ASHEVILLE – ArtsAVL has been awarded a $200,000 grant from the NC Arts Foundation’s new NC Arts Disaster Relief Fund. Funding will support ArtsAVL’s Emergency Relief Grant, which is providing $500 stipends to Western NC artists substantially impacted by Hurricane Helene.

Hurricane Helene wreaked havoc across much of Western NC in late September, with 26 counties receiving full disaster designations from FEMA. In response, the North Carolina Arts Foundation quickly worked with the Arts North Carolina and the North Carolina Arts Council to create the NC Arts Disaster Relief Fund. 

While the fund is currently focused on raising relief and recovery aid for artists and arts organizations impacted by Helene, it is also a positive first step in better emergency preparedness planning for the NC arts sector in general. “Establishing the NC Arts Disaster Relief Fund will support relief and recovery efforts for Hurricane Helene and serve as a model for responding to future calamities that impact our arts communities,” said Wayne Martin, Executive Director of the North Carolina Arts Foundation. “ArtsAVL’s regional Emergency Relief Grant program is only the first step in what has to be a sustained and focused effort to assist artists and arts organizations in their recovery.”

On October 2, ArtsAVL launched a WNC Creatives Needs Assessment survey, receiving over 450 responses from across Western North Carolina. These initial survey findings clearly demonstrated that many artists across the region had suffered total income loss from property damage, venue closures, and event cancellations, and were desperately in need of immediate funding to support personal needs like groceries and bills.
  
As an immediate stop gap measure, ArtsAVL launched the Emergency Relief Grant on October 14 to provide quick relief aid. The grant provides $500 relief stipends to arts professionals living in the 26 counties of Western NC most impacted by Hurricane Helene. The grant is intended for individual artists working in craft, literary, media, performing (which includes music), visual, and interdisciplinary arts. 

So far, ArtsAVL has received over 1,000 applications from across the region, and distributed 300 grant awards. “The need is great, and the stories are absolutely heartbreaking,” said Katie Cornell. “We deeply appreciate the support from the North Carolina Arts Foundation and our many other donors as we work to get this much needed aid to artists across Western NC.”

WNC Artists and others can find more information about these initiatives and other resources, as well as make a donation to support ArtsAVL’s relief efforts at ArtsAVL.org/Aid. To learn more about the NC Arts Foundation’s NC Arts Disaster Relief Fund, visit NCArtsFoundation.org/Donate-NC-Disaster-Relief.