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The Bartlesville Community Center (BCC) has received a much needed relief grant in the amount of $25,000 from Governor Kevin Stitt and the Oklahoma Arts Council (OAC).

The OAC has given the BCC a chuck of its $3-million in CARES Act Funding. BCC Managing Director Val Callaghan said the grant will help the community center serve Bartlesville through art programming. She said revenues have been down by 50-percent in the past year because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Callaghan said the BCC typically depends on the rental of the facility to the arts groups that come to Bartlesville as part of their income throughout the year. She said the BCC's income is also dependent on ticket sales for the Broadway series and other events that they present.

A previous decline in the hotel / motel tax also had an impact on the Bartlesville Community Center in 2020. Callaghan said COVID-19's impact on all three of these areas has brought the BCC's revenue down by approximately $600,000. She said the BCC normally has a $1.2-million budget, but that hasn't been the case since the beginning of the pandemic last March.

Callaghan said generous donations from those who love the arts have also kept the community center afloat. She said the BCC has also taken advantage of coronavirus relief funds such as the CARES Act Funding through the Oklahoma Arts Council with this most recent relief grant and the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP). She added that the hotel / motel tax has been back on the rise in the last couple of months, bring them better results thus far in 2021.

The Bartlesville Community Center may have a brighter 2021 ahead. Callaghan said they're hopeful, especially because of the rollout of the coronavirus vaccine. She said they'll continue to follow all guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the City of Bartlesville.

The Bartlesville Community Center is taking the following steps to ensure everyone stays safe and healthy in the facility:

• The BCC is sanitizing frequently used areas often
• Directional signage is being used to help people socially distance themselves from others
• Every other row is being utilized in the BCC auditorium to ensure that people are sitting six-feet apart from one another
• The BCC is also putting two seats between each order (if you order a seat to an event at the BCC, there will be two seats between you and the people sitting to your left and right)

Callaghan said they feel confident in the measures they've taken to keep people safe and health at the Bartlesville Community Center. She said they can't 100-percent guarantee that no one would be exposed to the coronavirus, but the BCC is taking precautions to limit the spread.

Events are still happening at the BCC. Callaghan said the Bartlesville Symphony Orchestra is moving forward with its spring concert series in February, March and May. She said Children's Musical Theater is also moving forward with its production of "The Music Man," which will be held the last weekend of January.

Callaghan said the BCC feels as if they can offer you a safe environment in which to enjoy an art production.

In a statement, the Oklahoma Arts Council had the following to say:

"Oklahoma Arts and Cultural Industry Relief Grants are one-time grants made possible through a $3-million allocation of federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act funding to the state's arts and cultural sector by Gov. Kevin Stitt. The grants are available to assist organizations that provide arts and cultural programming and have incurred expenses as a direct result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Nonprofit arts and cultural organizations, museums, historical, societies, colleges and universities, tribal nations, and departments of city and county government are eligible... Guidelines reflect the Oklahoma Arts Council's commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion considerations in the investment of funding throughout the state."

Oklahoma's arts and cultural sector has been disproportionately impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. The OAC stated that organizations have experienced significant losses in earned and contributed income, resulting in widespread furloughs, layoffs, and cancelation of artist contracts. The OAC said it is deeply appreciative of the support for the arts and cultural sector provided by Governor Stitt through this investment of CARES Act funding.

The Bartlesville Community Center was invited by the OAC to apply for the grant in December 2020. The BCC received $25,000 from Gov. Stitt and the OAC earlier this week.