Westchester County Executive George Latimer and the Westchester County Board of Legislators joined with ArtsWestchester in White Plains recently to announce that 85 Westchester arts organizations are the recipients of matching funds from the Art$WChallenge grant program.
In a record-breaking 2023, participating arts organizations raised $819,759 – the largest amount in a single year – in new private funds from 1,234 donors. These private funds were matched with $463,325 in Westchester County support, providing $1.28 million for the arts community at a critical time when arts groups are still working to build back audiences lost during the pandemic.
“Since the inception of the Art$WChallenge in 2007, this powerful public/private program has raised nearly $7 million to support Westchester’s arts and cultural sector, matched with over $3 million in county support,” Latimer said. “The county’s arts community has weathered a difficult few years. In fact, there has never been a more important time to help the arts make a comeback and to allow them to work their magic to bring people and communities back together than now.”
Westchester County Board of Legislator Chairman Vedat Gashi added: “My colleagues and I are proud to support the Art$WChallenge initiative, which enables ArtsWestchester and the county to raise funds for arts organizations through innovative crowdfunding methods. These organizations are vital to artists, residents and visitors of Westchester County, who benefit from high-quality cultural programming in their backyard.”
Grantees were arts organizations in every corner of Westchester, including Downtown Music at Grace, presenting free, live music weekly in White Plains, (a matching grant of $8,500); Songcatchers, providing free and low-cost music instruction to kids of all ages in New Rochelle, (a matching grant of $8,500); and New Era Creative Space, offering visual, performing arts and STEM/STEAM instruction in Peekskill, (a matching grant of $1,500).
Janet T. Langsam, CEO of ArtsWestchester, said: “On behalf of ArtsWestchester, I would like to thank the individual arts donors to this program, the county executive and the Westchester County Board of Legislators for their long-term investment in a matching grant program that over 16 years has paid dividends for the economy. With Westchester’s cultural sector generating more than $182 million in economic activity post-pandemic, this vital grant program plays an important part in ensuring Westchester’s cultural infrastructure for the future.”
For more, visit artswestchester.org.
