Glad tidings from Dane Arts

Second cycle of county grants will help organizations adapt and survive

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To celebrate the announcement of this winter’s Dane Arts grants, multimedia artist and documentarian Wendy Schneider created a new video. It begins with a quote from civil rights activist Ella Baker: “Give people light and they will find the way.” It scrolls through the 48 recipients, highlighting images of the organizations doing their work, before and during the COVID-19 crisis. 

The video’s simple message goes straight to the heart. The grants are a down payment on a future where the arts are thriving, artists are compensated fairly, and theaters, galleries, classes and events are populated with living human beings. They are a recognition of the resilience and creativity that has helped arts organizations weather precipitous drops in revenue.

Beyond that, they are geared toward creating a more equitable future where access to the arts is interwoven into the education of all young people. 

The organizations in the video are the recipients of the second cycle of grants from Dane Arts. The total amount of money distributed in this cycle was $128,583, the majority being funds for specific projects by nonprofit arts organizations. This year, the county agency has distributed nearly $250,000 in public-private funds to nonprofits, schools, municipalities and individuals in Dane County. 

In addition to that, Dane Arts distributed an additional $122,500 in emergency grants through the DANG! program in July. Of this, $100,000 came from the federal CARES Act, and the rest was from a private trust fund.

Dane Arts director Mark Fraire says the release of the funds provides short-term support for a sector that is undergoing deep pain and changes due to the pandemic. “Normally, this time of year would be nothing but events and productions and performances and activities,” says Fraire. “But right now it's really seeing people suffer.”

The number of grant applications was down for this grant cycle; Fraire assumes that is due to the pandemic. But the applications reflected the resilience and innovation in the arts community. “The creativity of some of these organizations is absolutely amazing,” says Fraire.

Yorel Lashley, an educational psychologist and professional percussionist, says a $3,675 Dane Arts grant will assist Drum Power, an educational leadership program he runs, continue to provide and adapt its virtual programming. Although the county grants top out at $5,000, Lashley says they have an impact beyond the dollars. “They do project grants, and they typically are very small, and I know their goal is always to spread it out,” says Lashley. “But I think having a resource like that in the community that we can depend on for consistent support is important. And that support comes not just in the way of funding, but also in the way of maintaining a presence that keeps the arts as a focal point. I know Mark Fraire works pretty hard at that.”

Lashley, who relocated Drum Power from Brooklyn, New York, to Madison in 2010, says early access to the arts creates opportunities for social and emotional learning. In addition to running workshops and camps, Lashley teaches West African, Afro-Cuban and Afro-Brazilian percussion at Lowell Elementary School. He says the program is based on three tenets — discipline, community, and leadership. “I'm not concerned at all about how many drummers we turn out, but rather that they learn to be disciplined, good community members and leaders. I think the arts can and do provide a special place to to establish, practice and hone these skills.” 

Lashley says the pandemic has created new levels of hardship while also highlighting systemic inequality in the arts and beyond. “I've been pushing folks to try to come out of the pandemic in a different place than when you went in. People want to get back to normal, but back to normal was still failing a lot of people,” he says. “So, yeah. I think you're a fool if you want to go back to how things were.”

It’s this sort of deep thinking and community building that excites Fraire, who says he is weary of organizations paying lip service to ideas of equity and inclusion while not actually altering the makeup of their boards or missions. 

“They talk about diversity and access and inclusion, but it's not on their boards,” says Fraire, adding that some well-intentioned organizations need to work harder to create meaningful change.

As a positive example, Fraire points out the work that American Players Theatre has done to produce more works by BIPOC playwrights and diversify casts. The company received a $3,150 grant for educational programs, including workshops and residencies with APT teaching artists.

Fraire reminds everyone that support for the arts is an essential component of a healthy economy. He quotes from “Arts & Economic Prosperity 5,” a 2016 report released by Americans for the Arts, that found that Dane County’s nonprofit arts sector generated almost $250 million in spending by organizations and audiences in fiscal year 2015. “This spending supports 9,154 full-time equivalent jobs, generates $183.6 million in household income to local residents, and delivers $23.9 million in local and state government revenue,” the report reads.

Another recipient that has become expert at innovating during the pandemic is Arts + Literature Laboratory, a multidisciplinary gallery, studio and event space that relocated from a tiny Winnebago Street space to an enormous new home at 111 S. Livingston St., near The Sylvee. ALL received two separate grants, one to support its Watershed Poetry reading series and another to add titles to its small press library. “We are really looking forward to continuing to grow and continuing to be able to support more individual artists and musicians, as well as other arts organizations and community organizations,” says Jolynne Roorda, ALL’s visual and performing arts director. “It's been a challenge, but we know that it’s going to be worth it because we will get through this pandemic.” Roorda says that without the support of programs like Dane Arts, the Madison Arts Commission and the Wisconsin Arts Board over the last five years, “we wouldn't have been able to grow or do any of this.”