The Yoknapatawpha Arts Council will receive funding to support creative small businesses through the Our Town Grant and the Art Works Grant from the National Endowment for the Arts.

The Our Town Grant consists of $75,000, which will help YAC fund arts-based small businesses over a two-year time period. The Art Works Grant consists of $20,000 to benefit small businesses of Lafayette County through the funding of the Big Bad Business Series.

The Big Bad Business Series is a free workshop series that is hosted in partnership with EDF and the Chamber of Commerce that focuses on small business topics. 

“These awards demonstrate the resilience of the arts in America and showcase not only the creativity of their arts projects but the organizations’ agility in the face of a national health crisis,” Mary Anne Carter, the chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts, said. “We celebrate organizations like Yoknapatawpha Arts Council for providing opportunities for learning and engagement through the arts in these times.”

Wayne Andrews, the executive director of the Yoknapatawpha Arts Council, said these grants will benefit the community by supporting work and creative spaces, expertise and logistical support so that innovative businesses can flourish in Oxford. 

“Our community is unique and creative, making it an attractive place to launch or grow a small business to a larger and regional audience,” Andrews said. “Using our sense of place as an asset this project seeks to launch businesses that don’t focus on earning a living, but creating a life.”