Visit Our COVID-19 Arts Resources Page
Shuttered Venues Updated FAQsSBA Website for Shuttered Venues
February 19, 2021
Dear Arts Action Fund Members,
The Small Business Administration (SBA) posted a major development to its website today, confirming that lost “Earned Revenue” will be the measurement in determining which Priority Period an organization qualifies for in awarding Shuttered Venue Grants. This is welcome news to the nonprofit performing and presenting arts community because they will not be required to include their contributed revenue in the calculation to determine if they had at least a 90%, 70% or 25% revenue loss between April 2020 through December 2020, in comparison to 2019. Please also note, none of the federal CARES Act funds need to be included in the revenue calculations either.
The following chart was posted on the SBA’s Shuttered Venues website:
Other Shuttered Venue Operator Grant (SVOG) News and Resources:
· SBA posted a newly updated list of Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) for Shuttered Venue Operator Grants as of February 12, 2021.
· SBA posted a new DUNS and SAM.gov Registration Training Video as of February 18, 2021.
· SBA posted a Simple Cross-Program Eligibility Table of various SBA programs that you can and cannot apply for simultaneously.
· Regularly visit the SBA website for SVOG updates on their upcoming webinars and other technical assistance.
Arts Action Fund List of Key Eligibility Guidelines for SVO Grants:
- Definition Eligibility: For live venue operators, producers, and live performing arts organization operators, you need to show that at least 70% of 2019 earned revenue comes from ticket sales, production fees, nonprofit education initiatives or sale of food & beverage.
- Minimum Loss Eligibility: For live venue operators, producers, and live performing arts organization operators, museums and movie theaters, you need to show at least a 25% reduction in gross earned revenue during at least one quarter of 2020 as compared to the corresponding quarter in 2019.
- Federal Grants Eligibility: For live venue operators, producers, and live performing arts organization operators, museums and movie theaters, you need to show that no more than 10% of your 2019 gross revenue comes from Federal funding. (This does not include CARES Act funding for things like PPP, etc)
- Priority Grants Eligibility: For live venue operators, producers, and live performing arts organization operators, museums and movie theaters, you need to show at least a 90%, 70% or 25% loss in earned income for the period from 4/1/20 through 12/31/20, as compared to the same period in 2019.
- Size of SVO Grant Award Eligibility: For live venue operators, producers, and live performing arts organization operators, museums and movie theaters in operation by 1/1/19, you can apply for 45% of your 2019 gross earned revenue, up to a $10 million cap.
Congress Releases Details of the Next COVID Relief Bill:
Today, Congress released the first public consolidated draft of the massive $1.9 trillion COVID Relief bill implementing much of President Biden’s American Rescue Plan. Last week, the Arts Action Fund sent everyone an update on February 11th,which highlighted in red all the key components of this new relief bill that will expressly benefit the arts.
Upcoming SVO Webinar & Zoom Office Hours
We will email you with the new date and time for our second part webinar on SVO grants as soon as SBA releases its official guidelines. In the meantime, the Arts Action Fund posts all COVID-19 economic resources at www.ArtsActionFund.org/COVID19Resources.
In the meantime, join me for Zoom Office Hours with Nina every Friday at 11:00 am ET to answer your questions. You can also still take action and contact your Members of Congress to pass the upcoming COVID Relief legislation.
Stay safe and stay tuned for more.
Nina Ozlu Tunceli
Executive Director
To read all Arts Action Fund updates, visit COVID-19 Arts Federal Policy Updates & Action Alerts.