(TRENTON, NJ) -- On April 8, 2021, Governor Phil Murphy signed into law S-3251, which provides $15 million in federal COVID-19 relief aid for arts and culture venues throughout New Jersey. The relief aid is being administered by both the New Jersey State Council on the Arts and the New Jersey Economic Development Authority. Specifically, the bill makes available $7.5 million to the State Arts Council for nonprofit organizations, and $7.5 million to the EDA for for-profit organizations.

Next week, the New Jersey State Council on the Arts will release the guidelines and application for nonprofit arts organizations. This grant opportunity will be open broadly to the field, and all eligibility requirements will be included in the guidelines.

The Council staff will be hosting a series of Open Office Hours to provide technical assistance, starting with a session to be open on Friday, May 28th.

Once the guidelines are released next week, information about the Coronavirus Relief Fund grant application and technical assistance will be posted to the Council's website, as well as on Facebook and Twitter. They encourage all interested organizations to sign up for their email list to ensure you receive the information as soon as it's available.

The New Jersey State Council on the Arts, created in 1966, is a division of the NJ Department of State. The Council was established to encourage and foster public interest in the arts; enlarge public and private resources devoted to the arts; promote freedom of expression in the arts; and facilitate the inclusion of art in every public building in New Jersey. The Council receives direct appropriations from the State of New Jersey through a dedicated, renewable Hotel/Motel Occupancy fee, as well as competitive grants from the National Endowment for the Arts.