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Create Council director outlines regrant program, seeks deeper county partnerships
Summary
Create Council executive director Stella Yoon described the organization's regrant programs for Columbia County artists and nonprofits, detailed recent awards and application cycles, and asked county officials about possible financial or promotional partnerships and a county arts laureate program.
Create Council's executive director, Stella Yoon, told Columbia County officials on March 19 that the nonprofit has expanded regranting to support local artists and organizations and is seeking deeper collaboration with county government.
Yoon said the statewide regrant program administered by Create Council provided $208,000 across three counties this year and that Columbia County produced 45 of the 105 applications submitted. "Of the hundred and 5 applications we received this year, 45 came from Columbia County," she said, adding that the program awarded $89,500 to 23 projects this round.
The regrant program covers community projects, arts education and individual artist grants. Yoon described a separate Columbia County Creative Catalyst grant the council has run to increase awards for individual artists: "This is purely for individual artists, and they are given a $1,000 grant to produce new work. We actually do a lottery selection," she said, noting that the program prioritizes low-income applicants and requires a Columbia County community partner.
Nut graf: The presentation lays out how county funding or formal partnerships could multiply the arts council's reach. Yoon asked supervisors for help publicizing grants and for potential financial support to expand individual artist awards, youth programming and cultural resource mapping.
Yoon summarized examples of funded work, from library programming and concert series to individual artist residencies. She said winners included photographers, ceramicists and fiber artists, and cited past grantees such as Poppert Free Library's "Art of Hunting with the Stacks" series and a collaborative pop-up by Philmont Plate Collective.
On funding, Yoon said the council raises some private funds but its "primary funders are New York State and the counties." She gave a county-by-county breakdown of recent local support, saying Create Council currently receives $18,000 from Columbia County and rerants $9,000 back into the county while retaining the remainder for operations and programming.
County officials and attendees asked about grant cycles and competition for funding. Yoon said the main statewide regrant application window typically runs from November through January and that panel review and award notification takes several months. On competition, she said private foundations exist in the county but Create Council's role is distinctive because it works with government to administer regrants.
Yoon suggested projects that might benefit from county partnership, including a Columbia County poet laureate, cultural resource mapping and a centralized directory of local artists and arts organizations. "There's a really an opportunity for the Arts Council to be the resource and kind of the collector of this information and be able to share it out," she said.
Ending: Yoon said the council will announce its official grantee list next week and left printed materials and postcards about current exhibits and youth shows for county staff and supervisors. She invited follow-up questions from county offices and said she would welcome ideas on county collaborations and additional local funding.
