WarnerMedia, an AT&T company, announced the establishment of a COVID-19 relief fund that will provide Atlanta-based artistic and cultural institutions with resources needed to elevate storytelling and continue creating during these challenging times.
WarnerMedia and AT&T created the $250,000 relief fund with a special focus on small-to-medium arts and cultural institutions in Atlanta.
“We believe storytelling is a vehicle for impact and social change. WarnerMedia remains committed to Atlanta, and this relief fund, combined with our regular funding, represents a total investment of over $1 million in funding to Atlanta arts and cultural organizations this year,” said Dennis Williams, Senior Vice President, Corporate Social Responsibility, WarnerMedia.
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“Atlanta is blessed with a number of arts and cultural institutions – creatives and storytellers, who help drive a healthy economy as they foster vitality in our city,” said Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms. “A special thank you to WarnerMedia and AT&T for providing resources that elevate our Atlanta storytellers and allow these local nonprofits to continue inspiring us all, especially now when we need it most.”
This COVID-19 relief funding is in addition to the ongoing financial support the companies give to these organizations. Relief grants range in size from $10,000 to $25,000. In addition to the COVID-19 relief contributions, WarnerMedia and AT&T have pledged to commit roughly $750K in general support to Atlanta artistic and cultural institutions in 2020.
Recipients include:
· Actor’s Express: https://www.actors-express.com/
· ARTS ATL: https://www.artsatl.org/
· Atlanta Ballet: https://www.atlantaballet.com/
· Atlanta Contemporary: https://atlantacontemporary.org/
· The Atlanta Opera: https://www.atlantaopera.org/
· C4 Atlanta: https://c4atlanta.org/
· Center for Civil & Human Rights: https://www.civilandhumanrights.org/
· Center of Puppetry Arts: https://puppet.org/
· Dad’s Garage Theatre: https://dadsgarage.com/
· Dance Canvas Balletique: https://www.dancecanvas.com/home
· Hammonds House Museum: https://www.hammondshouse.org/
· Horizon Theatre: https://www.horizontheatre.com/
· Moving in the Spirit: http://www.movinginthespirit.org/
· National Black Arts Festival: http://nbaf.org/
· Serenbe Playhouse: https://serenbeplayhouse.org/
· Synchronicity Performance Group: https://www.synchrotheatre.com/
· Theatrical Outfit: https://www.theatricaloutfit.org/
· TILA Studios: https://www.tilastudios.com/
· True Colors Theatre: https://truecolorstheatre.org/
“These are unsettling times, and it’s heartening to know our Atlanta community is here for the arts,” said Lara Smith, managing director of Dad’s Garage. “The support provided by WarnerMedia and AT&T will help Dad’s Garage and these other amazing nonprofits keep paying the bills while finding creative new ways to tell our stories and meet our missions.”
“At AT&T, one of our core values is to be there when people need us most,” said Venessa Harrison, president of AT&T Georgia. “We are proud to collaborate with our colleagues at WarnerMedia to be there for our arts and cultural organizations here in Atlanta. Elevating our creators and storytellers has never been more important.”
Since temporarily closing doors in March, these local nonprofits are channeling creativity to share arts and culture in news ways – from offering free and paid online programming to households hungry for entertaining and educational content to virtual museum tours to special funds to support local artists impacted by COVID-19.
The Atlanta COVID-19 fund is part of the relief support WarnerMedia and AT&T are providing in response to the global pandemic. More information on WarnerMedia’s efforts, including committing $100 million to those impacted by production pauses at WarnerMedia’s studios, can be found here. And, more information on AT&T’s efforts can be found here.