Three Omaha non-profits receive additional state money for capital projects

The Tenaska Center for Arts Engagement will be complete in 2026 and is one of three shovel-ready capital projects in Omaha getting additional funding from the state to reach that finish line.

• In 2022 the Joslyn Art Museum, Omaha Performing Arts and the Elkhorn Athletic Association all received $3.85 million from the Department of Economic Development’s ‘Shovel Ready Capital Project Program.’
• The DED is now increasing those award amounts, with another round of funding, to $6.31 million.
• The first half of this new funding could go out as soon as the end of this month and the second half once the projects are complete.
• Watch the video to hear from non-profit leaders about their plans for the funding.

BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT:
In 2022 the Joslyn Art Museum, Omaha Performing Arts and the Elkhorn Athletic Association all received $3.85 million from the Department of Economic Development’s ‘Shovel Ready Capital Project Program.’

"Due to just the volume of applications in round one these three were not able to be fully funded originally," said K.C. Belitz, director of the Nebraska Department of Economic Development.

To fill that gap, the DED is now increasing those award amounts for these three non-profits in another round of funding to $6.31 million.

"These kinds of projects that we are investing in further today are just critically important in terms of really creating assets that are going to be attractive to people who may want to live and work in Nebraska," Belitz said.

The Joslyn Museum will re-open in September.

"Our expansion and renovation experienced delays, increases in the budget, connected to labor and materials and hard and soft costs, the support from the shovel-ready program significantly eased the burden of those increases," said Dr. Jack Becker, executive director and CEO of the Joslyn Art Museum.

Sabrina Weiss, vice president of development for Omaha Performing Arts says this funding will help see the Tenaska Center for Arts Engagement come to fruition.

"This additional funding and this project, the Tenaska Center for Arts Engagement, will allow us to expand those current programs but really it will help us to offer new programs,” Weiss said.

And while the first phase of funding helped the Elkhorn Athletic Association build their phase one, which includes 6 full-size soccer fields, 4 baseball softball fields and an all-play field for adaptive sports. This funding will help with the next step.

"It will allow us to build four more baseball and softball fields for these kids to continue to learn and grow," said Bruce O’Neel, chairman of the Elkhorn Athletic Association.

Belitz says the first half of this new funding could go out as soon as the end of this month and the second half once the projects are complete.