STATE SENATOR
Cathy Osten
DEPUTY PRESIDENT PRO TEMPORE
GETTING RESULTS
- Representing
- Columbia,
- Franklin,
- Hebron,
- Lebanon,
- Ledyard,
- Lisbon,
- Marlborough,
- Montville,
- Norwich,
- Sprague
State Senator Cathy Osten (D-Sprague) today welcomed state arts grants totaling about a third of a million dollars for more than a dozen arts organizations in eastern Connecticut to help them financially survive during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
Sen. Osten – who as Senate Chair of the budget-writing Appropriations Committee personally proposed the state support for arts organizations during last year’s budget negotiations – said 13 arts groups in six eastern Connecticut towns will receive a total of $323,500 from CT Humanities through its CT Cultural Fund. The grants will assist organizations recovering from the pandemic and aid them in serving their communities.
“During last year’s budget negotiations there was a lot of focus on supporting first responders and small businesses, students and families and I thought – arts organizations that usually survive on a shoestring budget are being badly hit by this pandemic and the lack of people going out to attend their events. And if this keeps up, a lot of doors are not going to reopen,” Sen. Osten said. “It made sense to extend this support at a time when Connecticut can afford it and at a time when arts organizations in every community across the state desperately need it.”
The statewide grants to 624 different non-profit museums and cultural, humanities, and arts organizations total $16 million and are part of the total $30.7 million in support allocated by the state legislature to CT Humanities over the next two years.
Grants range from $5,000 to $500,000 to any organization offering cultural, humanities and arts-based projects and activities for the public.
Arts organizations in eastern Connecticut benefitting from the state grants include: