We are happy to report that applicants for this new grant program will NOT have to be a previous NEA grantee to be eligible to apply. There is a quick turnaround time for submitting applications.

ELIGIBLE applicants with incomplete info will now be asked to update info before possible decline.

The SBA is moving the SVOG program out of the Office of Disaster Assistance and into the Office of Capital Access, which ran the highly successful $800 billion PPP program that concluded on May 31st. Additionally, SBA is integrating experts from the efficiently executed Restaurant Revitalization Fund to work on SVOG, along with other interagency reviewers. Perhaps, most importantly, the new SVOG team leaders are new Biden Administration political appointees, who are committed to cutting through the red tape to achieve fast results.

If universities, such as Yale, Stanford and UCLA, are planning to require returning students to be fully vaccinated, why can’t performing arts venues do the same? This policy would offer audience members some insurance that the stranger crammed into the seat next to them wasn’t a potential petri dish of COVID variants eagerly seeking a crack in their newly erected wall of immunity.

SBA will announce Priority 1 (90% or more gross income loss) round of awards by late May. Priority 2 in mid June and Priority 3 in late June. In order to facilitate receiving the proceeds, SBA will follow the protocols described at www.grants.gov for awardees to request federal funds, submit progress reports, and certify and agree to terms and conditions. As a reminder, unless you also submitted your 2020 tax return, you will not receive the lump sum of your award. You will likely receive your SVOG funds in disbursements of up to 4 payments.

Please continue to encourage your local performing arts organizations, venues, museums, movie theater operators, and talent representatives to apply for an SVOG grant. There are ample funds still available.

“We need to have this moment to reflect,” said Baker, “and artists are who we look to for the meaning, for the hope, for the clarity, for this cohesion, this sense of belonging — this sense of, How do we come out of this?”

In an attempt to respond to scores of complaints about relaunching the SVOG application portal on a Saturday with very little notice, SBA has postponed the relaunch now to Monday, April 26, 2021 @ Noon ET.

The Shuttered Venues Operators Grant (SVOG) application portal opens TOMORROW, April 8, 2021. The SBA updated its FAQs yesterday (look for the asterisk * to see which questions/answers have been modified or added.) Below are some key resources to prepare your SVOG application.

The Shuttered Venues Operators Grant (SVOG) application portal opens TOMORROW, April 8, 2021. The SBA updated its FAQs yesterday (look for the asterisk * to see which questions/answers have been modified or added.) Below are some key resources to prepare your SVOG application.

The €2bn total pandemic emergency aid for the arts is equivalent to Germany’s annual federal culture budget. Culture Minister Monika Grütters said in a statement that the new cash injection for the arts—delivered under a programme known as Neustart Kultur (New Start for Culture)—is aimed at “offering a beacon of hope and encouragement to a cultural scene that has suffered mortal wounds.”