Action Center

Read the Wisconsin Policy Forum's COVID-19 Research Brief: "Arts and Culture in a Pandemic: An Existential Threat"

Read the Brookings Institute's report on COVID-19's impact on the creative economy

Listen to the Imagine MKE podcast episode with Joe Peterangelo, lead researcher on the Wisconsin Policy Forum research brief.

Read the letter signed by over 40 arts and culture organizations in Milwaukee: Imagine MKE Coalition Letter

Read the principles for COVID-19 relief joined by a national coalition of arts and culture organizations: Arts and Culture Sector Relief in COVID-19

gener8tor and Sound Diplomacy's toolkit to help unlock to funding for our artists, arts organizations, and creative economy: #CaresForArts Toolkit.

The global COVID-19 pandemic has sent shockwaves throughout all sectors, affecting many of our industries in Milwaukee and around the state. Like many, our city and county's artists and the arts and culture sector are experiencing a perfect storm where they can no longer perform or sell tickets due to the necessary public health response to coronavirus, while at the same time, the impacts from a global economic pause has also created uncertainty for our sector's business partners and donors. 

As of August 24, 2020, the Coronavirus has had a devastating $12.5 billion economic impact on America's arts sector with a 63% unemployment rate among artists and gig workers. Since the first U.S. case was reported in January, 96% of arts and culture organizations have cancelled events—some as far out as 2021—resulting in a loss of 354 million ticketed admissions and billions of dollars more lost in event-related spending by audiences at local businesses (restaurants, lodging, retail), impacting 701,000 jobs.

This is an existential challenge to our sector and adjacent industries and it will require a strong public policy response at all levels of government. Yet, Wisconsin is 50th in the nation in public funding for the arts, despite the arts, culture, and creative sector creating 96,000 jobs and generating almost $10 billion in economic impact. 

As our region's artists, creatives, non-profit arts and culture organizations, for-profit creative businesses and workers, and arts lovers, we must join with together to speak up and ensure that state and federal relief and recovery responses help our sector survive this current challenge. It is critically important to make your voice heard and get attention for this issue. 

Federal Phase 1: Disaster SBA loans: Non-profits are eligible for low-interest (2.75%) loans from the Small Business Administration

Federal Phase 2: Families First Coronavirus Response Act: Expands paid family leave, nutrition assistance, and expands unemployment coverage

Federal Phase 3: The CARES Act: The proposal would provide cash relief to every American, including additional unemployment benefits that also includes freelancers and gig workers and forgivable loans to small businesses and non-profits; would also provide additional funding to the National Endowment for the Arts and National Endowment for the Humanities.

Federal Phase 3.5: Cares 2: Replenished Paycheck Protection Program and funds additional assistance to hospitals

Federal Phase 4: The "Coronabus": Funds the government through the FFY21 and includes $900B in COVID-19 Relief, including the Save of Stages Act (now known as the Shuttered Venues Grant) and a new round of PPP

State: AB 1: Provides $100,000,000 to address COVID19.

In September, the state announced $5 million arts and cultural organization grant program

In October, the state announced an additional $10 million to arts and cultural organizations, and additional grants to adjacent for-profit music and entertainment organizations

In December, the county announced $700,000 for Arts and Culture organizations and the Trump Administration announced a $900 billion relief bill that included another round of PPP loans and the Shuttered Venues Grant program.

Video of Jan 5 Federal Relief Update Call

Link to Jan 5 Slide Deck 

Link to SOS Legislation

FAQ on new PPP grant program and Shuttered Venues Grant (formerly Save our Stages)

In March 2021, the President Biden signed the American Rescue Plan Act, a $1.9 Trillion stimulus bill that will provide continuing support as we near the end of the pandemic.

The American Rescue Plan Act will provide the City and County of Milwaukee over half a billion in local aid ($405 M to the City and $180 M to the County). 

By law, these funds can be used to aid impacted industries, like the arts and culture sector and the creative community. While other cities have utilized Federal relief funding to support their arts and culture sector (San Antonio, TX, population 1.5M: $2.6 million, Sacramento, CA, population 509K: $6.9 million, Roanoke, VA, population 97,000: $400,000), the City of Milwaukee (population 592,000) has not.

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- Investment in arts, culture, and creativity will help Milwaukee be better as we emerge from COVID-19. A vibrant arts and culture community helps to increase community cohesion, inclusion, and equity.

- As Milwaukee plans its restart and emergence, our region’s artists and arts and cultural production must be prioritized as an asset and partner because it can help to magnify and amplify the priority areas that the City is attempting to address with the ARPA Funds.

- Artists and creatives can leverage the arts and cultural production to help the City achieve its goals through community engagement, inspiration, and organizing. By funding these initiatives, the City would also be helping get artists and creatives – some of the most impacted by the pandemic – back to work.

- Non-profit arts and culture and the for-profit creative sector are a key driving force for our region and state’s economy. The US Bureau of Economic Analysis reports that arts and cultural production In Wisconsin generated $10.8 billion – or 3.1% of our state’s GDP – and contributed almost 100,000 jobs. As with most sectors of Wisconsin’s economy, Milwaukee drives the majority of that impact.

- Through creative placemaking, arts and cultural production have long been strategies to help communities address their affordable housing needs. In Milwaukee, artists and creatives could work in the neighborhoods they live, with neighborhood organizations, to help capture stories from neighbors and residents to help organize their efforts to address housing access and affordability. Some of this work is already happening but it is fragmented and lacks coordination. A unified arts and cultural strategy to address this important issue can help to create scale and impact.

- Art Place America has a clearing house of the ways that integrated arts a strategies can impact housing access and eviction prevention

- The arts are vital to early childhood development and education. Access to the arts help children develop fine motor skills, accelerate cognitive development, and increase capability for math and language skills. The arts also help young children develop social-emotional learning skills. Click here to read more.

- Investment in our region’s artists and arts educators could help to grow partnerships with MPS and other education and youth serving organizations to increase the impact of early childhood development and youth development work.

- Art Place America Youth Development Field Scan

- Arts and culture are vital ingredients in economic development. Cultural and arts production have been consistent sources of economic growth, during both good and difficult economic times.

- Arts and culture increase economic development in localities by attracting businesses, creating new jobs, increasing tax revenues, and promoting tourism. Arts and culture also play a key role in urban revitalization and community renewal strategies.

- The City of Milwaukee has recognized this with the ARCH program which provides low-cost loans to artists to revitalize city owned properties as community arts centers.

- The five roles for arts and culture and design in economic development

- Art Place America’s Economic Development Field Scan

- The Arts play an important role in infrastructure projects. As part of the New Deal, the WPA funded many public art and infrastructure projects that helped to put artists back to work by doing what they do best – by creating. This funding not only provided a wage to thousands of artists but also inspired many art works, buildings, and designs that live on to this day.

- Similarly, artists and creatives in Milwaukee can be leveraged in a similar way with the ARPA funds to achieve these goals of improving our city’s infrastructure and transportation.

- “When Art Worked” Infrastructure and the New Deal

- Art Place America Brief on Arts and Transportation

- The connection between art and health is an important one. Access to art is an emerging social determinant of health as studies have shown that the arts and creative expression help to boost immune systems, reduce stress, elevate mood and lower blood pressure. Some studies have shown that hospital patients who are exposed to art heal more quickly. 

- Artists and creatives are also key messengers to validate public health information. This was exemplified in Milwaukee over the last year when artists and creatives were engaged to help amplify and design public health messages to reach communities that were being disproportionately impacted by COVID-19. 

- Arts organizations, individual artists, and health leaders in Milwaukee are beginning to align their work with our city and county’s public health goals through Imagine MKE’s Arts and Public Health leaders cohort.

- By investing in this work, Milwaukee can be a leader in this emerging area of applied research and practice.

- The Connection Between Art, Healing and Public Health

- The World Health Organization Pilots Large scale study on arts and health

- Arts Place America’s Art and Health Field Scan

- Arts has a key role in increasing public safety. The City’s Office of Violence Prevention’s Blueprint for Peace identified the arts and creativity as a factor for community resilience.

- By activating communities through art and creative placemaking, spaces can become more inclusive and welcoming for people from disparate backgrounds to come together and build community.

- By engaging artists and creatives to work with neighborhood organizations, we can begin to re-imagine and build bridges in our communities.

- Urban Institute and Art Place: Examining the Ways Arts and Culture Intersect with Public Safety

- The Urban Institute’s Case Study on the Beerline Trail as public safety and placemaking

- Art Place America Art and Public Safety Field Scan