Arts companies within the Dallas city limits alone recently disclosed that they had suffered $95 million in losses due to the pandemic. Small arts companies were among the hardest hit.
So, those companies in particular welcomed Wednesday’s news that the Moody Fund for the Arts is awarding $400,000 in grants — the highest amount it has ever bestowed — to 54 of Dallas’ small arts companies.
Anyika McMillan-Herod, the co-founder and executive director of Dallas’ Soul Rep Theatre, received a grant of $9,000, which she called “the largest we’ve been awarded from the Moody Fund. So, we are grateful for that increase. Oh, my goodness, this is critical, particularly in these uncharted times.”
“It’s fantastic,” said Sara Cardona, executive director of the Teatro Dallas theater company, which also received a $9,000 grant, just $1,000 under the maximum that any one group could receive.
Before the pandemic, Teatro Dallas was closing in on an annual operating budget of $400,000, Cardona said. “Each year, we had been growing, but with the pandemic, we lost a lot in ticket and education revenue.” She estimates the loss as being around $79,000. Its annual budget declined to about $260,000.
Just before a national emergency was declared on March 13, 2020, the pandemic forced the cancellation of Cement City, which Cardona said involved a full year devoted to research, with the company being “embedded in West Dallas, with a playwright and the community. We had a big show planned, with eight actors. That hit us really hard. Going into spring and summer, we always have camps and classes and touring shows. We lost all of that as well.”
In awarding the grants, Francie Moody-Dahlberg, the executive director and chairman of the Galveston-based Moody Foundation, underscored Cardona’s remarks, noting how “this has been a challenging time for our arts community, and it is so important these smaller arts organizations are not overlooked when it comes to support.”
The Moody Foundation’s largesse for Dallas’ small arts groups goes back to 2017, when the Moody Fund for the Arts was created. Its initial endowment was $10 million. In return, City Performance Hall in the Dallas Arts District was renamed Moody Performance Hall.
In the weeks leading up to the initial grant, small arts groups appeared before the City Council and complained about the city’s decision to award $1.5 million a year for 10 years to help the AT&T Performing Arts Center retire its capital debt, which at one time had soared as high as $151 million. In essence, small arts groups had posed the question:
“Why aren’t we being awarded money from the city?”
The Moody Foundation responded with what some now call a silver lining — pledging $12 million toward the ATTPAC debt, in addition to allocating $10 million toward the newly created Moody Fund for the Arts.
“This fund was established,” Moody-Dahlberg said, “to support these diverse, small groups and the exciting work they are doing.”
Organizers say the fund will grow in the coming years.
This is the fourth year of grants distributed by the Moody Fund for the Arts, bringing the grand total of funds given out since its inception to $1,080,000. The Moody Fund for the Arts awarded $150,000 in grant money in 2018 and $175,000 more in 2019. In response to the pandemic, which prevented arts companies large and small from collecting nearly any earned income, last year’s grants came in at $355,000. For all companies, regardless of size, 2020 was essentially a lost year.
Jennifer Scripps, director of the Dallas Office of Arts and Culture, said Wednesday that the Moody Fund had provided “critical dollars” at a desperately needed time.
“When the Moody Fund was created,” Scripps said, “no one could have imagined how precious this support would become during a pandemic and all of the social unrest during 2020.”
The AT&T Performing Arts Center administers the fund, which had its review process moved up ahead of the usual late-July timeline, to help arts organizations as they scramble to reopen at full capacity in the coming months.
“We’re on the cusp of reopening,” said Debbie Storey, the president and CEO of ATTPAC, “and these funds are important to help bridge the time between now and fully reopening without restrictions.”
The maximum grant request is $10,000. This year, 10 groups received the full amount they requested.
This year, panelists who reviewed the requests included José Bowen, former dean of Meadows School of the Arts at Southern Methodist University; Gail Cronauer, an actor, director and educator; Mark Mullino, a director, conductor and music director; Vicki Meek, an artist, educator and writer who is also a member of the City of Dallas Arts and Culture Advisory Commission; and Amber Pickens, a dancer and choreographer.
The executive committee consists of arts advocate Gwen Echols; Tracy Preston, an ATTPAC board member; and Jennifer Scripps.
These are the grant recipients for 2021:
American Baroque Opera Company
Anita N. Martinez Ballet Folklorico
Arga Nova Dance
The Artist Outreach
Artittude
Artsillery*
Avant Chamber Ballet
B. Moore Dance*
Ballet North Texas
Bishop Arts Theatre Company*
Bruce Wood Dance
Cara Mía Theatre Co.
The Cedars Union
Children’s Chorus of Greater Dallas
Creative Arts Center of Dallas
Cry Havoc Theater Company
Dallas Bach Society
Dallas Chamber Symphony
Dallas Historical Society*
Dance Council of North Texas
Deep Vellum Publishing
DFW Play*
Don’t Ask Why*
Echo Theatre
Fine Arts Chamber Players
The Flame Foundation*
Flamenco Fever
Imprint Theatreworks*
Indian Cultural Heritage Foundation
Junior Players
Kitchen Dog Theater Company
Laughter League
Lone Star Wind Orchestra
Museum of Geometric and MADI Art
New Texas Symphony Orchestra
Oak Cliff Society of Fine Arts*
Over the Bridge Arts*
Prism Movement Theater
Sammons Center for the Arts
Shakespeare Dallas
Soul Rep Theatre Company
South Dallas Concert Choir
Swan Strings
Teatro Dallas
Teatro Flor Candela
Texas Winds
Theatre Three
Turtle Creek Chorale
The Women’s Chorus of Dallas
The Writer’s Garret
Undermain Theatre
Uptown Players
USA Film Festival
Verdigris Ensemble
* First time MFA grant recipient.
