Metro Arts Organizations Get Stabilization Grants
Metropolitan Atlanta Arts Fund awards $500,000

May 21, 2008

Six metro area arts organizations were center stage today when they received a total of a half million dollars given by the Metropolitan Atlanta Arts Fund in an awards luncheon at the Georgia World Congress Center. The sold out event was popular with arts leaders and business leaders alike and drew more than 650 guests. The rigorous application process resulted in grants to exemplary arts groups who will use the funds, ranging from $30,000 to $150,000, to create much needed staff positions, create permanent capital reserves and restructure their organizations to create stability.

This year’s recipients are:

7 Stages - $150,000 to create a fulltime director of grants and strategies staff position for three years

Atlanta Lyric Theatre - $50,000 to fund debt reduction

Hammonds House Museum - $90,000 to create a part-time membership and volunteer manager staff position and provide training and support

IMAGE Film and Video - $145,000 to fund anticipated loss in revenue to occur during program and business reorganization

Michael O’Neal Singers - $30,000 to create a working capital reserve

William Breman Jewish Heritage Museum - $35,000 to fund an part-time application specialist position to prepare the organization for Association of American Museum accreditation

The Arts Fund, a partnership of The Community Foundation for Greater Atlanta and the Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce, provides grants exclusively to small and mid-sized arts organizations with budgets of less than $1.5 million.

“This year our average grant size is one third larger than our grants last year. Larger grants, funded over several years are the most effective at achieving true stability for the arts group,” said Carol Tomé, CFO and executive vice president of The Home Depot and Arts Fund board chair, in her remarks. “For arts organizations of this size, these are often the largest grants they ever receive,” said Tomé.

In 2008 LarsonAllen, an outside consultant, examined the impact of 15 years of the Arts Fund, and noted the overall success of the Arts Fund stabilization mission.

In addition to the sizeable impact of grants, the 2008 study showed additional benefits of strengthened artistic product and organizational unity, increased and diversified funding, and improved visibility in the community.

“Since 1993 the Arts Fund has funded more than $6 million in grants and Toolbox awards to 78 small and midsized metro Atlanta arts organizations, creating, in the process 53 new staff positions in arts groups across the metro region,” said Lisa Cremin, director of the Arts Fund.

The Arts Fund also announced Arts Stabilization Toolbox Awards packages of professional management consultants that were given to 13 arts organizations over the course of the year.

The lively luncheon program, titled Arts Fund The Musical! featured actors from Atlanta’s theaters performing parody musical numbers. Former grant recipients spoke about the impact of their grants and students of the Art Institute presented comic videos about the Arts Fund.

Arts Fund History:

In 1992 The Community Foundation and the Metro Atlanta Chamber came together with a common interest in building and sustaining the arts in Atlanta. This nationally unique partnership between a foundation and a business membership organization was formed to address a gap in Atlanta’s arts funding. The Coca-Cola Company issued a $500,000 challenge grant that was then matched by corporate, foundation, public and private individuals, and the Metropolitan Atlanta Arts Fund was created. As a longtime trusted grantmaker, The Community Foundation was asked to be the steward of the endowment. Through the Arts Fund, donors found a way to add to the stability of metro Atlanta’s hundreds of small and mid-sized arts organizations. Grants in the amount of $150,000 were awarded to arts organization in 1993, the first year of grantmaking.

Contact:

Lauren Welsh
404.588.3182
lwelsh@atlcf.org

Lisa Cremin
404.588.3200
lcremin@atlcf.org