Methow Arts and Icicle Creek Center for the Arts to Award $72k in Artist Grants

THANKS TO ICICLE FUND. JUST IN TIME FOR THE HOLIDAYS!

The applications will open TUES, DEC 15 via SurveyMonkey.

CLICK HERE FOR APPLICATION – Artists living in Okanogan and Douglas Counties -APPLY HERE.

Artists living in Chelan and Grant Counties – APPLY HERE.

Thanks to Icicle Fund, Methow Arts and Icicle Creek Center for the Arts will get to provide 72 artists across four counties with critical funding during a very difficult year of COVID-19. And importantly they will be able to start getting funds into artists’ hands in time for this Holiday Season!

Methow Arts Alliance will review and award $36,000 in artist grants in both Okanogan County and Douglas County and Icicle Creek Center for the Arts will award the same amount for artist grants in Chelan and Grant Counties. 72 artists who lost business income due to closures and restrictions caused by the COVID-19 Pandemic will be awarded grants of $1,000 each. Artists from these counties should apply to the organization who is managing the county in which they reside.

Identified by the Icicle Fund’s Art & History Committee as a vital need, the goal of the grants is to help *North Central WA artists who have been severely impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Methow Arts and Icicle Creek Center for the Arts were asked to design a plan that would reach artists in need and manage the funds, award grants and work with leaders in the Arts to disseminate the information and serve on grant panels. After submitting a plan and application the Icicle Fund Board of Directors approved the funds to be launched in December of 2020 into the coming year.

Rural artists continue to be deeply impacted as events, conferences, Holiday Markets, and performances across the country continue to cancel. They are impacted by hospitality industry and retail/artist studio closures, school closures, travel restrictions, continued lay-offs and social distancing recommendations. And Icicle Fund, Methow Arts, Icicle Creek Center for the Arts recognize that our rural artists are not eligible for the majority of emergency grants that target King-County or urban artists across the country.

WHO IS ELIGIBLE

Application selection and awards will prioritize working NCW* artists who report:
• Lost income/wages due to COVID-19
• Lost income due to cancelled events, conferences, school closures and performance cancellations.
• Difficulty in meeting living expenses due to the pandemic (Rent/mortgage, utilities, food, medical bills and other living expenses.)

APPLICANTS MUST BE:
• 21 years of age or older or financially independent;
• A resident of NCW* at the time of application and payment (residing in Okanogan, Chelan, Grant or Douglas County;)
• Individual artists of any discipline. (Presenters, curators, organizers, and producers are not eligible).

APPLICANTS MUST NOT BE:
• Applying on behalf of a company, nonprofit, organization, community group, ensembles, or collective;
• Current Icicle Fund, Icicle Center for the Arts, Methow Arts staff or Board of Directors.

The easy to complete application will launch via SurveyMonkey on December 15th on each organization’s websites. Artists may also submit an application by printing and mailing them to the organization. As mentioned above, artists residing in Okanogan or Douglas Counties will apply with Methow Arts (methowarts.org/methow-arts-icicle-fund-artist-grants) and artists residing in Chelan and Grant Counties will apply with Icicle Center for the Arts (icicle.org).

For Methow Arts this is the second round of artists grants they were able to provide this year. In April Methow Arts awarded over $45,000 to local artists thanks to some very special anonymous donors.

We thank Icicle Fund for this generous funding and making it possible for us to offer these critical funds to our community. If you have an interest in providing additional funding for this grant please contact our Director Amanda Jackson Mott at amanda@methowartsalliance.org, 509-341-4413.

DATE: Application launches Dec 15. Applications will be reviewed every 2 weeks and awarded until funding is 100% allocated. CONTACT: amanda@methowartsalliance.org, 509-341-4413.

If you are interested in contributing to this fund or starting a new fund for a different NCW community contact our executive director, Amanda Jackson Mott, amanda@methowartsalliance.org, 509-341-4413 or DONATE HERE.