2020 Arts Dollars Program ReachED 24 Recipients In the Quad City Area

​Arts Dollars has been granting funds to artists and nonprofits in the Quad Cities region since 1979 thanks to our generous funding partners, who believe in the power of the arts to enrich our communities. Thanks to our 2020 Arts Dollars funding partners, The Illinois Arts Council Agency, a state agency and The Hubbell-Waterman Foundation. The vision that Quad City Arts has in facilitating these grants is that individual artists and nonprofits of all sizes would be able to accomplish projects in the Quad Cities and surrounding communities, that those communities would see a long-lasting benefit from the completed projects, and that artists would be paid for their work in the process. Each year, artists and nonprofits apply for grants in one of three categories: Projects, Education, and Capacity-Building. Keep an eye out for our 2021 grant round opening in December!

The funds awarded in the Project and Education categories are an investment in the arts across the six-county region served by Quad City Arts, activating nonprofits and artists who are engaging their community through projects in visual arts, theatre, music, film and more. Our records show that since 1990 alone, Arts Dollars has funded $1.3 million in projects in our region. What an amazing legacy!

Capacity-Building grants are highly competitive and specially designed for arts-centered nonprofit organizations that are seeking support to expand their reach and impact through the arts in their community. This category was added in 2016 as Quad City Arts saw a need for small organizations to have access to funds to increase their capacity. Arts Dollars has funded important organizational infrastructure support like strategic planning, database solutions, temporary staff, and more.

Our 2020 grant awards were recommended by a panel of community members who sifted through the nearly $160,000 in requests from across the region and approved by the Quad City Arts Board of Directors. Please join us in celebrating these individuals and organizations! We are excited about the impact each one will make on our community as they advance their mission and the mission of Quad City Arts: to enrich the quality of life in the Quad City region through the arts.

Capacity-Building

• Quad Cities Woodturners Association – Funds will cover fees to attend shows and fairs to increase membership

Education

• Hot Glass, Inc – HS field trips to hot glass to learn glassblowing
• McKinley Elementary School – Students will be researching life in Davenport in 1940 and creating a mural depicting the future of Davenport
• Muscatine Art Center – Summer Visiting Artist Workshops
• QC United (Pete the Purple Bull) – LIFT Program in schools, engaging students through hip-hop music, dance, and drama
• River Action – Arts Along the River, including a public play, painting watercolor, videos, writing, and participating in a drum circle led by the Native American Coalition of the Quad Cities
• Steam on Wheels – Bringing STEAM curriculum into schools

Project

• Azubuike African American Council for the Arts – Acting for film workshop
• Central DeWitt Performing Arts Center – Production of Cinderella, the musical
• Countryside Community Theatre – Paying professional pit musicians
• Galva Arts Council – Summer Concert Series
• Good News Singers Chorale – sheet music
• Hand in Hand – Inspiration Studio works with participants with disabilities
• Handicapped Development Center – 9 integrated arts classes
• Genesius Theatre Foundation – Summer performance series
• German American Heritage Center – Power Frauen history and art exhibit
• Martin Luther King Jr Center – Multicultural Dance Day
• Moline Community Development Corporation – 5 neighborhood beautification projects
• Moline Public Library – Universal Language project, working with young adult immigrants in piano music instruction and collaborative mural
• Opera Quad Cities – Production of Madame Butterfly
• WVIK – Rock Island Lines commemorative book
• Youth Hope QC – Creative Arts Enrichment Programs

Individual Artist

• 1V on the Track – Music Video production, working with at-risk youths
• Aubs. – Collaborative poetry project

Providing grant funding for local projects like this allows us to move our mission forward. Quad City Arts is a nonprofit local arts agency dedicated to enriching the quality of life in the Quad City region through the arts. The Art Dollars 2021 application opens December 15 and is open through January 31, 2021. For more information and guidelines, please reference our Art Dollars program page.


This program partially supported by a grant from the Illinois Arts Council, a state agency, and a grant from the Hubbell-Waterman Foundation.