University of Dubuque Heritage Center Receives Iowa Arts & Culture Recovery Program Grant

Feb 10, 2021 | University Relations staff

DUBUQUE, Iowa – University of Dubuque Heritage Center is pleased to announce it recently received an Iowa Arts & Culture Recovery grant award of $47,200 from the Iowa Arts Council, a division of the Iowa Department of Cultural Affairs.

Grant funds will help support staff through salary reimbursement and provide additional funds to sustain alternative programming as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Support for the grant was provided by Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds and the Iowa Arts Council through the federal CARES Act.

“We wish to thank Governor Kim Reynolds, the Iowa Arts Council, and all others who were involved in the disbursement of this grant for their support of Iowa’s creative workers as well as its arts and culture industry during these unprecedented times,” said Thomas Robbins, executive director of Heritage Center. “The mission of Heritage Center is to inspire a lifelong appreciation of live arts experiences and ignite a passion for participation in the arts among young people. The desire to stir a passion and appreciation for live arts experiences continues to this day, despite the pandemic, and extends beyond our own students to young people and families in Dubuque and surrounding communities.”

Heritage Center pivoted last year from in-person events to two new virtual options with Live(stream) with Heritage Center and Full-Length Features. Live(stream) with Heritage Center provided an opportunity to meet the artists on social media in a hybrid format of artist interviews and performance teasers, previews, and/or excerpts at no cost to audiences. Full-Length Features promoted full-length live performances with paid livestreams through a partnership with several guest artists.

After a year since in-person performances were held inside Heritage Center, the compact Spring 2021 Live at Heritage Center Performing Arts Series will launch in March. “More Than a Pipe Dream: A Socially Distanced Season” will restrict general public performances to a virtual event delivery with paid livestream access via ticketed admission. In-person performances will only be available for UD faculty, staff, and students this season. For more information, please visit www.dbq.edu/heritagecenter.

On Dec. 2, 2020, Governor Kim Reynolds allocated $7 million of federal CARES Act funding to the Iowa Department of Cultural Affairs for the purpose of providing economic relief to Iowa’s arts and culture industry. The funding is administered by the Iowa Arts Council, on behalf of the Iowa Department of Cultural Affairs, through the Iowa Arts & Culture Emergency Relief Fund.

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Heritage Center
Heritage Center’s mission is to inspire a lifelong appreciation of live arts experiences and ignite a passion for participation in the arts among young people. www.dbq.edu/HeritageCenter.

Iowa Department of Cultural Affairs
The Iowa Department of Cultural Affairs and its three divisions – the Iowa Arts Council, Produce Iowa-State Office of Media Production and the State Historical Society of Iowa – empower Iowa to build and sustain culturally vibrant communities by connecting Iowans to the people, places and points of pride that define our state. The department’s work enables Iowa to be recognized as a state that fosters creativity and serves as a catalyst for innovation where the stories of Iowa are preserved and communicated to connect past, present and future generations. www.iowaculture.gov.