BETHLEHEM, PA - Touchstone Theatre is pleased to announce they have been approved to receive an American Rescue Plan grant from the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) to help the arts and cultural sector recover from the pandemic. Touchstone Theatre is recommended to receive $50,000 and may use this funding to support jobs and to fund operations and facilities, health and safety supplies, and marketing and promotional efforts to encourage attendance and participation. In total, the NEA will award grants totaling $57,750,000 to 567 arts organizations in all 50 states, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and Washington, DC.
"Our nation's arts sector has been among the hardest hit by the COVID-19 pandemic. The National Endowment for the Arts' American Rescue Plan funding will help arts organizations, such as Touchstone Theatre, rebuild and reopen," said Dr. Maria Rosario Jackson, chair of the NEA. "The arts are crucial in helping America's communities heal, unite, and inspire, as well as essential to our nation's economic recovery."
"Touchstone is honored to receive funding from the National Endowment for the Arts," effuses Touchstone managing director Lisa Jordan. "Grant funds will support artist salaries and will help ensure the 40-year-old company remains on solid footing as we continue to recalibrate, reimagine, and recover."
Touchstone Theatre, thanks to its wide net of support, including funding from the NEA and the American Rescue Plan, has been able to continue to produce original offerings for the community since the onset of the pandemic. Touchstone is currently in its 40th season of mainstage programming, which includes a wide array of both in-person performances and offerings accessed from patrons' homes.
The American Rescue Plan was signed into law in March 2021 when the NEA was provided $135 million for the arts sector. The funding for organizations is the third installment providing more than $57.7 million for arts organizations. In April 2021, the NEA announced $52 million (40 percent) in ARP funding would be allocated to 62 state, jurisdictional, and regional arts organizations for regranting through their respective programs. The second installment in November 2021 allocated $20.2 million to 66 local arts agencies for subgranting to local artists and art organizations.
For more information on the NEA's American Rescue Plan grants, including the full list of arts organizations funded in this announcement, visit www.arts.gov/COVID-19/the-american-rescue-plan