Monmouth Arts will distribute $30,000 in Covid-19 Artist Relief Grants and Art Project Grants, through a partnership with the New Jersey Arts and Culture Recovery Fund of the Princeton Area Community Foundation.
These grants were awarded to artists throughout Monmouth County to help them continue creating art in a wide variety of mediums, including visual art, dance, music, and theatre.
Specifically, the grants will support Asbury Park’s Murals A Go-Go, the creation of the Central Jersey Dias De Los Muertos Creative Workshops and Supernatural: The Play.
Monmouth Arts has awarded $1,000 grants to 22 artists, to assist with living or career needs due to loss of work caused by the pandemic. Three Art Project grants, totalling $8,000, will support projects that benefit disenfranchised communities in Monmouth County and/or amplify the presence and voice of Black, Indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC) who work as artists and creatives.
The project, Asbury Park’s “Murals A Go-Go,” in collaboration with the city of Asbury Park, will bring together 14 artists of various racial and ethnic backgrounds to paint double-sided 6-foot by 6-foot temporary murals all around Asbury Park. Encouraging foot traffic for businesses and bringing art to the streets, this project will use art to uplift and inspire residents. The murals will be displayed until at least 2022.
“The Monmouth County arts community is one of the most creative and diverse in our State,” says Teresa Staub, Executive Director of Monmouth Arts. “While COVID-19 has disrupted so many facets of our daily lives, it has hit our arts community especially hard. These grants provide a bridge of support to area artists to get them through the pandemic and emerge stronger.”
