Some 121 RI culture, humanities and arts nonprofits have received grants from the RI Culture, Humanities and Arts Recovery Grant (RI CHARG) program, a historic collaborative partnership between the State Council on the Arts (RISCA) and the Rhode Island Council for the Humanities (Humanities Council). The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) and the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) awarded $968,000 in assistance to Rhode Island from their American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds and is not part of the $1.1 billion in ARPA funding awarded to the state.

Image: Map of RI CHARG grant recipients across the state.

These federally appropriated cultural assistance funds administered by RISCA and the Humanities Council provide general operating support grants of $8,000 each to 121 culture, humanities, and arts nonprofits:

  • 95% are small to midsize and/or Black, Indigenous and People of Color (BIPOC) centered organizations;
  • 65% are organizations based outside the city of Providence; and
  • More than 25% are first-time grantees.

The Councils designed the RI CHARG program to help RI’s culture, humanities, and arts nonprofits prevent, prepare, respond, and recover from hardships suffered due to the pandemic. In keeping with federal agencies’ priority on equity, inclusion, and access efforts and supporting small- to mid-size organizations, the funding priorities were to support BIPOC centered organizations and nonprofits with annual budgets under $500,000.

A list of grant recipients is available at www.arts.ri.gov and www.rihumanities.org.