Community Players of Beatrice gets national Main Street grant

BEATRICE – A Beatrice arts organization will receive one of only 98 national grants in response to the Covid-19 pandemic. Community Players of Beatrice is getting a $15,000 grant through the HartBeat of Main Street grant program, sponsored by The Hartford.

Main Street Beatrice and the Nebraska Main Street Network made that announcement, Thursday.

Community Players was one of 31 small businesses selected in round two of the grant program…which is doling out $1.2 million to 98 Main Street USA small businesses.

Players Artistic Director Jamie Ullmer says the grant will pay for improvements that have been completed…things like air scrubbers, touchless restroom fixtures, video equipment and accessibility upgrades.

Main Street Beatrice Executive Director Michael Sothan says the award to the theatre organization is well deserved. Sothan says the pandemic continues to be a major challenge to small businesses, who need the community’s support to recover and continue.

Community Players of Beatrice programming features performers from throughout southeast Nebraska, bringing seven-thousand patrons to Beatrice from over thirty communities. Grant awards in the HartBeat of Main Street program ranged from five thousand, to fifteen thousand dollars.