SVOG and Legislative Arts Updates
SVOG and Legislative Arts Updates
Americans for the Arts Action Fund
Thursday, August 4, 2022
SHUTTERED VENUE OPERATOR GRANT (SVOG) REPORT (last issued on 7/5/22)
A total of $14.57 billion in COVID-19 economic relief has been awarded to 13,011 performing arts venues and organizations, movie theaters, talent representatives, producers, and museums. The Small Business Administration (SBA) reports that it has officially completed grant decisions on all outstanding appeals and reconsiderations. To see the full list of 13,011 grantees and their award amount, please download the Excel data document from the SBA’s site.
SBA RELEASED THREE UPDATED COMPLIANCE GUIDELINES & FAQs FOR SVOG PROGRAM
Post Award FAQs (as of 7/25/22)
Post-application guidance (as of 7/22/22)
Audit attestation requirements for for-profit SVOG recipients (as of 7/22/22)
SVOG WEBINARS PRESENTED BY THE SMALL BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION
As noted above, the SBA released updated SVOG Guidelines and FAQs in late July, which make certain parts of the content in older webinars no longer correct. The most recent July 2022 webinar (below) reflects the SBA’s updated guidelines. All SVOG grantees are encouraged to watch the “July 2022 SBA Audit Requirements for For-Profit Entities,” even if your grant is not subject to a 3rd party audit, because it provides good guidelines on properly spending your SVOG grant funds.
July 2022 SBA Audit Requirements for For-Profit Entities (1 hr. 20 min.)
June 2022 SBA Auditing and Compliance Supplement Webinar (1 hr. 30 min.)
June 2022 Introduction to SVOG Audit Requirements and the Single Audit (1 hr. 30 min.)
April 2022 SBA Office Hours Expense Report Webinar (50 min)
December 2021 SBA Office Hours Webinar (1 hr. 30 min.)
THE SVOG MONITORING OF COST COMPLIANCE PHASE HAS NOW BEGUN
While every SVOG grantee should be prepared for the Monitoring Phase of the SVOG program, less than 4% of all SVOG grantees are anticipated to be randomly selected for Monitoring. Monitoring simply means sharing your actual receipts of expenditures paid using federal SVOG funds. To prepare grantees for this phase, the SBA notified grantees of another webinar that they were presenting today at 2:00 p.m. ET on the Monitoring process. If you miss it, don’t worry, this webinar will be recorded and posted on the SBA’s website by early next week.
Additional SVOG information and instructions are at www.sba.gov/svog. For additional assistance, email your Grant Management Specialist. If you have not yet been in touch with your Grant Management Specialist and need support, please contact svogrant@sba.gov or contact the customer service center at 800-659-2955. If you are deaf, hard of hearing, or have a speech disability, please dial 7-1-1 to access telecommunications relay services. The call center is open from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. ET.
FEDERAL ARTS LEGISLATION UPDATES
The congressional appropriations process for next year’s budget of the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities has progressed. In June, the House of Representatives allocated $208 million for each agency (a $28 million increase over current year.) In July, Senate Democrats released their appropriations plan (not a committee or floor vote) to allocate $195 million for each agency (a $15 million increase over current year.) The NEA’s Creative Forces program was highlighted specifically on page 135. This plan still needs to be formally adopted in the Senate and reconciled with the House before enactment.
Senate Democrats also shared their appropriations plan for the Justice Department's Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention programs, which received an allocation of $471 million ($111 million over current year.) The Senate specifically directs on page 131 the continuation of the Arts in the Juvenile Justice Demonstration Program and encourages prioritizing applications with arts partners who have prior experience in serving youth who are engaged, or at risk of engaging, in the juvenile justice system. The senate plan also encourages partnerships developed through authentic collaboration with young people who have lived expertise or experience. The Committee directs OJJDP to provide a report no later than 180 days after the date of enactment of this act. The report will include use of funds, grant recipients, and project purposes for fiscal year 2022 as well as plans for fiscal year 2023, including expansion of the program and creation of best practices to replicate these kinds of partnerships. This plan also needs to be formally adopted in the Senate and reconciled with the House before enactment.
You may read news headlines of Congress recently passing “CHIPS” legislation, which stands for Creating Helpful Incentives to Produce Semiconductors for America Fund. Thanks to STEAM Caucus Chairman Rep. Suzanne Bonamici (D-OR), she was able to add some important language to incorporate the arts in STEM education (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) on page 456 and excerpted below.
MY BIWEEKLY ZOOM “OFFICE HOURS WITH NINA” ARE OFF IN AUGUST
We will resume Zoom Office Hours in September, beginning Friday, September 9 @ 11:00 a.m. ET. Use this Zoom meeting link to join the call. If you have attended Office Hours with Nina before, we want to hear from you! Please share your story and update us on how the Arts Action Fund has helped you secure COVID-19 economic relief funding.
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