On December 27th, President Trump signed H.R. 133 (Save Our Stages) into law, which provides billions of dollars of relief to arts venues, organizations, museums, and cinemas.
There is significant relief for the arts contained in the bill including an extension of Federal Pandemic Unemployment programs (with an additional $300 to all weekly benefits), $284 billion for forgivable Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans (allowing many apply for a second loan), and $15 billion in relief grants for entities and individuals operating live performance venues, performing arts organizations, museums, independent movie theaters, and talent agencies plus an increase of $5.2 million each in funding for the National Endowment for the Arts and National Endowment for the Humanities ($167.5 million each in FY2021).
A couple of weeks ago, Executive Director of Arts North Carolina Nate McGaha spoke to RDU on Stage about “Save Our Stages” during a live chat. Since that conversation, the Small Business Association (SBA) issued some clarification on Save Our Stages. First, the actual name of what we know as Save Our Stages is the Shuttered Venue Operators Grant or (SVOG). The Small Business Association also released a new priority structure for SVOG. Now applicants with more than 50 employees will not receive grants for the first 60 days.
Since there are still some unanswered questions about the SVOG rollout, I would suggest you bookmark the Small Business Association website (below). This March, Arts North Carolina is hosting its first online arts day conference, which will connect the community, arts advocates, and lawmakers. This is a great opportunity to find out more about the nuts and bolts of arts advocacy in our state.
Resources
- Arts North Carolina
- Americans for the Arts
- Save Our Stages
- SBA Information for Shuttered Venue Operators
- PPP Loans
To watch Lauren’s entire live chat / interview with McGaha, click here.
