The Crooked Road to Receive $100,000 Grant from the National Endowment for the Arts as part of the American Rescue Plan

 Abingdon, VA—Virginia’s Heritage Music Trail: The Crooked Road 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. The Crooked Road is recommended to receive $100,000 and may use this funding to save 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 Virginia’s Heritage Music Trail, 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.”

“This grant from the NEA will be a tremendous assist for The Crooked Road.  As we work toward the 20th Anniversary in 2024, this will be beneficial to artists, programming and overall operations of the organization. The mission of The Crooked Road is to highlight heritage music by engaging musicians, tradition‐keepers, their communities and audiences from around the world to share, inspire, and celebrate the cultural heritage while positively impacting the local economies in Southwest Virginia.  This funding will help the organization continue to pursue economic development and programming that aligns with these goals,” says Dylan Locke, President of The Crooked Road Board of Directors and owner of Floyd Country Store, County Sales and Handmade Music School.

The Crooked Road will use this funding to expand staff and programming, including contracting musicians for a variety of regional concerts. This will benefit The Crooked Road’s service region by allowing for new endeavors to attract tourists to the region and promote heritage music through performances. Expanded staffing will allow for the organization to invest in value-added projects that encourage communication and growth within potential audiences, with regional musicians and the tourism partners of the region.

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.

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Sarah Mast
Author: Sarah Mast