Charles City Arts Center and Floyd County Museum get $3,500 grants

Iowa Department of Cultural Affairs announce $1.5 million in American Rescue Plan funding

To the Press

The Iowa Department of Cultural Affairs today recently announced it is awarding more than $1.5 million in grants for the return of the state’s arts, culture, history and creative sector by supporting arts and cultural jobs and programming in the humanities.

The Charles City Arts Center and the Floyd County History Museum both received grants of $3,500.

In total, 236 individuals and organizations representing 70 communities across the state will benefit from $1,527,814 in one-time grant funding, made possible through the agency’s state/federal partnerships with Arts Midwest, the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities with federal funds through the American Rescue Plan Act.

The department received more than $4.1 million in requests to help support a portion of about 1,600 arts jobs.

The Charles City Arts Center’s grant will go toward wages for the center director and an assistant. The funding comes from an American Rescue Plan arts grant for organizations.

The Floyd County Historical Society and Museum’s grant will go towards the museum’s “Chautauqua Talks” series of guest speakers at the library. The funds are coming from an American Rescue Plan humanities grant.

The list of grant recipients includes individual artists, cultural centers, museums, local government and community groups, arts organizations, public libraries, historical societies, community theaters, media production organizations and more.

“It’s encouraging to see the return of the arts and culture sector, part of the broader tourism industry working to rebound after a challenging year,” Iowa Department of Cultural Affairs Director Chris Kramer said. “We’re proud to be able to award these grants through our agency’s state/federal partnerships.”

Iowa Arts Council Administrator David Schmitz said, “These recovery grants represent a significant investment in Iowa’s creative workforce. In addition to the grants awarded directly to artists, many arts organizations received support to hire or bring back artistic personnel, many of whom lost jobs, gigs and income during the pandemic.”

The grants coincide with a promotional campaign the department launched to encourage Iowans to “Re-imagine, Re-engage and Reconnect” with local arts and culture.

With input from creative leaders across the state, the department developed a campaign toolkit to help Iowa’s arts and cultural organizations market to visitors and promote exhibitions, performances and events now and into the next year.

In a typical year, Iowa’s creative sector generates $4.2 billion for the state’s economy, employing more than 43,000 creative workers across 5,000 arts, cultural and creative businesses statewide. After the pandemic triggered closures, event cancellations and layoffs, the state’s arts, history and cultural sector is still working to recover.

Funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities follows the federal agency’s decision last year to recognize the Iowa Department of Cultural Affairs as the state’s interim Iowa Humanities Council.

The department and its divisions – the State Historical Society of Iowa, the interim Iowa Humanities Council, Iowa Arts Council, and Produce Iowa: State Office of Media Production – administered the grants.