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A Look at the Virginia Cultural Institutions that Received PPP Help

Montpelier Facebook Page / facebook.com/JMMontpelier/photos

More than 130 museums, performing arts institutions and historical sites in Virginia received a boost from Paycheck Protection Program loans, according to data released this month by the U.S. Treasury Department.

It seems like ages since the Richmond Symphony performed this rendition of Beethoven’s Eroica in 2018. As Virginia tries to navigate a world with COVID-19, the musicians have kicked off a series of summer recitals paying tribute to the composer.

But were it not for a PPP loan that might not have been.

“All bets would’ve been off, frankly, if we hadn’t had the loan because we would have been scrambling to find alternative ways to keep the organization going,” says David Fisk, the symphony’s executive director. He says all paid positions were saved and no one was furloughed.

Across the state, Roy Young leads the Montpelier Foundation, which memorializes James Madison and the people he enslaved on his plantation.

Young says PPP funds made it possible for staff to stay onboard and help the place-based organization adapt to the times.

“We’re now going to be a permanent hybrid site," he explains. "So everything that we do will be in a virtual format as well as on-site format.”

Among the nonprofit cultural institutions in Virginia receiving government loans of more than $150,000, leaders of color were sparse.

Of the total, more than 25 nonprofit museums, performing arts groups and historical sites in the Commonwealth received PPP loans of more than $150,000.

The majority of those organizations borrowed amounts between $150,000 and $350,000. The Treasury Department did not provide specific dollar amounts for the businesses that received more than $150,000.

The Richmond Symphony and the Montpelier Foundation were among the group of those that received loans in amounts between $350,000 and $1 million.

One the top taking cultural institutions listed was Wolf Trap Foundation for Performing Arts, which received a loan between $2 million and $5 million and lists high-profile board members like Melania Trump and Pamela Northam, the First Lady of Virginia.

This report, provided by Virginia Public Radio, was made possible with support from the Virginia Education Association.