Anonymous donor will help pay postponed Bayou Art Festival artists $1,500 each

When the spring Bayou City Art Festival was called off just two weeks before it was set to take over Memorial Park on March 27, over 300 local and national artists suddenly lost a big chunk of revenue.

Due to an anonymous Houston donor, however, the nonprofit Artists for Artists will be able to distribute grants of $1,500 to all the participants, the organization announced April 21.

“This donation could not have come at a better time. Artists make considerable and necessary contributions to the collective well-being of society. They provide a means to connect, inspire and transform communities. The world needs artists to thrive and now during the COVID-19 pandemic, these artists need our help to survive. Unexpected and anonymous acts of kindness like this stand as reminders off how much love there is in the world. Times are dark, but we will all get through this together,” said Amber Slaughter, executive director of Artists for Artists, in a news release.

According to the news release, the donor made this gift in memory of her mother, Peggy, an award-winning artist and patron of the art festival.

The grant checks will be distributed starting next week and will be the nonprofit's first national-level grant program.

“By selecting our organization as a nonprofit partner, ACA gave us a platform to facilitate support to the artists that brought us all together to begin with,” said Tra’ Slaughter, president of Artists for Artists.

The nonprofit Art Colony Association has produced the Bayou City Art Festival Downtown in the fall and Bayou City Art Festival Memorial Park in the spring for 48 years.