Dana C. Stewart / Special to the Fairfax County Times
Jan 15, 2021
The year 2020 is over, and we can thank our creativity, innovation, and desire to connect for getting us to January. The arts community led the way in transitioning exhibits, classes, and experiences to an online format. It has not been easy, and the arts, like many in our community, struggle to meet their financial obligations while continuing to create opportunities for you and our community.
This year make a resolution to explore new art experiences. Just one hour a week will expand your mind, entice your creativity, and provide you with a connection to the art, an artist, and the arts community.
New COVID Relief for the arts
Federal relief for the arts is coming through the Consolidated Appropriations Act signed by the President in late December. The package includes grants for shuttered venue operators providing$15 billion for the Small Business Administration to make grants to live venue operators, theatrical producers, museum operators, and others. The bill also provides a second loan from the Paycheck Protection Program for smaller and harder-hit businesses and specific non-profit organizations. Visitsba.gov for additional information.
ArtsFairfax Offers Recovery, Innovation and Access Series
The 2021 ArtsFairfax WORK-SMART: Recovery, Innovation and Access Series begins with a February 4, 2021, 12:00 p.m. community round table exploring building inclusion, diversity, equity, and access to arts sector recovery. ArtsFairfax invites the entire community to participate. The workshop is free, but registration is required. Visit artsfairfax.org for more information.
COVID-19 Pro Bono Collaborative
The Fairfax County Economic Development Authority (FCEDA) is partnering with the Northern Virginia Pro Bono Law Center and Start Small Think Big on the COVID-19 Pro Bono Collaborative, an initiative to provide free legal assistance to small businesses in Northern Virginia during theCOVID-19 pandemic. The initiative includes help with federal assistance, grant and loan programs, leases, and employment issues. Visit fairfaxcountyeda.org for more information.
Art Works for Virginia 2021
The Virginia Commission for the Arts annual conference, Art Works for Virginia 2021, is offered free this year, but participants must register. The theme, A New State of the Arts: Reimagined, Reinvented, Restored, will be online January 26-28. Register at arts.virgina.gov.
Sam Nester: Arcadia
Murals at Mason public art project Elements 2020 presents Sam Nester’s Arcadia. Arcadia creates a stream of non-repetitive music and light by capturing the natural biorhythms of Virginia native plants and converting them through a Musical Instrument Digital Interface (MIDI) into sound and light signals. Livestream Arcadia at masonexhbitions.org or the outside of George Mason University’s President’s Park Hydroponic Greenhouse (Building 26 on Fairfax Campus Map) with your own headphones/speaker.