$175,000 coming to Orchestra Iowa in state CARES grant

The Gazette

Orchestra Iowa will be receiving $175,000 and the Iowa Children's Museum in Coralville will be getting $114,000 in one-time state grants aimed at assisting arts and cultural organizations and artists hit hard by the pandemic.

The $7 million in grants, announced this week, comes from the $1.25 billion Iowa received from the federal Coronavirus, Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act.

The awards, which averaged just over $25,000, went to 267 cultural organizations and 152 artists in the state.

The Iowa Department of Cultural Affairs received 550 grant requests, totaling $36 million, by the Dec. 11 deadline set for the wards. The Iowa Arts & Culture Recovery Program was announced Dec. 2.

The grants may be used to offset operating expenses and costs associated with reopening in-person or adapting programs to virtual formats.

Corridor Grants

The grant recipients include 15 organizations in Johnson County and 19 in Linn County.

Among those awarded were:

' Johnson County:

Iowa Children's Museum, $114,000; University of Hancher Auditorium, $64,500; Englert Theatre, $62,000; FilmScene, $59,500; Coralville Center for the Performing Arts, $42,000; Gabe's Live Music Venue, $23,800; Summer of the Arts, $22,400; and Riverside Theatre, $15,300.

' Linn County:

Orchestra Iowa, $175,000; Theatre Cedar Rapids, $142,200; National Czech & Slovak Museum & Library, $84,500; Cedar Rapids Museum of Art, $72,600; Brucemore, $34,000; Iowa Ceramics Center and Glass Studio, $27,300; Indian Creek Nature Center, $19,300; Eastern Iowa Arts Academy, $18,300; Cedar Rapids Opera Theatre, $17,600; African American Museum of Iowa, $14,400; Legion Arts, $14,000; and McGrath Amphitheatre, $11,000.

In addition, the National Motorcycle Museum in Anamosa received $18,400.

The eight largest grants - $175,000 - went to Orchestra Iowa in Cedar Rapids; the National Mississippi River Museum and Aquarium in Dubuque; Blank Park Zoo, Des Moines Performing Arts, Des Moines Botanical Garden and the Science Center of Iowa, all in Des Moines; Des Moines Metro Opera, Indianola; and the Putnam Museum and Science Center in Davenport.

Losses

According to information provided by grant applicants, cultural organizations have lost a combined $46.4 million in income since the pandemic began, state officials said.

In a typical year, Iowa's creative sector accounts for 2.3 percent of the state's economy, according to research by the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis.

Iowa's arts, culture, history and creative industries, including film and media, employ more than 42,000 Iowans, working in more than 5,000 nonprofit and for-profit businesses statewide.

A full list of grant recipients is available online at iowaculture.gov.