PROVIDENCE – Strong community support in a short amount of time resulted in AS220 surpassing its month-long fundraising goal at a time when state assistance for nonprofits to remain afloat is nonexistent.
And while the local youth arts organization has painted a better financial picture for itself as of June 30, AS220 and other local nonprofits are still continuing conversations with state leaders in the hopes of getting that share of federal COVID-19 money.
AS220 raised $101,984 by the June 30 fiscal year end date, slightly surpassing its $100,000 goal it had set at the start of the month. Back in early June, the organization sent an email to the community stating it needed to raise the six-figure amount immediately so that AS220 can avoid making “pretty drastic cuts” to its operations, Co-Executive Director Shauna Duffy
told Providence Business News at the time.
“We are extremely grateful to our community,” AS220 spokesperson Dave Dvorchak told PBN on Wednesday. AS220 representatives, though, did not confirm to PBN if those “drastic cuts” are officially off the table.
Dvorchak says AS220 was also grateful for the community coming through in the organization’s time of need when the state budget did not. Before
the state made official its $13.9 billion 2025 fiscal year budget, the Rhode Island Coalition for the Arts – an assembly of the state’s art advocates and industry leaders – rallied around the Creative Futures Fund, a separate bill introduced by Providence Democrats Sen. Jake Bissaillon – also the CEO of local nonprofit Justice Assistance – and Rep. Scott Slater in their respective chambers.
The bill called for $18 million to be directed toward the fund. That includes $14.5 million toward 13 nonprofits and another $3.5 million to the R.I. State Council on the Arts for grants and administrative fees. Duffy said at the time the Creative Future Fund would be the one-time recovery “runway” arts nonprofits need to get to that needed stable future.
However, that bill was not passed this year. The budget does include a $10 million arts and cultural facilities bond, which needs voter approval to go into effect, but it would only provide money for a select few arts organizations to make new capital improvements.
Dvorchak said with uncertainty at the time if nonprofits would get that financial jolt from the state, AS220 needed to shift away from hoping for state assistance to directly asking the community for help last month. AS220 is disappointed that the Creative Future Fund bill did not pass and the organization’s stance on the bond measure not doing more remains true, Dvorchak says.
He says a “bigger conversation” in the state doing more to support its arts and cultural sector needs to be had. Dvorchak said that the advocacy from organizations pushing for the passage of the Creative Future Fund bill “energized” the nonprofit community and discussions will continue forward on the topic.
“We’re not dropping it,” he said. “We’re pumped about this. This is an important issue and we can see the public support. It’s not over.”
James Bessette is the PBN special projects editor, and also covers the nonprofit and education sectors. You may reach him at Bessette@PBN.com. You may also follow him on Twitter at @James_Bessette.
