Newark Arts Partnered with City of Newark on COVID Relief

Mayor Ras Baraka has announced a second round of funding through the city's Creative Catalyst Fund that will provide artists and art groups with flexible grant support during the coronavirus crisis and beyond.

In January 2020, Mayor Baraka announced a broad vision for the city's cultural sector that encourages equitable funding for the arts and the kind of investment that will help sustain the creative community and grassroots arts organizations. The Creative Catalyst Fund launched in April 2020, in the early part of the COVID-19 crisis that took an enormous financial toll on the creative sector.

"Newark has been a center for the arts throughout its history," said Mayor Baraka. "COVID-19 has severely impacted our arts community – creating economic loss for artists and galleries. It has also provided them with a new canvas of experiences to document creatively. It is both a moral and economic imperative for us to support our local arts community by helping them regain their footing and continue to curate and tell the stories of Newark and its people."