The second round of funding requests for art plans, venues and capital projects is open until Aug. 31 with a total of $300,000 from Durango’s Lodgers Tax: Arts & Culture Fund up for grabs.
Awarded funding will range from $5,000 to $50,000 just as in the first round requests. The opportunity is being offered by Durango’s Creative Economy Commission.
People or groups that already applied in the first round are not eligible to apply again.
Applications can be found online at https://bit.ly/3awVV4R and should be submitted to Tommy Crosby, economic opportunity coordinator for the city, at tommy.crosby@durangogov.org.
Crosby is also the contact for questions about the application process.
The first round for funding requests, which opened in May, is closed. The city is now deciding which applicants to award about $250,000 in lodgers tax revenue to, a city news release said.
The winners will be announced by the Creative Economy Commission on July 26.
Between the two rounds of arts and culture funding requests, the city will grant about $550,000 to local artists, event organizers and culture projects, the release said.
The Creative Economy Commission received 35 applications through its first round of funding requests.
Crosby said in an email on Wednesday that applicants made requests for various projects, including “concerts, music festivals, construction and facility improvements, arts and culture education, murals, sculptures, theater performances, among others.”
But the most common submission was for murals, he said. The Creative Economy Commission received nine applications to fund murals.
“With Lodger’s Tax being one of three avenues of arts and culture funding in Durango, depending on the type of project and size of the funding request, some projects might be better suited for a Durango Creates! grant (CEC) or applying to the Durango Arts Brigade (DCD),” Crosby wrote in an email to the Herald.
Visit Durango earmarked $120,000 of the total Lodgers Tax: Sustainable Tourism Marketing pool for event marketing purposes this year. The tourism office has already awarded $77,000 to 17 local groups “as part of an inaugural program that uses the city’s lodgers tax collections for sustainable marketing of local events and arts and culture projects,” the release said.
The awarded applicants will each receive between $500 to $30,000. Others interested in applying for event marketing funding can do so on Visit Durango’s website at www.durango.org/meetings-events/application/.
“The interest has been overwhelming in the best possible way – it showcased the appetite in our community for expanding investment in arts and culture,” Crosby said.
cburney@durangoherald.com
