Whitley County Middle School awarded Arts Council funding
Jun. 3—FRANKFORT — Whitley County Middle School has been awarded state funding for arts education.
The Kentucky Arts Council has awarded more than $170,000 to several schools, arts organizations and individual artists to help recover after the December 2021 tornadoes in western Kentucky and the July 2022 floods in eastern Kentucky.
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 allocated $35,000 from its own budget to fund 50 grants.
"In the wake of the tornadoes that devastated areas of western Kentucky, we knew there were individual artists, arts organizations and even school programs that were going to suffer and need help in recovering," said Chris Cathers, arts council executive director. "When the flood waters rose in eastern Kentucky, the need became greater."
The Kentucky Arts Council coordinated assistance to artists, arts organizations and other creative and cultural institutions following both the tornadoes and storms. Seven months apart, these disasters affected many 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.
To date, the arts council has awarded:
—Arts Education Grants — 13 grants (current) totaling $12,388
—Individual Artist Grants — 20 grants, $4,000 each, totaling $80,000
—Nonprofit Arts Organization Grants — 17 grants, varying dollar amounts, totaling $74,922.
Whitley Middle was awarded $1,300.
"Hundreds of artists and multiple arts organizations were tremendously affected between these two events, and we were just stunned," said Emily B. Moses, arts council executive staff advisor. "Doing everything we could to help our artists and organizations moved to the top of our list, and we continue to provide support and connect our folks with resources as recovery continues."
