Senator Hinchey Announces $348,000 Investment in Capital Projects for Small Arts & Culture Nonprofits in the Hudson Valley and Capital Region

KINGSTON, NY – State Senator Michelle Hinchey today announced that a total of $348,000 in Capital Project grants through the New York State Council on the Arts (NYSCA) have been awarded to seven nonprofit arts and culture organizations across Albany, Greene, and Ulster counties. In this final round of grant awards for Fiscal Year 2022, NYSCA prioritized small and medium-sized organizations and many first-time Capital Grant applicants, with the majority of funding within Hinchey’s district going to support organizations with operating budgets under $1 million.

Senator Michelle Hinchey said, “Upstate is a beacon for the arts and it’s our small nonprofits that are serving underrepresented communities and leading the way to show us the profound value of creative culture and its ability to bring people together and drive investment across our whole economy. We need to do everything we can to bring relief to our local artists and arts institutions whose already small operating budgets have been further devastated by the pandemic. I will always be a strong advocate for our upstate arts sector and will continue to fight to ensure that their revitalization is a core piece of New York’s economic recovery.”

News of these latest NYSCA awards comes on the heels of an announcement made by Hinchey last December that nearly $1 million in third-round NYSCA grants would be shared among nineteen arts and culture organizations in the Hudson Valley and Capital Region of her district to aid artists and institutions that have been severely impacted by pandemic losses. New York comes in second in the nation for the worst COVID-19 losses in the creative economy, with a loss of more than 280,000 jobs and $26.8 billion in sales. Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, New York’s arts and cultural sector accounted for nearly half a million jobs and generated around $120 billion for the state.

Creative sector organizations in Senator Hinchey’s district selected for NYSCA’s final round of grants for FY 2022 are below.

• $288,000 for Women’s Studio Workshop – Funding will support the restoration and redevelopment of a historic 1800s era brick arched oil house into a new ceramics studio, artist book editions studio, and five rental studio spaces for local artists.
   
• $10,000 for Arts Society of Kingston – Grant dollars will support performance space seating, lighting, and audio/visual improvements.
   
• $10,000 for Rosendale Theatre – The grant will fund technical sound equipment and the replacement of lighting equipment. 
   
• $10,000 for Greene County Council on the Arts, Inc. – Funding will support accessibility and energy system improvements.
   
• $10,000 for Old Songs, Inc. – Grant dollars will support a new sound system purchase.
   
• $10,000 for Wave Farm, Inc. – The grant will support the replacement of an FMT transmitter.
   
• $10,000 for Shadowland Artists, Inc. – The funding will support the replacement of an exterior door.
   

NYSCA Capital funding invested to date totals $50 million, which has been awarded across three funding rounds. A full list of grantees can be found here.

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