It’s been a loooong dark Winter of Our Discontent, to paraphrase one of my favorite authors. We’re still here, plugging away, existing on a shoestring budget, offering what we can to showcase and encourage the Arts in our community and beyond. Looking back over the past year+, we can see that the impact of COVID-19 hit our little 3-person volunteer nonprofit organization a lot harder than we expected.
We went into lockdown last Spring ready to go “all virtual” with our two annual projects NICE & The Polk Street Review), their workshops, our podcast, and other arts opportunities. We’d already transitioned to more digital content in the Fall of 2019 when the physical location we’d rented for 6+ years was sold, so we felt prepared for COVID-19. Thinking back over the past more-than-a-year, in many ways we were prepared and the effects were good:
• We were able to host podcast guests from all over because we “met” them in Zoom meetings ~ recording in Zoom allowed us to be a lot more flexible about dates and times for our artist interviews.
• In February, we presented our book launch of the 2021 edition of The Polk Street Review via Zoom and Facebook live ~ it was a fun, talent-filled evening of camaraderie and joy!
• Throughout the pandemic, our online Arts Showcase exhibits have flourished, with so many talented artists, writers, and musicians submitting their work to our themed exhibits.
• Our 2021 NICE project is underway, and our behind-the-scenes podcast discussions of selecting the Final Four books and Final Four passages (one from each book) air on Fridays at 4pm.
All of those creative projects and arts opportunities continue to inspire us ~ truly, they feed our souls.
The down side of COVID-19 was two-fold. Of course, we miss our friends. We miss being out in our arts community gatherings, we miss hosting in-person workshops, book launches, and presentation events. We miss the close-up smiles and laughter and hugs and moments of inspiration that come with human interaction. On top of all that, we’re facing the financial consequences of COVID-19. As a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, donations and grants have sustained our organization since its inception in November 2014, and we’ve kept operational expenses to a minimum: our expenses are for nonprofit insurance, website & domain hosting, and paid accounts like Adobe, Microsoft 365, Zoom, and Hootsuite. Still, they add up, and they eat up our meager savings with every month that passes.
Over the past year, we’ve seen donations dwindle to nonexistent, and we’ve seen so many changes in the focus of grants and/or grants requirements: our organization often doesn’t “match up” to operational or project-support grants. With fewer and fewer grant opportunities on our horizon, and less financial support from individual and corporate donations, our future is in peril. Unlike other arts organizations in our area, almost all of what we offer is free; we’re determined to continue offering free opportunities to creatives and the community for as long as we can. The heart and soul of our organization has always been to offer arts opportunities to all, regardless of financial situation.
So, as Spring 2021 blossoms, we see the challenges we face with clear eyes and we’re looking forward with hope. We know we need help. YOUR help. Please, consider donating. Consider monthly or annual sponsorship. Any amount helps us to continue providing our creative opportunities and programming!
Thank you, and may the many blessings of health and happiness be yours.