Santa Rosa offers $2,000 grants to local musicians out of work during pandemic

Like so many annual events, last year’s “Live at Juilliard” free concert series, a local favorite for nearly 20 years at Santa Rosa’s Juilliard Park, was canceled due to coronavirus concerns and stay-home orders.

Now it turns out that the disappointment will become a much-needed windfall for local musicians hampered by the pandemic, which closed venues and caused most events to be canceled.

The City of Santa Rosa Public Art Program, in conjunction with the City of Santa Rosa Economic Recovery Task Force, is offering $2,000 grants to Santa Rosa musicians facing financial hardship because of COVID-19.

“We were able to redirect the funds from the canceled concert series to provide grants to support local musicians who lost income from not being able to perform,” said Tara Thompson, arts and cultural manager for the City of Santa Rosa.

The grant opportunity is open to practicing musicians 18 years of age or older who are able to demonstrate a sustained commitment to their work and a public audience, are experiencing financial hardship due to the COVID-19 pandemic and reside in Santa Rosa.

To apply, musicians can go to srcity.org/MusicianReliefGrants. Once there, they can follow the link to apply through Submittable, select the icon for “City of Santa Rosa Musician Relief Grants” and complete the application form. Following their submission, applicants will receive an email notifying them that their applications have been received.

The application deadline is 11:59 p.m. Sunday, April 11. Applicants will be notified of their application status in mid-May to late May.

The total city budget of approximately $36,000 for the canceled six-week 2020 concert series included funds to pay musicians and audio technicians, as well as to cover stage rental, supplies, advertising and other costs.

With approval from the City of Santa Rosa Economic Recovery Task Force, those funds now can be used for the grants to musicians.

Thompson estimated 18 of the grants will be available this time around, but there may be more to come.

“We probably will not be able to do the ‘Live at Juilliard’ series this summer either, so we are looking at possibly doing a second round of grants to make funds available to more musicians,” Thompson said. “This all comes from our desire to support local musicians.”

You can reach Staff Writer Dan Taylor at dan.taylor@pressdemocrat.com or 707-521-5243. On Twitter @danarts.