2020-2021 highlights the organization’s adaptability in the face of COVID and the successful delivery of $1.2 million in artist grants.
The New Brunswick Arts Board (artsnb) has released its annual report for 2020-2021.
The report details the projects and artists supported as well as a complete region-by-region breakdown of funding distributed.
The year’s complete total of $1,283,212 (an increase of nearly $500,000 over the previous year) was divided over eight funding programs. Of the 584 applications received, 262 grants were awarded at a success rate of 44.9%.
Artsnb board chair Alain Boisvert called the year “contagious, to say the least.”
“That’s the first adjective that comes to mind to sum up an exceptional year for New Brunswick and for the planet,” wrote Boisvert in his opening comments to the report citing the inventiveness of New Brunswick artists and the flexibility of Executive Director Joss Richer and his team as two of the year’s highlights.
In his comments included in the report, Richer outlined how restrictions imposed on travel and outreach by the pandemic, plus the implementation of a fully online grant assessment process amounted to $83,000 in savings which were then reallocated through grants and scholarships.
The top three disciplines to receive funding were Visual Arts (89 grants awarded), Music (51 grants awarded) and Literary Arts (28 grants awarded).
Of the several artistic disciplines supported through artsnb grants – visual arts, music, literary arts, media arts, craft, theatre, multidisciplinary arts, dance and architecture – all categories saw increases in funding delivered in 2020-2021 except for dance. For the past years, the number of grants awarded to dance artists/projects has been eight, down from 13 in 2019-2020 and 12 the year before.
The complete report can be found at artsnb.ca
