CHARLOTTE, N.C. — A new grant initiative, called the Opportunity Fund, is funding artists around Charlotte-Mecklenburg.
What You Need To Know
- The Opportunity Fund is helping dramatic artists receive aid for their projects
- Artists can now request up to $30,000
- One artist is using his grant to produce a show tackling the topic of gun violence
It’s a pool of funding within the Infusion Fund, which is a public-private partnership between the City of Charlotte, the Foundation for the Carolinas and private partners.
The goal is to help a sector devastated by the pandemic, and one of the recipients of the funding says it’s creating a positive impact.
Carlos Alexis Cruz is the producing artistic director of the Nouveau Sud Circus Project.
The grant money is helping him produce a show that tackles the topic of gun violence.
"I think for over 15 years now, we have kind of seen an increase in these sort of mass shootings that are happening, not sort of, like mass shooting that are happening just across our country,” Cruz said.
Cruz says through the fund, the city granted the project $20,000, which will help the project get up and going.
“For us to get performers to be able to get a stipend for the training period that is so important, and also the initial creation too and for us to be able to manage spaces and paid research all of those things, this grant is just covering all of those additional aspects of the production," Cruz said.
Cruz says by August, they’ll hold what he calls a “works in progress” show. They’ll present a version of what they have so far to the community, and they’ll take feedback and suggestions for how to improve it.
In January, a spokesperson said the Arts and Culture Advisory Board paused grant requests to evaluate its progress. However, the Arts and Culture Advisory has again started accepting new grant requests with artists being able to request up to $30,000.