The City of Windsor is offering grant money to help struggling artists

WINDSOR, ONT -- The City is offering an enhanced funding round for the Arts, Culture & Heritage Fund (ACHF) grant program.

The ACHF grant is worth $60,000 to support local artists affected by COVID-19.

At a news conference held via video Wednesday, Mayor Drew Dilkens says the evolving pandemic crisis is having a significant impact on the creative community.

The city believes the ACHF grant program could have a positive impact on all residents. Navigating social distancing at home during this crisis.

Local musicians, comedians, storytellers, dancers, singers, theatre artists, poets, filmmakers, visual artists, designers, and artisans are all eligible to apply for a grant.

To be eligible, projects need to be 45-60 minutes live streams of performances and must be made available online for the community to view or participate in.

Applications will be accepted online starting April 17 until April 24. If selected, artists will receive either $500 or $1,000.

The works must be available to the public throughout the months from May 1, 2020 until June 30, 2020.

“$60,000 when you start dividing that into $500 or $1000 chunks is not going to make any individual artist rich, that’s not the goal” Dilkens said. “It’s just to keep things going and it certainly helps out the arts community while at the same time really giving the community some excitement about things that are happening in our own backyard.”