S.F. issues grants to aid artists during crisis
The first in a series of grants under the newly created Arts and Artists Relief Fund were announced by San Francisco Mayor London Breed on Thursday. The grants, totaling $1.5 million, have been distributed among 527 individual artists and 65 arts organizations struggling to survive the coronavirus shutdown in San
Francisco.
In announcing the grants, Breed noted that funding was prioritized to historically underserved constituents — people of color, members of the LGBTQ community and artists with disabilities.
Grant recipients were selected from among 238 organizations and 1,144 individuals. The selection process was administered through the
Center for Cultural Innovation, a private San Francisco nonprofit.
“Our artists and arts and culture organizations will be instrumental in our city’s recovery efforts,” Breed said in a statement. “With this additional investment, we continue to support the creativity, flexibility, and innovation that artists bring to our city, which will be pivotal as we move forward and get through this crisis together.”
Most individuals received $1,500, while organizations got $10,000. The top grantees
were Brava! for Women in the Arts, the Chinese Culture Foundation, Theatre Bay Area, and Women’s Audio Mission, with $15,000 each.
“I am impressed with how quickly the city responded to shelterinplace because we have been unable to deliver on our mission,” said Terri Winston, executive director of Women’s Audio Mission (WAM), a MidMarket nonprofit that trains women and girls to use technology in order to create music and media such as podcasts. WAM serves more than 1,000 students Bay Areawide, 96% of them lowincome and 91% girls of color.
“We usually teach in our recording studio, but we have been locked down and couldn’t get to the kids,” said Winston. “The grant allows us retain our staff of 12 and train them how to deliver the curriculum by livestream video.”
Grants were funded by the city with major contributions coming from the San Francisco Arts Commission and Grants for the Arts.
Breed also announced that the city will invest an additional $250,000 in the fund, to be distributed to individual artists who did not receive funding in the first round. Applications will open Friday on the center’s website.
An additional $1 million in cityfunded, lowinterest loans is available through the Northern California Grantmakers. To date, $215,000 has been disbursed.
Among those to get a loan was Frameline, the LGBTQ+ film festival, which usually runs in June at the Castro Theatre, and had to be canceled, wiping out its main revenue stream.
“This loan gives Frameline a lifeline to keep paying staff and expenses during a time of crisis during which many of our usual sources of income have evaporated,” said James Woolley, executive director of Frameline. “With city support, we look forward to returning to our home at the Castro Theatre when it is safe to do so.”