Indiana Groups Get Federal Stimulus Funds

The Indiana Arts Commission has announced that organizations working in the arts are receiving grants to help preserve jobs. WFPL’s Elizabeth Kramer has more.Twenty-four groups throughout Indiana are getting grants totaling more than $500,000 to fund staff positions that are essential to their arts-related missions. The National Endowment for the Arts is providing the money under the economic stimulus plan enacted in March.Sally Gaskill — of the advocacy group Indiana Coalition for the Arts — says the money is needed, given the recession and a recent 20 percent cut to the Indiana Arts Commission’s budget."Anything that the government can do, like the stimulus fund grants, certainly help to maintain these important jobs, because arts organizations are like any other employer," she says. "They are responsible for paying taxes through their payroll and certainly those jobs are as important as jobs in the for-profit sector."Gaskill says arts groups need this support and more at a time when the recession is causing declines in revenues and contributions to arts groups.She says constituents need to tell officials how these funds and others help communities."We need to continue to be vigilant about communicating with our legislators and other elected officials the importance that arts organizations and individual artists have to our economy, to quality of life, and to educating our children," she says.Nearly 65 percent of the grant money awarded through the Indiana Arts Commission and an organization called Arts Midwest was awarded to Indianapolis arts groups.(Click here for a list of groups that received NEA stimulus money in Kentucky.)Organizations Receiving NEA Stimulus Money through the Indiana Arts Commission Fort Wayne Ballet, $21,300, Fort WayneFriend of the Frankfort Library, $25,000, FrankfortBooth Tarkington Civic Theatre, $25,000, IndianapolisIndiana Opera Society, $25,000, IndianapolisIndiana State Museum Foundation, $16,000, IndianapolisYoung Audiences of Indiana, $25,000, IndianapolisMuncie Civic & College Symphony Assn., $15,914, MuncieRidgewood Arts Foundation, Inc., $25,000, MunsterNorthwest Indiana Symphony Society, Inc., $19,240, MunsterRichmond Art Museum, $15,544, RichmondRichmond Symphony Orchestra, $15,544, RichmondSheldon Swope Art Museum, Inc., $25,000, Terre HauteOrganizations Receiving NEA Stimulus Money through Arts Midwest Asante Children’s Theatre, $25,000, IndianapolisEiteljorg Museum, $25,000, IndianapolisReceiving NEA Stimulus Money through the Indiana Arts Commission and Arts Midwest Children’s Center for Dance Education, $25,000, EvansvilleOrganizations Receiving NEA Stimulus Money through the Arts Council of Indianapolis Phoenix Theatre, Inc., $17,500, IndianapolisAmerican Pianists Association, $25,000, IndianapolisChildren’s Museum of Indianapolis, $25,000, IndianapolisHarrison Center for the Arts, $7,500, IndianapolisHeartland Truly Moving Pictures, $25,000, IndianapolisIndianapolis Chamber Orchestra, $25,000, IndianapolisIndianapolis Museum of Art, Inc., $25,000, IndianapolisMusic for All, Inc., $25,000, IndianapolisPrimary Colours, Inc., $25,000, Indianapolis