Coronavirus Recovery Funding for the Arts & Culture in Spokane (ARPA)

2023-2024 ARPA BENEFITS through SPOKANE ARTS

STATUS: All eligible beneficiaries have received payments and the program has now closed.

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By the end of June 2024, Spokane Arts disbursed $920,000.00 in direct disaster relief benefits to Spokane City households, businesses, nonprofits, and performing arts venues working in the arts and cultural arts. Between August 2023 and June 2024, support reached 163 applicants over multiple rounds of grantmaking:

                            93 households (totaling $200,000 in federal benefits

                                      plus an additional $11,700 with support from Empire Health Foundation),

                            39 nonprofits (totaling $367,500),

                            26 businesses (totaling $232,500), and

                            five performing arts venues (totaling $120,000).

Spokane Arts carried out this work the help of community partners such as Empire Health Foundation (EHF) and Nuestras Raices (formerly HBPA) for technical support.

ARPA eligible beneficiaries were located within Spokane City limits, work in (individuals) or have a primary mission in the arts or cultural arts. Spokane artists, businesses and organizations with income less than $1M in 2019, and performing arts venues with incomes less than $2M were welcome to apply. All applicants were offered technical support, and language, vision, and other accessibility accommodations as needed.

In assigning benefit levels, Spokane Arts used Federally-recognized criteria for “impact” and “disproportionate impact” as outlined by the U.S. Treasury, in addition to considering other Covid benefits received. Eligible households received benefits between $1,000 and $2,500. Eligible arts businesses and nonprofits received benefit payments ranging from $2,000 to $10,000, and eligible performing arts venues received benefits between $22,500 and $25,000.

The American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds through the City of Spokane provided $920,000.00 in benefits and with the support of Empire Health Foundation, we were able to provide an additional $11,700 to local households for a total of $931,700.00 in Covid relief benefit payments to the creative community.

Applicant Demographics

65% of first round funding went to low-income households. Unsurprisingly, lower income households were more severely impacted by the pandemic. Relying primarily on events for income, these households experienced eligible impacts as large as 225% of their 2019 income over the course of the pandemic. Households with members aged 65+ were also disproportionately impacted by the Covid shutdown. Our median applicant earned $28,302 in 2019 and reported 19% of that figure in losses and additional expenses through the pandemic.

We will be updating this graphic to include all household beneficiary data, and including additional information on geographic distribution before the end of July 2024. Please stay tuned!

Spokane Arts is grateful to the City of Spokane, Nuestras Raices, and Empire Health Foundation for their significant assistance through the course of this project.

OUR THANKS TO:

Nuestras Raíces

(formerly the Hispanic Business Professional Association / HBPA) has worked tirelessly alongside Spokane Arts to support our Spanish-speaking arts communities as they applied for this federal benefit. We are tremendously grateful to:
Isabel Mazcot, Vice President of Business Relations,
Yajaira Valentinez, Small Business Coordinator,
Ivan Torres, HR & Accounting Representative,
and the entire team at Nuestras Raíces!

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Empire Health Foundation

EHF’s “Building Equitable Economies” project exists expressly to support community access to ARPA funding. The Equitable Economies team at EHF assisted in Spokane Arts’ programming and outreach and also helped our business and nonprofit applicants prepare their applications for support. Assisting us with this effort were:
Leroy Eadie, Vice President of Programs,
Rocío Caravantes Wofford, Program Associate,
Stephen Reichard, Consultant, Reichard and Associates (Portland), and
Mandy Chapman Orozco, Principal Consultant, Chapman Orozco Consulting

FOR TIRELESS TECHNICAL SUPPORT:
Ash Riant, Propolis Innovations Consulting LLC!!