Omaha and Lincoln artists have a new avenue to find financial support for their work.

The Union for Contemporary Art started the Populus Fund to help artists who are working on projects that address community needs; exemplify new ways of working in, for and with the public; and expand an understanding of how art exists in the world.

The organization will give out the inaugural grants this fall to cover vital needs such as medical bills, rent, debts and food for artists affected by the coronavirus pandemic, racial injustice or both.

It will award 95 grants of $1,000 each by the end of the year.

Artists in various disciplines who live within a 75-mile radius of the Omaha metropolitan area can apply. You must be at least 18 years old.

Applicants will be weighted based on nine risk factors such as chronic illness, single parenthood and lack of a financial safety net.

The Union will also consider an applicant’s race. Its goal is to grant at least 55% of the funds to artists of color.

Applicants don’t have to disclose their race on the application, but if they do, they will be entered into their own application pool in addition to the general pool.

The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts is providing support for the fund.

Interested artists can learn more at the Union for Contemporary Art website.

Countryside Church planning ‘Nasty Women’ concert

A free virtual concert from Countryside Community Church this week will celebrate the centennial of the 19th Amendment, which gave women the right to vote.

“Nasty Women: A Celebration of Female Composers of the Suffragette Era” will be at 7 p.m. Friday.

Dr. Joanna Goldstein, a professor of music at Indiana University Southeast, will lead the audience through the program. She has recorded two CDs: “Nasty Women” and “They Persisted,” featuring female composers from roughly 1890 to 1920.

Some of those composers are Amy Beach, Rebecca Clarke, Florence Price and Ethel Smith. The concert will include pieces for voice, flute, viola and piano.

In addition to Goldstein, the concert will feature the church’s artist in residence, Christine Erlander Beard, and faculty members from the University of Nebraska at Omaha, the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and the Omaha Conservatory of Music.

The church was looking forward to presenting the concert in its new home at the Tri-Faith campus near 132nd and Pacific Streets before the pandemic hit, said Alex Ritter, Countryside’s artistic director.

“We are thrilled that we are still able to present it, albeit virtually,” he said.

A link to the concert will be available at the Countryside Church website.

Coram Deo Church has new art exhibit

“Revealed,” an art exhibition from Christians in the Visual Arts, will be on display Friday through Dec. 6 at Coram Deo Church, 8787 Pacific St.

The national traveling show features 23 original artworks from a new book, “Revealed: A Storybook Bible for Grown-Ups.”

Using various printmaking techniques, the contemporary collection covers the story of redemption from the fall in Genesis to the new creation in Revelation.

A socially distanced public opening reception will be held on Friday from 5 to 7:30 p.m. Masks will be required.

Our best staff images of October 2020