Funding for the arts will increase in six Western New York counties thanks to new grants.

These 65 grants will expand current local arts initiatives and create new ones.

Grant winners come from Allegany, Cattaraugus, Chautauqua, Erie, Niagara, and Wyoming Counties.

The goal is to pay for a wide variety of art programs both big and small within each community.

Some of these programs include Indigenous arts, Refugee, Immigrant and Black Farmers’ Heritage programs, music and fashion.

"I think what this really represents as we know is it really recognizes the critical role the arts play in our lives and the health of our communities and health of our economy and as importantly the recovery of our state," Mara Manus, NYS Council on the Arts executive director, said.

The New York State Council on the Arts worked with the Cullen Foundation to help select the grant winners.