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We Are Better Together With You:
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STAGES ARE CLOSED THROUGHOUT OUR COMMUNITY!
The Coronavirus (COVID-19) has created a substantial disruption to earned revenue for organizations and income streams for individuals. Many performances and events have been canceled or postponed.
Please consider donating the cost of your unused tickets back to those organizations. This generous gesture would greatly help them through this difficult time.
Thank you!
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EMERGENCY FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE FUND
The Allied Arts would like to form an Emergency Financial Assistance Fund, with YOUR help.
Pursuing a career in the creative or cultural sector can be fraught with challenges. It's not uncommon for individuals emerging in their careers to live from paycheck to paycheck, making it difficult to establish any type of substantial financial safety net. Those who operate in the gig economy aren't guaranteed the comfort of a steady paycheck, which means their monthly income often fluctuates. These conditions can make it extremely hard for individuals in the sector to be adequately prepared when an emergency strikes.
Creative and cultural professionals, which includes artists of all disciplines, who have experienced a disruption to their income stream can request assistance from the Allied Arts once the fund is established. Awarded funds will be used to assist with necessary living expenses, such as housing, utilities, or groceries. The objective is to provide financial support in moments of crisis to those in the sector who are experiencing financial hardship.
This fund will be made possible through generous donor contributions to the Allied Arts.
We are starting with a $500 gift to kickstart this fund!
Contact us for more information.
THANK YOU!
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SMALL BUSINESSES ARE THE HEART OF OUR TOWN!
They supported us, let’s now support them! Small businesses are the heart of our town, and they need us during this difficult time! Purchase some gift cards or shop online every click counts❣️#shopsmallbusiness #supportsmallbusiness #rapidcitystrong #bettertogether❤️
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Shop for the Arts at Target Through March 31!
You Can Order Online and Vote For The Allied Arts!
We are honored and excited to announce that we have been chosen to participate in a special charitable giving campaign, sponsored and funded by Target.
And you have the chance to help direct a portion of Target’s donation to us!
Now through March 31, vote for us through the Target Circle program to help determine how Target’s donation will be divvied up.
We’re asking our supporters to help us make the most of this incredible opportunity. Every vote counts to help us receive a portion of the available Target funds as we continue our mission to ensure dynamic, sustainable, cultural opportunities by enriching our Communities through the advancement of the Arts. The Allied Arts have been collaborating creative community connections for the Arts in Rapid City and the Black Hills since 1971.
Don’t forget, as you earn more votes; you can keep voting multiple times during the campaign!
Thank you for your support, and we encourage you to share your support for us (and your thanks to Target) on social media throughout the duration of the voting!
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Thank you to everyone that participated in our Eat For The Arts!
Your orders helped not only our nonprofits but also the employees at the Colonial House Restaurant and Bar and delivery services.
Keep in mind that as long as you are buying from someone in your community, you're helping to keep people in their jobs.
Spread a little kindness during this difficult time, not germs. 😊
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Turn your Family Fare receipts into a donation for the Arts!
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Every Receipt Gets Us That Much Closer!
Allied Arts Fund has the opportunity to earn $1,000 from Spartan Nash, simply by shopping at any local company-owned Family Fare Center. Through the Direct Your Dollars program, we can turn eligible receipts into cash for our organization!
It’s easy to help us “Direct Your Dollars.” Every time you shop at any Family Fare Center, save your receipts and send them to us at:
Allied Arts Fund
PO Box 4080
Rapid City, SD 57709
Proceeds will benefit the
Arts
in the Black Hills!
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The coronavirus has already had a devastating economic impact on America’s nonprofit arts sector—financial losses to date are estimated to be $3.2 billion.
March 26, 2020
Late last night, the U.S. Senate unanimously passed (96-0) the third phase of the coronavirus (COVID-19) response relief package. The $2 trillion emergency stimulus package included important provisions supporting the arts sector and creative workforce. The nation's arts and culture industry is experiencing devastating economic losses with closed venues and cancelled performances, exhibitions, and events as a result of the pandemic.
The U.S. House plans to vote on the bill tomorrow morning at 9 a.m. ET and President Trump, who has already signaled his support of the legislation, is expected to sign it into law shortly thereafter.
This vital piece of legislation includes direct support for both nonprofit cultural organizations and state and local arts and humanities agencies, as well as economic relief provisions for independent contractors, "gig economy" workers and artists, entrepreneurs, and small businesses working in the creative economy.
We are thankful to you, the thousands of advocates and state and local arts agencies, who responded to our action alerts these last few weeks. Your advocacy has been effective and many of our policy asks have been addressed. But we know it's not enough and Treasury Secretary Mnuchin acknowledged yesterday at a press conference that he thought this legislation was just a three-month economic solution to help workers and affected industries.
Specifically, the bill includes the following arts-related items to address the continuing damage caused by the COVID-19 virus:
Federal Arts Funding (Note: This is a supplement to their annual appropriations)
- $75 million for the National Endowment for the Arts
- $75 million for the National Endowment for the Humanities
- Special note: Congress accepted our ask to waive matching grant requirements and to waive the requirement for grants to be project-specific. All these new fast-track grants will be for general operating support with no match.
- $75 million for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting
- $50 million for the Institute of Library and Museum Sciences
Community Development Block Grants, Small Business Administration, and Unemployment Insurance
- $5 billion for Community Development Block Grants to cities and counties. Arts groups should work directly with their mayors and local economic development offices for grant support.
- $350 billion for Small Business Administration (SBA) emergency loans of up to $10 million for small businesses—including nonprofits (with less than 500 employees), sole proprietors, independent contractors, and self-employed individuals (like individual artists)—to cover payroll costs, mortgage/rent costs, utilities, and other operations. These loans can be forgiven if used for those purposes. This new eligibility has been a key element of the CREATE Act we've been pursuing;
- $10 billion for Emergency Economic Injury Disaster Loans (EIDL) for loans up to $10,000 for small businesses and nonprofits to be used for providing paid sick leave for employees, maintaining payroll, mortgage/rent payments, and other operating costs;
- Expanded Unemployment Insurance (UI) that includes coverage for furloughed workers, freelancers, and "gig economy" workers. The bill also increases UI payments by $600/week for four months, in addition to what one claims under a state unemployment program.
Charitable Giving Tax Deduction
- An "above-the-line" or universal charitable giving incentive for contributions made in 2020 of up to $300. This provision will now allow all non-itemizer taxpayers (close to 90% of all taxpayers) to deduct charitable contributions from their tax return, an incentive previously unavailable to them. Additionally, the stimulus legislation lifts the existing cap on annual contributions for itemizers from 60 percent of adjusted gross income (AGI) to 100 percent of AGI for contributions made in 2020.
The inclusion of these provisions to help nonprofits, the arts sector, and the creative workforce can be attributed, in part, to the incredible grassroots outreach by arts advocates across the country, coordination with national nonprofit coalitions, and Americans for the Arts and Arts Action Fund outreach to Congress and the Trump Administration. It is likely that another stimulus package will be considered by Congress as the economic fallout from the coronavirus adds up across the country - we will need your help again!
Americans for the Arts and the Arts Action Fund will continue to work for increased support for our sector as we deal with this global pandemic. In addition to the continuing damage reports being collected through our national economic snapshot survey and dashboard, our up-to-the-minute COVID-19 Resource Center updates, we're also planning a series of webinars through our ArtsU platform to present experts and guidance to the field to help navigate through these new federal provisions during this challenging time. More to come.
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ART ACTIVITIES TO ENJOY FROM YOUR HOME!
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BHCT Ghostlight Series
Even though all remaining productions of its 52nd Season have been postponed for at least eight weeks, Black Hills Community Theatre still feels that they must inspire, entertain, and educate the community with quality theatre. The Ghostlight Series will provide new content on Monday, Wednesdays, and Fridays in the forms of Livestreams or pre-recorded videos featuring talented BHCT artists until we can gather in groups again. The content will be posted initially on BHCT's Facebook page and will also be posted here on our website.
Enjoy!
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A list of free, online, boredom-busting resources!
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You know what's fun to do when you get bored at home? Science! Here's is a big list of easy, fun home experiments for you to try out. PLEASE SHARE and post here if you try them out.
http://www.sciencebob.com/
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Many museums, zoos, and aquariums have set up virtual tours and webcams of their facilities. Now more than ever is it easier to visit destinations around the world from the comfort of your couch.
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15 Broadway Plays and Musicals You Can Watch On Stage From Home
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Grab some crayons and have fun coloring any one of these 1000 Free Disney Coloring Pages. This massive collection of Disney Coloring pages has all your favorite Disney Characters!
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Sultans of String
Rapid City Concert Association
Tuesday, March 31 | 7:00 PM
Rushmore Plaza Fine Arts Theater
444 Mount Rushmore Road • Rapid City
2017 JUNO nominees and SiriusXM winners Sultans of String thrill their audiences with their genre-hopping passport of Celtic reels, flamenco, Gypsy-jazz, Arabic, Cuban, and South Asian rhythms. Sultans of String celebrate musical fusion and human creativity with warmth and virtuosity.
Acoustic strings meet with electronic wizardry to create layers and depth of sound, while world rhythms excite audiences to their feet with the irresistible need to dance. for more information
Enter with your membership card or just $25.00 adult or $10.00 for children. Memberships for next year will be available for purchase. This is the best value in entertainment you can find!
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The Sultans of String concert scheduled for March 31st has been canceled. There is a possibility of re-scheduling; however, that has not yet been determined. Please periodically check our FaceBook and web page for updates. www.rcconcerts.org or Rapid City Concert Association on FaceBook. For more information, please use the contact tool on the web page. I will receive that email and respond.
Thank you,
Don Stover, President
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You Make The Difference!
Thank you for your support of the Arts!
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Supporting Community Projects!
"I would like to personally thank the Allied Arts Fund for their support, which allows me to create awareness pieces that, in return, support organizations in our community." Art heals, art transforms. The "Last of Me", 12x36 mixed media on canvas was auctioned at The Vagina Monologues, and the proceeds were donated to Working Against Violence, Inc. (WAVI) - Kristina Simmons, Ruminative Arts
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With your help and the support of US Bank, we were able to provide a grant through our Share-a-Seat program so that local students could participate in a cultural dance workshop with the Young Irelanders. The students performed those dances that night on stage at the Rapid City Concert Association event.
Thank you for making these opportunities possible for the children in our community. Find out more about our Share-a-Seat program here:
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STANDING TOGETHER FOR THE ARTS TODAY AND ALWAYS!
The Allied Arts need your support now more than ever.
Our world-class arts, education, and development programs are at risk without the investment from all of our patrons.
Help us inspire, inform, enlighten, educate, and entertain our youth, seniors, and the Black Hills community.
Your donation will help to support the tradition of excellence and accessibility of our nonprofit arts organizations.
Allied Arts help to keep gallery doors open, spotlights shining, toes tapping, tickets and classes affordable and the fun never-ending for these amazing Black Hills' arts non-profit organizations:
Bells of the Hills
Black Hills Bluegrass Association
Black Hills Chamber Music Society
Black Hills Community Theatre
Black Hills Dance Theatre
Black Hills Showcase Chorus
Black Hills Pow Wow Association
Black Hills Symphony Orchestra
Chamber Music Festival of the Black Hills
Dakota Artists Guild
Dakota Choral Union
Rapid City Children’s Chorus
Rapid City Concert Association
We appreciate your continued investment in arts programming that makes our lives and community a great place to live, work, play, and educate our kids and grandkids!
Make the Arts experience come true for our next generation, and we ask you to encourage a friend to do the same.
Make a gift TODAY and help support the future of the Allied Arts! Thank you for enriching Rapid City and the Black Hills, we indeed are better TOGETHER!
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Thank You For Making Our Work Possible!
Allied Arts’ Organizations donate tickets to children, schools and our underserved communities, provided over $10,300 in local scholarships, and created 217 events for children and hosted hundreds of FREE programs in our local schools.
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