Performer, choreographer and teacher Briana Fallon of Beverly, one of the first artist-recipients of the Essex County Community Foundations emergency grants.
Survive the moment. Survive the day. Survive the week.
“How can we be stronger six months from now?” says Karen Ristuben, program director at the Essex County Community Foundation. “When you always have the longterm view, that’s how you have to think.”
The ECCF’s broad-based financial support serves not only the arts, but also funds elder services, health centers and food pantries. In the midst of a five-year Creative County Initiative, meant to build arts sustainability, the ECCF has swiftly adjusted its focus.
The ECCF has created two emergency funds: the Essex County Artist Fund for individuals, and the Essex County Creative Nonprofit Resiliency Fund, for arts non-profits. Application details can be found at www.eccf.org.
The awards are modest—$400 grants for artists, and “probably in the $2,000 to $5000 range for non-profits,” Ristuben says. She points out that the connections created among artists can play an equal role in survival.
“The majority of Essex County’s individual talents are freelancers without a safety net,” she says. “These grants are small money, and visibility, we know. But we’re inviting them to join a network. That money will evaporate, so we’re hoping to create a sense of belonging.”
Roof Shovelers, by Kate Hanlon. The Newburyport printmaker, painter and teacher also performs and teaches Irish fiddle. All events and classes cancelled, no other source of income.
The $20,000 fund will benefit at least 50 Essex County artists. “We’ve just funded the first 20,” Ristuben says, only a week into the process. “We’ll keep going as long as the money lasts.” The ECCF simultaneously launched a gofundme campaign to add to the amount, which raised an additional $7000 in its first week.
Ristuben insists on the importance of the network. “We did focus groups and surveys when we started the Creative County Initiative,” she says, “and we found that artists were disconnected. We’re asking for a jpeg, or an audio or video file, whatever is appropriate, so we can spotlight them on our site and our social media.”
The second fund, to be announced later this month, is similar in structure and totals $100,000. The grants—“probably benefiting a couple dozen organizations,” Ristuben says—will have no specific requirements.
“Those funds will place no new burdens on the non-profits,” she says, “and they’re not attached to any specific projects. We will want to know how the organizations are thinking about their own survival. What their reinvention will be, and how we can help to support it.”
Birch Fruit, by Kimberly Allison. The Salem artist’s porcelain functional wares are inspired by Nordic nature, design, and culture.
Through the Creative County Initiative, the ECCF has been trying to build sustainability and capacity for arts organizations in its 34 communities. All of the projects include non-profit, municipal and business partners. That approach—like almost everything now—remains on hold, as emergency initiatives like these two funds take precedence.
“We’ve diverted all our 2020 funding plans for now, but don’t want to give up goals,” Ristuben says. “Everything we have funded we are going to pay, and we are allowing all funds to be diverted to general use.
“We want to be proactive and strategic. We have the nimbleness in our foundation to make decisions and act on them quickly. We’re going to do what we can do, and can do well.
“But we’re going to keep our objectives,” she says, “both meeting immediate needs, and in time, do what we can for the larger picture.”
Disseminate, Amaryllis Lopez. The Afro–Puerto Rican poet creates and facilitates intergenerational, bilingual poetry workshops in Lawrence.
Keith Powers covers music and the arts for Gannett New England, Opera News and Leonore Overture. Follow @PowersKeith; email to keithmichaelpowers@gmail.com.