NEA Local Arts Agency Subgranting Information

City of Dubuque to Receive National Endowment for the Arts Grant

On November 18, 2021, the City of Dubuque’s Office of Arts & Cultural Affairs announced that it will receive an American Rescue Plan grant from the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) to help the arts and cultural sector recover from the pandemic.

The City of Dubuque will receive $500,000 to distribute in the form of grants to eligible Dubuque recipients to save jobs and to fund operations and facilities, health and safety supplies, and marketing and promotional efforts to encourage attendance and participation. In total, the NEA will award grants totaling $20,200,000 to 66 local arts agencies nationwide for subgranting. Of those, Dubuque was one of just 24 communities approved for the $500,000 maximum funding level alongside other communities like Tucson, AZ, Chicago, IL, New Orleans, LA, Seattle, WA, and Madison, WI. The full list of grantees, sorted by city/state, is available online.

“The NEA’s significant investment in local arts agencies, including the City of Dubuque’s Office of Arts & Cultural Affairs, is a key element in helping the arts and culture sector recover and reopen, while ensuring that that American Rescue Plan funding is distributed equitably,” said Ann Eilers, NEA’s acting chair. “These grants recognize the vital role of local arts agencies and will allow them to help rebuild local economies and contribute to the well-being of our communities.”

"The City of Dubuque is grateful for this significant federal support as our local arts and culture organizations and individual creative workers continue their recovery,” said Dubuque Mayor Roy D. Buol.  “This assistance, along with ongoing community support and the return to attendance of local events and venues will make a real difference for this critical component of our economy and quality of life.”

The City of Dubuque will subgrant $435,000 of its award to support the general operations of eligible local arts and culture nonprofit organizations. The award will also provide for the creation of a new grant program to support individual creatives in arts-based projects that further their careers and deepen their engagement in the ongoing implementation of Dubuque’s Arts & Culture Master Plan. Funding guidelines associated with these subgranting programs are expected for release in Spring 2022 to fund organizational operations and individual projects commencing after July 1, 2022 and concluding by June 30, 2023.

This is the second of three installments of the NEA’s American Rescue Plan funding. Last April, the NEA announced that 40 percent of its $135 million in ARP funding would be allocated to 62 state, jurisdictional, and regional arts organizations for regranting through their respective programs. The third installment of APR funding to arts organizations to support their own operations will be announced in early 2022.