From the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Arts Foundation for Tucson and Southern Arizona was singularly focused on ensuring the arts survived.
The efforts paid off: in the past four years, the nonprofit organization responsible for managing federal, state and local arts grants, doled out more than $3.2 million to 662 Tucson and Pima County artists and arts organizations.
In the 2021 fiscal year (July 2020-June 2021) alone, the foundation awarded 519 grantees nearly $2.3 million, funded largely through the federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act and the City of Tucson’s pandemic era We Are One/Somos Uno Resiliency fund.
Pima County, the Artists Emergency Fund Committee, the Arizona Daily Star and 200 private donors also contributed to that granting program, according to the foundation.
“I think what’s been working in the last four years is that we have been responsive and nimble to the needs of our community in real time and focused on building relationships” with government and private donors, said Adriana Gallego, who came on board as the foundation’s CEO weeks into the pandemic. “In the last four years, we have been able to bring in a historical amount of federal funds to the city.”
Prior to 2021, the average annual Arts Foundation re-granting portfolio was about $190,000,with the money distributed within Tucson and Pima County, according to foundation records. Since 2021, the average funding distributed on behalf of the City of Tucson, National Endowment and Pima County has been about $800,000 distributed to grantees in Tucson, Pima County and throughout Southern Arizona.
Whether those record government funding levels will remain going forward is anyone’s guess given the financial and political crises at the state and federal levels. While the NEA this year will have $210.1 million to work with — a $3 million bump from 2023 and 2024 funding levels — the Arizona Commission on the Arts, the state’s official arts funding arm, took a 60% hit in the state’s recently approved 2025 budget.
The commission had requested $5 million, the level it received last year, but lawmakers, after early in negotiations set the funding level at zero, gave the agency just $2 million.
Gallego said the foundation is hoping to attract more “philanthropic” donations by building on the momentum of the last four years.
“I think any kind of business needs to have a diversity of funds … and one of the ways that’s available to us in the arts and arts organizations is to work together with government to underscore that our local governments believe in our own business sector,” she said.
With the 2025 fiscal year barely underway, the Arts Foundation is expected next week to announce the first of two sizeable granting opportunities aimed at keeping artists employed.
The programs — $250,000 targeting individual artists and $335,000 for arts organizations — are funded through the City of Tucson and the federal American Rescue Plan Act.
Next week the foundation will open the application process for a pilot program that will pair artists with Tucson businesses or nonprofit organizations to showcase how “we, as artists, can be incorporated in any sector,” Gallego said.
The grantees, who will receive $2,500, $5,000 or $10,000 depending on their successful pitch, could apply their art to everything from marketing campaigns to creative problem solving for private sector or nonprofit entities.
“This is an opportunity for an artist to impart their professional skillsets in a way that bursts the common perception that it’s just about the art work,” Gallego said. “We really want artists and other sectors to work together to see how they can improve the way work is being done in any one particular space.”
Through the grant, the foundation will establish a database of artists available for paid collaborations with non-arts entities.
In early August, the foundation will open applications for the second grant that will help organizations create new jobs or retain existing jobs. Grant awards will be $5,000, $10,000 and $15,000.
Gallego admits, though, that there will be wiggle room on where the funds can be directed.
“We are trying to make it as intentional as possible for job creation and job retention while at the same time being as flexible as we can … so organizations can use it where they need it the most,” she explained.
Gallego said the grant details and deadlines will be posted on the foundation’s website, artsfoundtucson.org, as early as next week. The grantees will be announced and awarded in November or December, she said.
In addition to its successful granting program, the Arts Foundation over the past four years has strengthened its education outreach in an effort to help applicants navigate the process. Because a large part of its funding is from the federal government, the foundation is required to vet its grantees, ensuring that the money that passes through the foundation is not being misused.
The move has had the added benefit of reaching underserved artists and organizations, she said.
“Professional development has (long) been a part of the organization, but it was made a higher priority during the pandemic especially to reach those who had not benefitted in the past,” Gallego said.
"Jackrabbit" by Daniel Hornung stands watch at Drachman Street and 10th Avenue.
Video by Henry Brean, Arizona Daily Star
