The Kentucky Arts Council announced Friday it has awarded more than $170,000 to several schools, arts organizations and individual artists — part of an effort to help in the recovery following the December 2021 tornadoes in western Kentucky, and the July 2022 floods in eastern Kentucky.
This includes in the News Edge Area:
— A $1,000 Arts Education Grant for Caldwell County High School
— A $1,000 Arts Education Grant for South Hopkins Middle School
— A $4,000 Individual Arts Grant for Emily Smith Sleigh, of Christian County
— A $4,000 Individual Arts Grant for Jennifer Lea Bowman, of Christian County
— And a $5,000 Arts Organization Grant for Create Princeton, of Caldwell County
The arts council received $115,000 in funding from the National Endowment for the Arts and $26,000 from regional partner South Arts. The council also allocated $35,000 from its own budget to fund these 50 grants.
Chris Cathers, arts council executive director, said his organization knew there were individual artists, arts organizations and school programs that were going to suffer and need help in recovering — following tornadoes in the west and floods in the east. The disasters were seven months apart and affected large numbers of artists and arts organizations in Kentucky.
The arts council ran three grant programs for disaster relief — programs for arts education, individual artists and nonprofit arts organizations.
