Despite Tough Economy, ArtsFund Fulfills Base Grant Commitments to Nonprofit Arts Groups
ArtsFund grants total more than $2.2 million
Despite the worst economic climate in decades, ArtsFund (formerly known as the Corporate Council for the Arts) announced it met base-level funding commitments to 41 King and Pierce County nonprofit arts groups and awarded grants to an additional 20 groups on a discretionary basis. In addition, four groups received funding through designated workplace giving. The amount of grants totaled $2,227,027 for 2009.
Comcast donated $15,000 for general arts support in King County and $7,500 to support access to the arts for students in Pierce County. The Pierce County allocations committee of ArtsFund allocated $4,000 to the Tacoma Youth Symphony and $3,500 to the Museum of Glass.
Comcast Senior Vice President Len Rozek serves on the ArtsFund board of directors. Public Relations Director Walter Neary is a member of the Pierce County allocations committee.
The Museum of Glass touches 10s of thousands of students each year at its hot shop and other parts of the museum, as well as through vibrant learning materials provided to local schools. The Tacoma Youth Symphony fields eight full youth symphonies of different ages, as well as other performing groups.
In January, ArtsFund recognized the difficult economic climate likely would result in lower donations and sent a letter to all beneficiary groups, alerting them to the likely reductions.
“Support from nearly every donor is down this year, while the percentage of economically challenged students we serve has increased,” said Andrea Wagner, executive director of long-time beneficiary Giant Magnet (formerly Seattle International Children’s Festival), which received a grant of $10,675. “This situation certainly makes our work more difficult, but it also makes the dollars we get from ArtsFund all the more important. ArtsFund grants are one of our only sources of predictable funding for operating support — funds we put to work immediately toward our mission of inspiring young audiences with the highest quality performing arts programming from around the globe.”
Following is a complete list of ArtsFund grants* for 2009:
2009 ArtsFund Grants
King County Charter Member Grants:
ACT Theatre
$109,318
Henry Art Gallery
76,120
INTIMAN Theatre
93,155
On the Boards
32,716
Pacific Northwest Ballet
224,101
Seattle Art Museum
227,061
Seattle Children’s Theatre
120,784
Seattle Opera
231,438
Seattle Repertory Theatre
155,093
Seattle Symphony
213,526
Village Theatre
100,461
Subtotal
$1,583,773
King County Continuing Member and Member Grants:
5th Avenue Theatre
$44,086
Artist Trust
13,902
ArtsWest Playhouse & Gallery
5,324
Auburn Symphony Orchestra
3,700
Bellevue Arts Museum
6,475
Book-It Repertory Theatre
27,535
Central District Forum for Arts & Ideas
13,651
Early Music Guild
6,845
Earshot Jazz Society of Seattle
8,562
Experience Music Project/Science Fiction Museum/Hall of Fame
2,500
Giant Magnet (Seattle Internatl Children’s Festival)
10,796
Jack Straw Productions
4,249
Kirkland Arts Center
7,149
Langston Hughes Performing Arts Center
1,000
Nordic Heritage Museum
12,450
Northwest Film Forum
6,945
Northwest Puppet Center
8,779
Pratt Fine Arts Center
10,725
Richard Hugo House
5,750
Seattle Arts & Lectures
15,817
Seattle Baroque Orchestra
3,003
Seattle Chamber Music Society
14,436
Seattle Choral Company
3,900
Seattle Men’s Chorus/Seattle Women’s Chorus
10,419
Seattle Pro Musica
14,234
Seattle Public Theater
3,500
Seattle Repertory Jazz Orchestra
9,270
Seattle Shakespeare Company
24,798
Seattle Theatre Group
8,330
Seattle Youth Symphony Orchestras
16,400
SIFF
9,442
Spectrum Dance Theater
8,453
Taproot Theatre Company
11,089
Three Dollar Bill Cinema
4,900
Town Hall Association
14,389
UW World Series at Meany Hall
13,225
Vashon Allied Arts
6,250
Velocity Dance Center
4,000
Wing Luke Asian Museum
24,354
Subtotal
$420,632
Pierce County Charter Member Grants:
Broadway Center for the Performing Arts
$57,701
Northwest Sinfonietta
10,887
Tacoma Art Museum
72,709
Tacoma Opera
11,415
Tacoma Philharmonic
7,600
Tacoma Symphony
19,115
Tacoma Youth Symphony
20,875
Subtotal
$200,302
Pierce County Continuing Member and Member Grants:
Grand Cinema
$2,855
Lakewood Playhouse
1,785
Museum of Glass
6,450
Tacoma Musical Playhouse
7,783
Subtotal
$18,873
Designated workplace gifts – non-beneficiaries
$3,447
Grand Total 2009 ArtsFund Grants:
$2,227,027*
*includes $78,197 in designated employee giving gifts.
2009 Pierce County Allocations Committee
Claudia Roberts, Chair, Vice President—Pricing
Totem Ocean Trailer Express, Inc.
Jeffrey Brown, President
BCRA
Kim Cacace, First Vice President
BNY Mellon Wealth Management
Sarah Idstrom, Senior Director of Development
Franke Tobey Jones
Karla McLane, Vice President, Commercial Banking
Columbia Bank
Walter Neary, Public Relations Director
Comcast
Dave Parent, Vice President & Manager, Corporate Contributions
KeyBank
Jim Tune, President and CEO
ArtsFund
Karen Vincent, Investor Relations Associate
Weyerhaeuser Company
Natalie Whitcomb, Senior Vice President
Brown and Brown of Washington
Sam Whiting, Community Investor, Primary & Secondary Education and Arts & Culture
The Boeing Company
