CHARLOTTE, N.C. (April 21, 2022) — The City of Charlotte's
Arts and Culture Advisory Board on Tuesday approved a plan to award $400,000 in
unrestricted operating grants from the Infusion Fund to 51 local arts and culture groups.
All eligible, arts and culture-focused organizations that applied for a grant received funding. Recipients can use the funding at their discretion, in whatever manner best supports their operations, such as renting space, training, or paying artists. To accommodate all eligible requests, the board awarded grants according to the amount requested, one-third of the applicant's operating budget, or the maximum possible allocation of $8,691, which was calculated based on the volume of eligible applications.
Eligible organizations included nonprofits and other groups working with a not-for-profit fiscal agent or sponsor. In addition, groups qualified if they were based in Charlotte and had not yet received support through the
Infusion Fund. The fund is a partnership between the city, the
Foundation For The Carolinas and private donors to bolster local arts and culture over three years.
"Our goal for this allocation was to quickly and equitably distribute funding to arts and culture groups in a way that would be most helpful to them," said Priya Sircar,
the city's arts and culture officer. "The board's decision will have widespread impact, distributing unrestricted dollars — the most valuable but often most difficult funding to obtain — to 51 groups that have not previously had access to that type of funding. It will support their sustainability as the sector continues to recover from the negative impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic."