Published August 5, 2022 at 10:30 AM EDT
Delaware Public Media’s Kelli Steele talks with Delaware Division of the Arts director Jessica Ball about the impact of DDOA’s latest funding round.
The Delaware Division of the Arts recently announced its first round of statewide arts project grants in Fiscal Year 2023.
Division director Jessica Ball says they are investing nearly $3 million in more than 110 arts and community organizations that serve First State residents.
“This is our biggest portion of money for the year. And it goes out to support several of our grant programs, including our general operating support grants, project support — which is really for community-based organizations that provide arts programming,” she said.
Ball says this money is imperative to help many arts organizations continue to recover from the COVID pandemic.
She says many arts organizations still need support as they continue to recover from the COVID pandemic, while others want to continue new approaches created.
“Most organizations have turned around during the pandemic and have been offering either hybrids — or many organizations have moved to outdoor programming and generally come up with new creative ways to deliver the arts,” Ball said.
But Ball notes that many arts organizations are resuming some of their more traditional programming this year — though COVID protocols, like masks, may remain in some places.
She adds that new this year is the “transpARTation” grant that helps cover travel costs for buses, fuel, parking and tolls up to $500 so schools can make trips to the arts and cultural institutions and places of Delaware.
A complete list of grants for the first round of FY2023 can be found here.
The Division also awards grants on an ongoing basis throughout the year, including Arts Access grants, Artist Residencies, Individual Artist Fellowships, and Individual Artist Opportunity grants. Full grant descriptions are available on the Division’s website.
Delaware Public Media’s arts coverage is made possible, in part, through support from the Delaware Division of the Arts, a state agency dedicated to fostering and supporting the arts in Delaware, in partnership with the Endowment National for the Arts.
