Lexington Silver. John Cioci currently chairs the board of LexArts and is Vice President and Commercial Banker at WesBanco.