The Arts & Science Center for Southeast Arkansas (ASC) has been awarded a $75,000 grant through the United States Regional Arts Resilience Fund. The grant will help support programming and ASC’s new arts and event space scheduled for completion this fall.

“The Arts & Science Center is honored to receive this wonderful grant and the national recognition of our community service,” said Dr. Rachel Miller, executive director of ASC. “The grant will support innovation and growth of our arts-engagement programming through the museum’s community outreach initiatives and new project, The ARTSpace on Main.”

The Mid-America Arts Alliance (M-AAA) announced Aug. 28 the 27 grantees within the six-state region of Arkansas, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, Oklahoma and Texas to receive funding from the United States Regional Arts Resilience Fund. ASC is one of only two organizations in Arkansas to receive one of these grants.

“We’re so excited to receive the M-AAA grant,” said Sandra Fisher, ASC Board of Trustees chair. “Our Center has had to re-imagine the way we operate during the COVID-19 pandemic, but we have continued to provide programming that supports our community. This grant will surely help us to expose the public to new ways to experience the arts, support local artists and inspire the next generation.”

The United States Regional Arts Resilience Fund provides nonmatching grants to arts and cultural organizations that face economic hardships caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. The fund targets rural and urban organizations that have statewide, regional or national impact. These grants support small and mid-sized arts organizations of all artistic disciplines, especially those historically under-resourced, and those representing under-resourced populations, communities and art forms.

The grants support expenses associated with general operations, immediate response activities, future scenario planning, support for new media needs, help with the costs of collaborations, and costs associated with helping organizations reimagine their work and increase their resilience.

United States Regional Arts Resilience Fund is a program created through collaboration with Mid-America Arts Alliance and its five sister regional arts organizations — Arts Midwest, Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation, New England Foundation for the Arts, South Arts and Western States Arts Federation. It was funded through a $10 million grant from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and amplified in the mid-America region through additional funding from The Windgate Foundation in Little Rock, for visual arts organizations.

The grants range between $30,000 and $100,000, a significant investment supporting the resilience of small- to mid-sized arts organizations that are led by or supporting communities of color, rural communities and historically under-resourced populations, in response to the impact of COVID-19.

For more information on the Mid-America Arts Alliance, visit maaa.org.