Paint Love, an Atlanta-based nonprofit with a mission to bring arts programming to youth facing poverty and trauma, recently received two grants totaling $15,000 from the Georgia Council for the Arts (GCA), a division of the Georgia Department of Economic Development, to help recover from the COVID-19 shutdown and supporting operations for 2021.

Paint Love, is one of the 63 Georgia arts organizations across 14 Congressional districts to receive a Resiliency Grant, which is a one-time competitive grant funded through the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act. As a State Arts Agency, the Georgia Council for the Arts was designated an agent to distribute Resiliency Grant funds from the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) to help sustain Georgia’s nonprofit arts community.

In April, the NEA awarded nearly $30 million or 40% of the agency’s funding provided by Congress in the CARES Act to state and territorial arts agencies and regional arts organizations for their funding programs to ensure wide distribution throughout the country. Georgia received $507,900 in CARES Act funding, which Georgia Council for the Arts used for its Resiliency Grant program. An additional $60,000 was awarded to GCA from South Arts to support rural and/or culturally specific organizations through this program. One hundred and seventy-one organizations submitted applications for this grant program, requesting a total of $1.78 million.

In addition to the $10,000 Resiliency Grant, Paint Love received a $5,000 Partner Grant for operating support for 2021. Funds awarded by Georgia Council for the Arts include appropriations from the Georgia General Assembly and the National Endowment for the Arts.

“These grants will help us pay our studio rent and staff as we kick off our fall programming working with Title 1 school communities moving into a totally unknown future. We will be focusing on holistic partnerships with communities and piloting programs that serve the entire school community and help kids, teachers, and parents all use art and creativity to combat the tremendous levels of stress everyone is continuing to experience,” said Paint Love’s Executive Director Laura Shaw.

Georgia Council for the Arts uses Peer Review Panels to judge and review applications following standard practices set by the National Endowment for the Arts. Panelists are GCA Council members and fellow professionals who are experienced in the arts discipline or type of grant being reviewed or are citizens with a record of arts activities, experience and knowledge. Grant recipients include theaters, dance companies, museums, cities, colleges and multi-discipline arts entities. A complete list of 2021 fiscal year grantees in these program areas can be found: https://gaarts.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/FY21-Grantees.pdf

This month, Paint Love has also had board member transitions. Founder Julie McKevitt has stepped down as board chair but will remain on the board. Former attorney Cara Hergenroether has been elected as the new board chair. Hergenroether, previously the Paint Love treasurer, is a current board member at the Junior League of Atlanta, an organization of women committed to transforming communities across Atlanta through volunteerism. Amy Clarke will serve beside Hergenroether as the newly elected vice-chair. Clarke currently serves as the program director at the CF Foundation, an Atlanta-based family foundation. Newest board member, Y. Caron Harding, a freelance development and strategy coach and consultant, was also elected as secretary. Paint Love is excited to have Hergenroether, Clarke and Harding step into their new roles.

To learn more out more about Paint Love, visit Paint Love’s Facebook page or gopaintlove.org.