TRENTON, NJ - The New Jersey Cultural Trust held its ninth Annual Meeting today at the State House in Trenton.  In its sixth annual round of grants, the Trust awarded $400,487 to 15 financial stabilization projects located throughout the State. (See table below)

 "With today's grant awards, the Trust has distributed nearly $4 million in six rounds of grants to approximately 130 qualified organizations reaching every New Jersey County," said Secretary of State Nina Mitchell Wells.

Cultural Trust grants are intended to make possible, projects and activities that otherwise would not have been achievable. In this grant cycle, the Council on the Arts received 91 applications requesting more than $2,480,919 dollars of which 15 were recommended to the Cultural Trust for support.

To assess the applications, the Council published guidelines and evaluation criteria and engaged qualified panelists to review the applications. The panel results were reviewed by committee and ultimately recommended for support by the board of the Council on the Arts and forwarded to the Cultural Trust for consideration. The Trust approved grants that cover a range of proposals from strategic planning, building cash reserves, capacity building, development and marketing initiatives.

"In these first rounds of funding, we have seen 627 applications requesting more than $13 million.  The critical need for grants from the Cultural Trust is expressed in the demand for these limited dollars," said Josh Weston, chair of the Cultural Trust.

Weston also noted, "The cultural industry is an important component in New Jersey's economy, and the Cultural Trust has always been intended as a means to help sustain organizations at all stages of development. With the positive response of the grantees from the first five rounds and the enthusiasm seen in today's awardees, we are beginning to see how the Trust will strengthen the foundation of New Jersey's cultural community."

In other business at today's meeting, the Board renewed qualification for thirty-six organizations bringing the total number of qualified organizations to 269. The Board also approved its slate of officers for the year.  Josh Weston was re-elected as chair, Carol Cronheim as vice chair, Peter Chen as treasurer and Tom Carroll as secretary.

About the New Jersey Cultural Trust

The New Jersey Cultural Trust is a division of the Department of State.  The mission of the Trust is to ensure a stable and healthy cultural industry in New Jersey that is sustainable under fluctuating economic conditions.  The Trust Fund is a permanent, interest-generating fund that serves as an additional source of revenue to nonprofit arts, history, and humanities organizations for specific purposes that are crucial to ensuring fiscal and operational health, stability and durability.  The New Jersey Cultural Trust was established by P.L. 2000, c: 76 which is now N.J.S.A. 52:16A-72 et seq. and was signed into law on July 25, 2000.