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Vilar Center offers COVID-19 relief grants for Eagle County performing arts workers

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November 28, 2020, 10:12 am

The Vail Valley Foundation’s Vilar Performing Arts Center on Friday issued the following press release on COVID-19 relief grants available for Eagle County performing arts workers as part of Colorado’s Coronavirus Relief Fund (CVRF):

Beaver Creek, Colo., Nov. 25, 2020 — Eagle County performing arts workers have a new opportunity to apply for relief thanks to a grant, available through the Vilar Performing Arts Center (VPAC), that taps into Colorado’s Coronavirus Relief Fund (CVRF).

The $150,000 in funds must be distributed by the end of December.

The Vail Valley Foundation’s Vilar Performing Arts Center is encouraging any performing arts workers residing in Eagle County, or who live elsewhere but service the performing arts in Eagle County, to apply soon for relief funding at vilarpac.org/cvrf.

“These are hard-working people who saw their industry grind to a sudden halt,” said VPAC executive director Duncan Horner. “We are so grateful to Eagle County for helping us procure these funds, and to the governor and the state’s Department of Local Affairs for supporting the program.”

County Commissioners Matt Scherr, Jeanne McQueeney and Kathy Chandler-Henry, along with Eagle County government staff, aided in the application process for the VPAC. The funds originate from the CARES Act, signed by Gov. Jared Polis on May 18, 2020, and are administered by the Colorado Department of Local Affairs.

Horner said that, while Beaver Creek has become world-renowned for the performing arts events available only steps away from the ski slopes at its famed Vilar Performing Arts Center, very few are aware of the hundreds of gig workers and industry specialists who work behind the scenes to make those performances come to life each year.

Horner and the VPAC wanted to do what they could to support these workers and help sustain the long-term economic health of the local performing arts industry.

“We are doing everything we can to bring attention to their financial situation, and to do what we can to help,” Horner said. “This will be very helpful for many of them to bridge the gap for now, but there is still much more work to do.”

The COVID-19 pandemic has drastically altered life for the stagehands, audio engineers, lighting techs, stage managers, artists and musicians, who typically come together more than 180 days a year to operate the VPAC or the Vail Valley Foundation’s other venue the Gerald R. Ford Amphitheater, as well as many other performing arts venues and events throughout the county, region, nation and world.

Funding is available to anyone who works at these or other Eagle County venues, or to any performing arts workers who are residents of Eagle County (even if their work takes place outside of Eagle County).

Apply for funding and learn more at vilarpac.org/cvrf.

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