Ford Foundation announces new program to fund art spaces around the U.S.

The Ford Foundation announced new $100 million program to fund art spaces during the next 10 years. Last year, the foundation awarded a $1 million grant to ArtSpace Projects, a Minneapolis non-profit that finances live-work spaces for artists. Representatives from ArtSpace spoke last September at the Wyoming Arts Summit in Cheyenne and at the "Upstairs in Wyoming" conference last May in Sheridan.

Artspace Projects has received more than $1 million toward, among other things, transforming an abandoned public school in East Harlem into such a development, in partnership with El Barrio’s Operation Fightback, a New York community organization.

The project is to include 72 units of housing for artists and their families and a large space that can be used for art exhibitions, cultural events, conferences and gatherings of community groups.

Read the entire New York Times article at http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/05/arts/design/05ford.html?hp