SFA Receives CARES Act Support from AZ Humanities

July 12, 2020

Southwest Folklife Alliance Receives CARES Act Support from AZ Humanities

TUCSON, Ariz. – The Southwest Folklife Alliance is pleased to announce it has received a grant of $6,811 from Arizona Humanities, with funds provided by National Endowment for the Humanities as part of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act.

Funds will support the organization’s general operations, including salary for Borderlore Managing Editor, Kimi Eisele. SFA has robust platform of documenting and sharing stories of culture and heritage in the region through its online publication, BorderLore. Typically a monthly publication, BorderLore began weekly distribution in April to better address stories related Covid-19. Stories from its “Folkife in a Time of Pandemic” series have highlighted how culture and heritage practices are shifting due to the virus and featured personal narratives from frontline essential workers. With a prior project grant awarded to SFA from the AZ Humanities Eisele manages a program entitled “ClimateLore,” a special series looking at the intersection of the climate crisis and culture and heritage.

“Folklife offers a useful lens for understanding all the ways we respond to and cope with adversity. In a time of pandemic, culture practices have to be adjusted to accommodate public health and safety,” says Kimi Eisele, SFA communications manager and the managing editor of BorderLore. “At the same time, they offer so many of us a balm, something to turn to for support and connection. These are the responses we look to document, celebrate, and share.”

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About Arizona Humanities: Mission: Arizona Humanities builds a just and civil society by creating opportunities to explore our shared human experiences through discussion, learning and reflection. Arizona Humanities is a statewide 501(c)3 nonprofit organization and the Arizona affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities. Since 1973, Arizona Humanities has supported public programs that promote understand of the human experience with cultural, educational, and nonprofit organizations across Arizona. 

About the National Endowment for the Humanities: The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) is an independent federal agency created in 1965. It is one of the largest funders of humanities programs in the United States. The National Endowment for the Humanities supports research, education, preservation, and public programs in the humanities. As part of the 2020 Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES Act), the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) received an additional $75 million in supplemental funding to distribute as emergency relief to cultural institutions affected by the coronavirus. Nearly $30 million of this funding has already been distributed to the state and jurisdictional humanities councils for local re-granting. The remainder will be distributed from NEH in direct grants to institutions and individuals through new NEH CARES funding opportunities.