New fund may help struggling Houston artists
The Greater Houston Area Arts Relief Fund is trying to raise $100,000 to provide emergency living assistance to local art workers who have lost income during the COVID-19 pandemic.
And that’s not enough, apparently. The effort paints a grim picture of a once-vibrant community in trouble. During its first 16 days, the fund raised more than $77,000, and grant requests totaled about $310,000.
“We are not talking about funds for art-making,” said John Abodeely, CEO of the Houston Arts Alliance, which organized the fund with a coalition of other local arts agencies and is administering its grants of up to $1,000 each. “We’re talking about help for one of the most economically vulnerable populations of workers — people who are trying to feed families, pay rent or mortgages and get health care. The situation is dire. Artists haven’t had funds for basic needs for two months, and they are falling through the cracks.”
The Alliance, which manages the city’s arts contracts, is partnering on the project with the Mayor’s Office of Cultural Affairs, Dance Source Houston, East End Cultural District, 5th Ward Cultural Arts District, Fresh Arts/ Arts District Houston, Galveston Historical Foundation, Houston First Corporation, Houston Museum District, Mid-America Arts Alliance's Engage Houston, Midtown Cultural District, Theater District Houston and the University of Houston’s Kathrine G. McGovern College of the Arts.
Artists continue to apply, and Abodeely intends to keep them open as long as necessary. “It’s very important for us to understand the scale of the damage and to know who needs help, so we can connect people with other resources,” he said.
Triage in the face of tragedy
The immediate assistance is merely triage for more massive, still-to-be-tallied losses that are piling up for Houston’s artists and arts nonprofits. “We hope we can get back to work by fall, but what that work looks like will be different,” Abodeely said.
Acknowledging the severity of the crisis, the city is accelerating projects that will provide work to selected visual artists and fabricators, although not immediately. The Mayor’s Office of Cultural
Affairs has opened a call for proposals for three permanent artworks it is commissioning for the Alief Community Center, which is to be built on a redeveloped 38-acre, active urban sports park at 11903 Bellaire Blvd.
Each piece will have a budget of up to $262,633, including expenses. The commissions will be deployed as quickly as possible from construction funds that are restricted for that purpose, said Debbie McNulty, director of the Mayor’s Office of Cultural Affairs. She expects to fast-track other commissions for the city’s art collection soon.
Arts agencies everywhere are struggling to raise funds during the pandemic, but the collapse of the oil and gas market adds a layer of woe in Houston. An economic impact survey from
How to help
To donate to the Greater Houston Area Arts Relief fund, go to bit.ly/GHAAReliefFund or contact the Houston Arts Alliance :713-527-9330; 5280 Caroline, Suite 100, Houston, TX 77004.
March 27 shows nearly $50 million in real and anticipated losses to area arts nonprofits, who have canceled at least 75 percent of their contracts.
Hotel occupancy and sales taxes, a major source of public funds, will be significantly lower this year. Arts organizations also have lost donations. And canceling ticketed events has cost them nearly $35 million in earned income.
Massive losses of income
All that creates a staggering domino effect for the freelancers, hourly workers and staff who make up the city’s arts workforce. The earliest furloughs and layoffs impacted the performing arts, but one of the giants of the Museum District — the Houston Museum of Natural Science — also has furloughed 75 percent of its employees.
In a survey examining the impact of the first three weeks of the pandemic on artists, the
six-state Mid-America Arts Alliance gathered alarming numbers from 847 respondents in Texas: 95 percent said they were losing income, and more than 60 percent said they would not be able to meet their financial obligations in May.
Many artists work day jobs that have evaporated, too; yet the survey found that only 54 percent have considered applying for emergency relief funds or sought food, housing and medical help by dialing 2-1-1, Texas’ 24-hour, anonymous socialservice hotline. “They have a perception that those resources are not for them,” Abodeely said. “But there is a vast support system out there.”
Many of Houston’s arts workers are freelancers; in Texas, they are not currently eligible to collect unemployment benefits. Abodeely is encouraging them to apply anyway. “It’s step one for when freelance is included,” he said.
The Alliance may apply for help from the National Endowment for the Arts to boost the area’s relief fund, and Abodeely is encouraging other Houston organizations to do the same. With $75 million in appropriations from the CARES Act, the NEA plans to distribute 40 percent to state and regional arts agencies by April 30 and the rest to nonprofit arts organizations across the U.S. by June 30.
Joe Bretell, a member of the Alliance’s board, noted that during the shutdown, many local performing artists are playing their hearts out on social media for free, helping to keep the community uplifted. Bretell is at home with four children under the age of 10. He winds down for sleep at night by listening to local musicians, he said.
“We are asking donors to help save the lives of people who are helping them,” he said. “These are the people bringing us peace, rest and joy.”