CAPE MAY – The New Jersey Arts and Culture Renewal Fund awarded $664,500 in grants to 30 nonprofits statewide, including two vital organizations in Cape May County
The fund grants hundreds of thousands of dollars to local organizations each year, but 2023 marked the first time that history organizations, like museums, were eligible for funding.
Since its founding in 2020, the Fund has awarded more than $7.4 million to more than 200 organizations across New Jersey. The Fund, hosted by the Princeton Area Community Foundation, offers critical grant dollars for many of the state’s smaller nonprofit organizations in the arts, culture and historical sectors.
The Harriet Tubman Museum, in the heart of Cape May, received an undisclosed amount of money. The museum opened in 2020 and chronicles Harriet’s time in the county – it also tells the story of the many historically black communities that have called Cape May County home. It is an important educational resource that highlights the plight that black Americans, and specifically black Cape May County locals, have endured.
The other grant went to the Center for Community Arts. This non-profit organization supports, funds, and spurs a host of artistic endeavors across Cape May County. They help host events, tours of the city, musicals, dance performances, art galleries, and more across the peninsula. Recently, they partnered with a Villas-based non-profit, Art Depot, to help save more than 2-tons of art supplies from the trash.
The most recent grants were awarded in two phases. Eleven nonprofits received grants from the Fund for the first time, and for the first time, one round of grants was dedicated to history organizations.
“The New Jersey Arts and Culture Renewal Fund directly addresses disparities in funding that were present before the pandemic and have increased in its aftermath,” said Sharnita C. Johnson, Vice President of Strategy, Impact and Communications at the Victoria Foundation and Co-Chair of the Fund.
“The smaller cultural organizations supported by the New Jersey Arts and Culture Renewal Fund serve multiple functions in their communities. They are important anchors central to community wellbeing and quality of life in the areas they serve.”
The New Jersey Arts and Culture Renewal Fund is an unprecedented collaboration between private and public donors. Jeremy Grunin, President of the Grunin Foundation and Fund Co-Chair, said they are grateful to be entering their third year of grantmaking, as the effects of the pandemic are still being felt in the sector.
“NJACRF continues to evolve to best support New Jersey arts, culture and historical organizations,” he said. “The folks in this sector have tirelessly shown their dedication to their profession by carrying out their work even when they had limited capacity and resources. They know how important the arts, culture and history are to the wellbeing of individuals and the entire community. Their work did not stop, and neither will ours.”
