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Culture Works will receive $500,000 to support local artists

Culture Works Logo
Courtesy of Culture Works

The arts community in the Miami Valley is looking forward to a big gift this holiday season.

The National Endowment for the Arts has awarded Culture Works a half million dollars in COVID recovery funds.

The organization will spread that money out across qualified artists and arts organizations in the Dayton area.

Executive Director Lisa Hanson says the funds couldn’t come at a better time. A lot of previous relief money focused on saving jobs, which left out some individual artists and smaller organizations.

“It’s difficult because the creativity has continued to flow,” she says, “but where's the money to rent the space to put on the show? How do I pay the artists? How do you ramp up, bring the audiences back, and build that confidence?”

Hanson says that’s what these grants are designed to address, and Culture Works is one of just two organizations in Ohio to receive this kind of funding.

“This money is intended to reinspire,” she says. “I’m hoping it's another infusion to get the arts up and running again."

Culture Works should have an application process in place by spring, and they plan to start issuing grants by summer.