National Endowment for the Arts opens up application process for Our Town grants

On Oct. 11, the National Endowment for the Arts, the Wyoming Arts Council's federal partner, posted guidelines and application materials for Our Town, the agency's primary creative placemaking grants program. Pending availability of funding, grants will range from $25,000 to $200,000. 

Our Town will invest in creative and innovative projects in which communities, together with their arts and design organizations and artists, seek to:

•        Improve their quality of life;

•        Encourage greater creative activity;

•        Foster stronger community identity and a sense of place; and

•        Revitalize economic development.

Other key information:

·         Complete Our Town application guidelines are available at arts.gov/grants/apply/OurTown/index.html

·         Application deadline is Jan. 14, 2013 at 11:59 pm. This deadline is earlier than last year.

·  For Our Town FAQs, go to arts.gov/grants/apply/OurTown/FAQ.html

·  Webinars to learn more about this funding opportunity will be held on Nov. 6 and 13, 2012, at 3:00 pm EST at arts.gov

·         Program Inquiries: Email OT@arts.gov to schedule a call with an NEA design program specialist

Projects may include arts engagement, cultural planning, and design activities. Definitions of these activities can be found in the FY 2012 Our Town grant announcement. Project examples are below.

Now in its third year, Our Town has provided $11.57 million to fund 131 projects in all 50 states and the District of Columbia.  Those projects are diverse in geographic distribution, number and types of partnerships, artistic discipline, and type of project. As regards population size, in FY 2012 alone, 41 of the 80 grants supported projects in communities with populations under 50,000.

To view a map of these projects along with descriptions and images, visit the Our Town section of the NEA website.

Wyoming Our Town grants:

From the NEA web site:

The Nicolaysen Art Museum, more commonly known as the NIC, received a $50,000 Our Town grant in 2011. The NIC is a leading center for contemporary arts in the Rocky Mountain region. Although the museum focuses on exhibitions, visitors can also personally engage with art creation through classes and programs at the museum's Discovery Center.

The museum plans to further improve community engagement with a pilot project that will integrate public art into a low-income housing community in Casper, Wyoming. An experienced artist will be selected to work with developers and residents to design and plan for public art, as well as green space that will serve as a gathering place for residents of the housing complex and the local community. The project will take place at the Sunshine Apartments, located at a formerly blighted site on a highly visible intersection in downtown Casper. The Nicolaysen Art Museum will oversee the artist selection process, and the Wyoming Development Authority, Grimshaw Investments & Development, and the City of Casper will construct, document, and evaluate the project with the goal of replicating the public art process in future affordable housing projects throughout Wyoming. Casper is a town of 55,000 residents.

See a short video taken at night of the completed public art piece, "Confluence," by going to http://youtu.be/ol7RI3WYu5s 

The Evanston Urban Renewal Agency received a $50,000 Our Town grant in 2012.

Here's a summary:

The Strand Theater in Evanston, Wyoming, was built in 1917 and became the premier place for entertainment, from vaudevillian acts and silent movies to modern day films and community events. In 2007, the historic building was nearly destroyed by a fire, with only three walls and the façade remaining intact. In 2008, the building owners donated it to the Evanston Urban Renewal Agency.

The agency and Sagebrush Theatre Production will use an Our Town grant for architectural and engineering plans for the interior renovation of the Strand. The historic theater will be transformed into the Evanston Cultural Center serving as a performance space for Sagebrush and other arts groups, and as a cultural hub for the community. Myers-Anderson Architecture, a local firm with extensive historic renovation experience, will design the architectural and engineering plans. It is anticipated that improvements to this cultural landmark will inspire and attract new local businesses to downtown Evanston and provide a cultural center for the city's 12,400 residents.

The Center for the Arts in Jackson received a $50,000 Our Town grant in 2012.

Info from the NEA:

The town of Jackson, population 9,900, is conveniently located near Yellowstone National Park, Grand Teton National Park, Jackson Hole Mountain Resort, and other natural tourist attractions. The Center for the Arts serves as the hub for arts and education in downtown Jackson with a 41,000-square-foot Arts & Education Pavilion, a multi-tenant facility with studios, classrooms, and offices; and the Performing Arts Pavilion, which includes a 525-seat theater, a music center, and theater rehearsal space.

The Center for the Arts and the Town of Jackson, in collaboration with 20 additional local organizations, are using an Our Town grant to design the green space adjacent to the center. Renovation of this space will increase connectivity among cultural, recreational, and retail businesses and attract residents to participate in new arts programming at the center. Project activities include community design charrettes and a final schematic design for a multi-use performance park to be used for arts and cultural activities. It is anticipated that as many as 20,000 people will utilize the redesigned public space annually for cultural activities, markets, and fairs.

Here are some other examples from around the country:

Art Engagement Project Examples

Union County Arts Center in Rahway, NJ Grant: $75,000

Union County Arts Center, the City of Rahway's Redevelopment Agency, Arts Guild New Jersey, LuceGroup, Rahway Arts District, and artistic and community partners will collaborate on RAHWAY ARTsPART, a series of creative performances and community engagement activities.

RedLine in Denver, CO Grant: $25,000

The arts collective RedLine, City of Denver, and seven additional organizations will collaborate on A Village Environment, a project within the city's Sustainability Park that involves the creation of public sculptures that will produce renewable energy. The public sculptures will be commissioned via a competitive selection process, with the requirement of artistic excellence and the ability to generate power.

Cultural Planning Project Examples

City of Omaha in Omaha, NE Grant: $100,000

The City of Omaha is partnering with Love’s Jazz and Art Center and local organizations on the Street of Dreams project, part of the revitalization plans for North Omaha’s 24th and Lake Street District. The grant will support a feasibility and community design study to re-imagine Festival Square and will allow the partners to engage visual artist and urban planner Theaster Gates to transform a nearby vacant building into a central space for artists and residents.

Santo Domingo Tribe in Santo Domingo Pueblo, NM Grant: $100,000

The Santo Domingo Planning Department and Housing Authority, Enterprise Community Partners, together with five local partners, will work together on a cultural district plan for Santo Domingo Pueblo. The plan will document the cultural heritage of the Santo Domingo Tribe, establishing livable and culturally appropriate guidelines for historic adobe structures and new development.

Design Activities Project Examples

Native Village of Mary’s Igloo in Teller, AK Grant: $50,000

The Native Village of Mary’s Igloo, a federally recognized tribe, is partnering with the not-for-profit Kawerak, Inc. and the Cold Climate Housing Research Center on community engagement and design activities for the Mary’s Igloo Community Development Center. The center will be designed through three design charrette meetings with the community and with local artists. The proposed facility will include a museum, cultural heritage room, library, commercial teaching kitchen, artisan workshop, small business operation spaces, lodging for tourists, gift shop, and storage.

Austin Film Society in Austin, TX Grant: $75,000

In 2000, the City of Austin collaborated with Austin Film Society to form Austin Studios on 20 acres at the newly decommissioned municipal airport. With the Our Town grant, the partners plan to incorporate a decommissioned National Guard Building into the Austin Studios campus. The remodeled building will include affordable space for film production and education, a new exhibition and visitors center, two screening rooms, and a plaza and lobby for public events.

WAC staff members and board chair join arts agency colleagues at Assembly 2012 Oct. 4-6

Arts leaders from across the nation converge in Washington, D.C., October 4-6 for Assembly 2012, the annual meeting of the National Assembly of State Arts Agencies (NASAA). The event is a major gathering of public arts grant makers, convening representatives from the nation's 56 state and jurisdictional arts agencies.

Wyoming will be represented by Wyoming Arts Council staff members Rita Basom, Camellia El-Antably and Annie Hatch, all from Cheyenne, and Board Chair Karen Stewart from Jackson. 

Hosted by the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities, Assembly 2012 brings together state arts agency staff and volunteer leaders, federal agencies and cultural leaders from across the nation. Participants use the Assembly as an opportunity to exchange best practices for serving citizens and to discuss the unique role that the public sector plays in improving economic, civic and educational opportunities across America.

This year's conference explores creative placemaking, with NEA Chairman Rocco Landesman addressing participants about ways that the arts and design are revitalizing communities and enhancing quality of life. Conference sessions also address creative economic development, cultural tourism, effective use of data and new frontiers for cultural resource development.

"NASAA conferences are where all of us as state arts agencies gather to learn from each other as well as from national experts on public policy and public-sector leadership," says Arni Fishbaugh, NASAA board president and executive director of the Montana Arts Council. "Participants from across the country come away with information and ideas that they can immediately put to use in their state to enhance their agencies' services to citizens."

The meeting is seasoned with performances by local artists and excursions through downtown D.C.'s Penn Quarter. Featured artists include internationally acclaimed mezzo-soprano Denyce Graves, The Washington Ballet and U.S. Poet Laureate Natasha Trethewey.

"We are honored to host NASAA Assembly 2012 in the District of Columbia," says Lionell Thomas, executive director of the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities, "We welcome the opportunity to showcase our many achievements here in the District and to share the outstanding creative talent that is such an important asset to our community."

The National Assembly of State Arts Agencies is the membership organization that unites, represents and serves the nation's state and jurisdictional arts agencies. Founded in 1968, NASAA represents their individual and collective interests, empowers their work through knowledge and advances the arts as an essential public benefit. To learn more about NASAA and state arts agencies, visit www.nasaa-arts.org.

National Book Festival Sept. 22-23 in D.C. features NEA Literature Fellows

The National Endowment for the Arts sends this info about this weekend's National Book Festival:

At this year's National Book Festival, many of the poets and writers at the Poetry & Prose Pavilion will celebrate their roles as NEA Literature Fellows, one of the nation's most prestigious competitive awards for new and established authors. The Poetry & Prose Pavilion, sponsored by the NEA, is part of the Library of Congress’s twelfth annual literary festival, which takes place on September 23-24, 2012, on the National Mall in Washington, DC. 

This year's lineup at the Poetry & Prose Pavilion includes T.C. Boyle (San Miguel), Giannina Braschi, (United States of Banana), Junot Díaz (This Is How You Lose Her), Stephen Dunn (Here and Now), Jeffrey Eugenides (The Marriage Plot), Nikky Finney (Head Off & Split), Paul Hendrickson (Hemingway’s Boat: Everything He Loved in Life, and Lost: 1934-1961, Laura Kasischke (Space, In Chains), Philip Levine (News of the World), Margot Livesey (The Flight of Gemma Hardy), Thomas Mallon (Watergate), and Colson Whitehead (Zone One).

Nine of this year's presenters are NEA Literature Fellows (Boyle, Braschi, Dunn, Eugenides, Hendrickson, Jones, Kasischke, Levine, and Livesey); Jones and Hendrickson just received their Fellowships in 2012.

"[This] program ... I feel is essential to fostering the arts -- particularly for beginning or out-of-the-way artists whose work is not immediately apprehended in a commercial way," said author and Creative Writing Fellow (78, 83) T.C. Boyle in the NEA Literature Fellowships publication.

Also at the Poetry & Prose Pavilion, student state champions from the 2012 Poetry Out Loud National Finals.  Kristen Dupard, who earned both the 2012 Poetry Out Loud National Champion and Mississippi State Champion titles, along with second-place winner and Vermont State Champion Claude Mumbere, and third-place winner, Utah State Champion MarKaye Hassan will recite classic and contemporary poetry that earned them titles during this year’s national poetry recitation contest. Poetry Out Loud is sponsored by the National Endowment for the Arts and the Poetry Foundation. 

Visit the National Endowment for the Arts and Library of Congress websites for interviews with current and past Book Festival authors, audio clips, downloadable materials, and interactive features. The NEA (@NEAarts) will live-tweet from the NEA Poetry & Prose Pavilion via Twitter. Look for #natbookfest – the official National Book Festival hashtag – to follow news from the festival.

The Poetry & Prose Pavilion is one of several pavilions where more than 100 writers and illustrators will discuss their work. Pavilions include Children, Teens, Fiction & Mystery, History & Biography, Contemporary Life, Poetry & Prose, SciFi Fantasy & Graphic Novels and Special Programs pavilions, plus the Family Storytelling Stage featuring authors and musical acts popular with young children. Last year, more than 100,000 book fans attended the festival.

The 12th annual Library of Congress National Book Festival will be held on the National Mall between 9th and 14th Streets on Saturday, Sept. 22, 2012, from 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. and on Sunday, Sept. 23 from noon to 5:30 p.m., rain or shine. The event is free and open to the public. For more information, contact the National Book Festival Information Line at 888-714-4696 or visit the National Book Festival website.

Actor Alec Baldwin and musician Ben Folds will help make the case for creativity on Arts Advocacy Day in D.C.

Ben Folds

This announcement comes from Americans for the Arts:

Just Confirmed: Musician Ben Folds to Join Arts Advocacy Day!

Noted singer-songwriter, frontman of Ben Folds Five, and judge on the NBC a cappella singing contest The Sing-Off Ben Folds will be joining arts advocates in Washington, DC for the 25th Annual National Arts Advocacy Day and performing at the Nancy Hanks Lecture. Hear from other acclaimed artists and congressional leaders at the Congressional Arts Kick Off on Capitol Hill. Add your voice of support and register now!

Strategize with experienced advocates during an interactive role play session on how to make the case for the arts and arts education to your members of Congress.

Network with your fellow arts advocates from across the country.

Arrive on April 15 to participate in the leadership training Executive Director and Board Member Symposium.

Receive two free tickets to the 25th Annual Nancy Hanks Lecture on Arts and Public Policy featuring Emmy Award®-winning TV, film, and stage actor and arts advocate Alec Baldwin with your Arts Advocacy Day registration or reserve your tickets online today.

Advance Registration Deadline: Friday, March 30, 2012

Video of Wyoming Poet Laureate Pat Frolander at Poetry Out Loud competition in Cheyenne

Art Perspectives - Wyoming Poet Laureate Patricia Frolander from Indie Media: The New Journalism on Vimeo.

Poetry Out Loud tonight in Cheyenne

From Linda Coatney: Local art teacher Mark Vinich silk-screened this design onto a piece of linen-looking fabric, a design that he came up with using elements of the Poetry Out Loud logo. It didn't work to try and cover up the previous printing on the bag with paint. Wonder Under was used to apply the piece of fabric to the front of the bag. I did some quick cross-stitching around the edges of the fabric and sewed a button on each one. These bags will be given to the student contestants with a copy of POL judge Jim Coppoc's book "Manhattan Beatitude, 1997".

The Poetry Out Loud state competition takes place tonight at the Historic Atlas Theatre in downtown Cheyenne. There will be 11 competitors reciting poetry. Jim Coppoc, from Ames, Iowa, joins Wyoming Poet Laureate Pat Frolander of Sundance and Tie Siding poet and educator Diane Panozzo as judges for the Wyoming Arts Council's Poetry Out Loud competition tonight at 7 p.m. in the Historic Atlas Theatre. Come on out and see high school students from around Wyoming battle it out for the title of Wyoming Poetry Out Loud champ. Winner travels to Washington, D.C., in May to compete for the national title and scholarship money.

Poetry Out Loud judge Jim Coppoc gives workshop at Laramie County Public Library

Performance poet and musician Jim Coppoc conducted a poetry writing workshop Sunday at the Laramie County  Public Library in Cheyenne. Coppoc, from Ames, Iowa, is senior lecturer in English and American Indian studies at Iowa State University, and poetry and spoken word in the low residency MFA program at Chatham University.

Jim said, "Poetry is everywhere." He related this story. He asked his mom if she read poetry. "Oh no, I don't understand poetry." But when he looked around her living room, he noticed a "Chicken Soup for the Soul" poetry edition, the many Christmas cards that all had a short verse of some kind which his mother had propped open among the Christmas tree branches, and the Dr. Seuss books on the second shelf of the coffee table.

Jim's workshop focused on the musicality in poetry, from Biblical David playing the lyre while he sang his psalms to Emily Dickinson who wrote poems in musical forms. Many poets focus on the the rhythm/meter, rhyme, stanza breaks, compression, consonance and assonance.

He showed a short clip from the movie "Pinero," about New York City poet Miguel Pinero, a leader of the Nuyorican movement. Benjamin Bratt portrayed Pinero, and people who knew Pinero say Bratt did his homework. The scene was Bratt as Pinero reciting "Seekin the Cause," a riveting scene. This literary poem is backed up by musicians playing Puerto Rican music. Pinero is one of Jim's favorite poets. He has friends who were friends of Pinero.

Jim like speaking poetry, not reading it. When he writes, he speaks out loud the lines he writes, as well as when he revises. An excellent slammer, Jim says he can often be heard speaking his poems very loudly, screaming really. "Writing out loud," he calls it. He advises beginning poets in school to buy as many books as you can and read out loud.

The focus turned to where the poetry we write comes from. He talked about the influences that we grow up with and that we know first hand. Next we watched a clip of performance poet Bryann Bain, Brooklyn's own Nuyorican Grand Slam Poetry Champion. Bain is best known for his journalism. Bain wrote "Driving While Black," about his experience being arrested in New York because of racial profiling. Bryonn grew up a Muslim, became a Buddhist, and his performance encompasses lines that he sings in a chant like rhythm.

We next watched slam poet Shane Koyczan, who grew up in Yellowknife, the northernmost town in the Northwest Territories of Canada. Shane listened to classical music because when he was growing up there was no television reception and no radio stations. Shane performed a piece he wrote about Beethoven, whose music he listened to growing up. The poem describes how he "got" his music.

Next up was a Gwendolyn Brooks poem. Jim introduced the idea of writing for/about/from your tribe -- the place, culture, the people where we come from. The poem of hers he used as an example, " We Real Cool." In just eight lines, Brooks tells us who she is writing about, the bravado, the group's limited loyalty to each other, their predicament of growing up in the ghetto, the bravado and ecstatic state of being young, the bebop rhythm of the lines. She is writing for this tribe, the one-syllable words they would understand. The short lines that tell us quickly and succinctly the story of their short lives.

We real cool. We
Left school. We

Lurk late. We
Strike straight. We

Sing sin. We
Thin gin. We

Jazz June. We
Die soon.

Of course, the sorrow of the poem is carried in the last "We" line.

So, he asked the group some questions: Who is my "We"? Who is my tribe? How does your tribe sing? What is your tribe's story? How does it begin? How does it end?

He asked us to write our tribe's poem and music. Some good work came out. Since I only have the one I wrote, I will offer it as an example.

From the city,
We drove to the mountain lodge
And stayed in one-room cabins,
These days called rustic.
My sister and I rode horses without guides
While my parents lounged lakeside
My mother's anger dissipated
To the carrying pines,
To the lake's lapping
To the small cafe where we ate fresh trout and grilled hamburgers.

One time, I fell off a horse and skidded
On flesh points of contact
Along the dirt road.
Running back to the cabin, crying and sniveling
My mother did not meet me
Greet me
Hug me
Seat me
To nurse my wounds,
But my injuries stoked my father's anger
And we stalked down to the corral
To confront that smart-alecky wrangler.

Cowboys young and old came one night
From parts unknown to me
For the ranch party in the long boat house
Next to the dock.
Old cowboys danced with me,
A young girl not yet weathered
In their weathered arms.

My father watched them,
They keeping their hands
Suitably at mast and we danced
In that aura of celebration,
I not once noticing if my
Sharp-eyed mother
Was there.

--Linda Coatney

NEA podcast: Rita Dove, new National Medal of Arts recipient

Rita Dove with President Barack Obama at the National Medal of Arts ceremony Feb. 13

Listen to podcast by internationally-acclaimed poet Rita Dove at http://www.arts.gov/artworks/?p=12146

Call for proposals: Jackson's Rolling Gallery project

The Jackson Hole Public Art Initiative is pleased to announce ROLLING GALLERY, an opportunity for artists and scientists to collaborate on artwork for the Jackson Hole Community Pathways that highlights endangered and at risk species.

Project Budget: $2,500.
(Up to $10,000 of projects may be funded.)

QUALIFICATIONS DEADLINE: February 29th at 5PM.  
Email Submissions: homeranchart@gmail.com   
Request for Qualifications Packet: jhPublicArt.org
Contact Carrie Geraci with questions: 307-413-1474

This public art opportunity is supported in part with awards from: 1% for the Tetons, the Wyoming Arts Council, the National Endowment for the Arts and private donations.

Rolling Galery is presented in collaboration with Friends of Pathways and Jackson Hole Community Pathways.

Young Musicians, Inc., in Evanston awarded grant from the National Endowment for the Arts

The National Endowment for the Arts announced today that Young Musicians, Inc., of Evanston is the recipient of a $10,000 Challenge America Fast-Track grant. The funding will “support the Music, Arts & Technology Camp. In addition to leading classes for youth and adults, professional camp staff will perform a concert for the community. Proposed artists include saxophonist Michael Giles, violinist Jeremy Starr, bassoonist Michele Hustedt, and tubist Joe Jensen.”

As National Endowment for the Arts Chairman Rocco Landesman has noted, "Art works everywhere," which is why the agency's Challenge America Fast-Track (CAFT) program supports projects from primarily small and mid-sized arts organizations that extend the reach of the arts to underserved audiences-those whose opportunities to experience the arts are limited by geography, ethnicity, economics, or disability. Chairman Landesman announced today that 162 Challenge America grants totaling $1,620,000 will be awarded to organizations in 46 states, plus the District of Columbia and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

"Taken together, these Challenge America Fast-Track grants provide an extraordinary sampling of the work that arts organizations do to reach underserved communities," said Chairman Landesman. "With these grants, we are helping to ensure that art works for all Americans."

Along with not-for-profit arts organizations, grantees in this announcement include a community housing authority, municipal tourism department, state mining and technology institute, and social service agency-all using the arts to engage audiences and make their communities more livable. In addition, among the 162 grantees, 47 or about 30 percent are first-time grantees to the NEA, a significant number that demonstrates the program's important gateway role.

Please see the complete listing of CAFT projects: http://www.arts.gov/grants/recent/12grants/12cham.php?disc=Challenge%20America

The National Endowment for the Arts was established by Congress in 1965 as an independent agency of the federal government. To date, the NEA has awarded more than $4 billion to support artistic excellence, creativity, and innovation for the benefit of individuals and communities. The NEA extends its work through partnerships with state arts agencies, local leaders, other federal agencies, and the philanthropic sector. To join the discussion on how art works, visit the NEA at www.arts.gov

NEA Chair Rocco Landesman praises Red Cloud Indian School Heritage Center during swing through S.D.

From Rapid City Journal: Rocco Landesman, chairman for the National Endowment for the Arts, speaks at the Dahl Arts Center on Thursday, Nov. 17, 2011. Landesman was part of a Panel discussion on Creative Placemaking in the Black Hills Region. (Ryan Soderlin/Journal staff). "This is probably the best example of that that I’ve seen anywhere in the country,” said Rocco Landesman, who is finishing a three-state tour to visit organizations with grant money from the endowment. “You visit the [Red Cloud] Heritage Center and see Native American art produced by the people in those tribes, the Lakota people right there. It’s so obvious that it’s tied to that place; that this couldn’t happen in Malibu or New York City.”

Read more: http://rapidcityjournal.com/news/endowment-official-praises-red-cloud-s-heritage-center/article_e878cf88-1189-11e1-b836-001cc4c002e0.html#ixzz1e4fdFaTa

Attention northeast WY artists and arts groups: NEA Chair will be in the neighborhood Nov. 16-17

According to today’s Rapid City Journal, the chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts will be in Pine Ridge and Rapid City this week as part of a three-state trip focused on local community art.

Rocco Landesman will visit the Heritage Center at Red Cloud Indian School in Pine Ridge on Wednesday afternoon, Nov. 16. He will join a panel discussion on arts in the Black Hills at 10 a.m. Thursday, Nov. 17, at the Dahl Arts Center, 713 Seventh Street, in Rapid City that is open to the public. Panel discussion will be on "Creative Placemaking in the Black Hills Region."

Last time we looked at a map, some of that Black Hills region was in Wyoming. It still is! Some of our Black Hills artists and arts group reps might want to traipse over to Rapid on Thursday to what’s cooking, creative placemaking-wise.

Read more: http://rapidcityjournal.com/news/national-arts-director-to-visit-rapid-city-area/article_89007ecc-0f34-11e1-bd46-001cc4c03286.html#ixzz1dnL6lbv0


Video: The Heritage Center at Red Cloud Indian School will be showcasing the musical group Scatter Their Own at the reception for the NEA chairman on Thursday at The Dahl in Rapid City. Juliana, the bass player, is a recent graduate of Red Cloud High School, class of 2009, and was also a recipient of the coveted Gates Scholarship as well as the Horatio Alger Scholarship.

Call for proposals: ArtPlace America

In an unprecedented private-public collaboration, 11 of America's top foundations have joined with the National Endowment for the Arts and seven federal agencies to establish ArtPlace, a nationwide initiative to accelerate creative placemaking across the U.S.

ArtPlace believes that art, culture and creativity expressed powerfully through place can create vibrant communities, thus increasing the desire and the economic opportunity for people to thrive in place. It is all about the local.

ArtPlace invites Letters of Inquiry from initiatives involving arts organizations, artists and designers working in partnership with local and national partners (in fields such as economic development, transportation, neighborhood development, entrepreneurship, sustainability, health, etc.) to produce a transformative impact on community vibrancy.

If you or one of your partners wishes to apply, please review the guidelines and complete the Letter of Inquiry, both available here: http://www.artplaceamerica.org/loi/. To be considered for our next round of grants, all requests must be submitted by November 15, 2011.

We look forward to receiving your submissions for innovative and distinctive projects.

Nicolaysen releases RFQ guidelines for innovative public art partnership in Casper

From Lisa Hatchadoorian at the Nicolaysen Art Museum in Casper:

In early 2011, a unique opportunity arose to integrate public art into a new development for low income housing located on the eastern edge of the Casper business district and directly across the street from the Nicolaysen Art Museum, a contemporary art museum in downtown Casper. 

David Haney, Executive Director for the WCDA (Wyoming Community Development Authority), initiated conversations with Grimshaw Investments, a private developer, the City of Casper, and the Nicolaysen Art Museum. Discussions centered around creating a public art project that could be incorporated into existing open green space, and serve as a gathering place for the residents of the housing complex, the surrounding community, and businesses. The new development, the Sunshine Apartments, will utilize green design as one of many initiatives for a ground breaking direction in low-income housing the state of Wyoming. Additionally, we envision the site serving as a focal point for arts activities and events.

It quickly became evident that by working together, we could create a working model and pilot program for public art partnerships for our community and others around the state. The proposed public art project will be created in the same spirit—drawing upon gathered input from the community to inspire an artist in the design, creation and installation of a work of public art that reflects and highlights this unique community, its history and the surrounding neighborhood. The art project will be an integral component of the vision for the apartment complex and a source of community pride and inspiration. 

This project was recently awarded funding by the NEA (National Endowment for the Arts) as part of its "Our Town" initiative. Our Town is the NEA’s new leadership initiative focused on "creative placemaking” projects where partners from both public and private sectors come together to strategically shape the physical and social character of a neighborhood, town, city, or region around arts and cultural activities.

Deadline for submission of qualifications: Friday, September 16, 2011.

FMI: lhatchadoorian@thenic.org

Aug. 11-12 NEA webcasts address HUD Sustainable Housing and Communities grants

Press release from Victoria Hutter at the NEA. Contact hutterv@arts.gov or 202-682-5692:

AUGUST 11 AND 12 WEBCASTS ON FUNDING OPPORTUNITIES FOR NONPROFIT ARTS ORGANIZATIONS FROM HUD’S OFFICE OF SUSTAINABLE HOUSING AND COMMUNITIES

$123 Million in Funding is Available through HUD’s Community Challenge Grant Program and

HUD’s Sustainable Communities Regional Planning Grant Program

Nonprofit arts organizations are invited to attend two webcasts about funding opportunities through the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Office of Sustainable Housing and Communities (OSHC).  OSHC recently issued two Notices of Funding Availability (NOFA) for their FY 2011 Community Challenge Grants Program ($95 million in grants available) and FY 2011 Sustainable Communities Regional Planning Grant Program ($28 million available).

Guidelines and application information:

Community Challenge Grants Program Deadline is September 9, 2011.

Sustainable Communities Regional Planning Grant Program Pre-application deadline is August 25, 2011.

The webcasts will be hosted by OSHC staff to provide overviews of the respective programs followed by time for viewers to ask questions. People interested in watching the webcast should log onto http://www.hud.gov/sustainabilitybeginning one hour before the webcast start time for a link to the presentation.

Webcast Schedule

August 11, 3:30 – 4:30 PM EDT: Community Challenge Planning Grant program

August 12, 1:00 – 2:00 PM EDT: Sustainable Communities Regional Planning Grant program


Program Descriptions

The Community Challenge Grants Program (CC) provides grants to enable communities in fostering reform and reducing barriers to achieving affordable, economically vital, and sustainable communities. Such efforts may include amending or replacing local master plans, zoning codes, and building codes, either on a jurisdiction-wide basis or in a specific neighborhood, district, corridor, or sector to promote mixed-use development, affordable housing, the reuse of older buildings and structures for new purposes, and similar activities with the goal of promoting sustainability at the local or neighborhood level. This Program also supports the development of affordable housing, including artist housing, through the development and adoption of inclusionary zoning ordinances and other activities such as acquisition of land for affordable housing projects.


Sustainable Communities Regional Planning Grant Program (SCRP) provides grants to help improve regional planning efforts that integrate housing and transportation decisions, and increase state, regional, and local capacity to incorporate livability, sustainability, and social equity values into land use plans and zoning. The program supports metropolitan and multi-jurisdictional planning efforts through a consortium-based model that brings together numerous groups including arts- and design-based organizations to inform the planning process. 

Program Background and Results from Year One

Both programs, now in their second year build on the Partnership for Sustainable Communities, an innovative interagency collaboration, launched by President Obama in June 2009, between HUD, the Department of Transportation (DOT) and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to provide more sustainable housing and transportation choices for families and lay the foundation for a 21st century economy.  For the first time last year, HUD and NEA co-convened the nonprofit arts community around funding opportunities. The SCRP program was the first NOFA that contained language encouraging arts organizations to participate in the consortia submitting applications.

As a result, four grants awarded through the SCRP program had arts organizations among its partners, including the City of Tampa, Florida that received a $1,181,250 grant to create a Primary Transit Corridor Master Plan to promote efficiency and better define a distinctive sense of place. Partner arts organizations were the David A Straz Jr. Center for the Performing Arts, Arts Council Hillsborough County, Tampa Theatre Foundation, and the University of South Florida College of the Arts.

Four grants from the CC program had arts organizations among its partners including the City of Providence, Rhode Island that was awarded $910,000 for the Transportation Corridors to Livable Communities project to improve transit service in the city. The city partnered with two community-based arts organizations—New Urban Arts and Community MusicWorks—and AS220, a nationally recognized arts organization that has built affordable housing.

About the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development

HUD is the nation's housing agency committed to sustaining homeownership; creating affordable housing opportunities for low-income Americans; and supporting the homeless, elderly, people with disabilities and people living with AIDS. The Department also promotes economic and community development and enforces the nation's fair housing laws. More information about HUD and its programs is available on the Internet at www.hud.gov andespanol.hud.gov.

About the National Endowment for the Arts

The NEA is a public agency dedicated to supporting excellence in the arts – both new and established – bringing the arts to all Americans, and providing leadership in arts education. Established by Congress in 1965 as an independent agency of the federal government, the Arts Endowment is the largest annual national funder of the arts, bringing great art to all 50 states, including rural areas, inner cities, and military bases. For more information, please visit www.arts.gov.

National Endowment for the Arts announces $6.575 million in "Our Town" grants in 34 states (including Wyoming)

Here's the full text of the press release announcing the National Endowment for the Arts' "Our Town" grants (see previously post for info about Casper's "Our Town" grant):

Washington, DC - Today, the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) announced the inaugural round of "Our Town" funding, totaling $6.575 million in grants to 51 communities in 34 states that have created public-private partnerships to strengthen the arts while shaping the social, physical, and economic characters of their neighborhoods, towns, cities, and regions. NEA Chairman Rocco Landesman made the announcement during an online press conference.

Chairman Landesman said, "Communities across our country are investing in the arts and smart design to enhance Americans' quality of life and to promote the distinctive identities of our communities. Our Town creates partnerships among local governments and arts and design organizations to strengthen the creative sector and help revitalize the overall community."

NEA's Director of Design Jason Schupbach noted, "Creative placemaking is a strategy for making places vibrant. Arts and design are essential parts of the complex work of building a livable, sustainable community."

Our Town grants range from $25,000 to $250,000 and represent a range of rural, suburban, and urban communities with populations ranging from just over 2,000 people to more than 8.2 million people. More than half of the Our Town grants were awarded to communities with a population of less than 200,000, and seven to communities of fewer than 25,000 people. Grants were awarded for planning, design, and arts engagement projects that strengthen arts organizations while increasing the livability of communities across America.

By requiring a partnership between local government and an arts or design organization, Our Town encourages creative, cross sector solutions to the challenges facing towns, cities, and the arts community.
Examples of projects receiving Our Town grants:

East Bay Center for the Performing Arts in Richmond, California, will receive $150,000 to support the commissioning of an interactive art installation by new media artist Scott Snibbe, which will feature professionally choreographed and video-recorded movements of Richmond youth, reflecting both the diversity of the local population and the multicultural dance, rhythm, and performance programs taught and performed at the Center.

ArtPrize in Grand Rapids, Michigan, will receive $100,000 to support its annual art competition, which invites artists from around the world to exhibit their work in museums, businesses, restaurants, stores, parks, and other existing spaces within a three-square-mile area of Grand Rapids during a free, two-week festival.

Vollis Simpson's "Whirlygigs" outside Wilson, N.C. 

The City of Wilson, North Carolina will receive $250,000 to support the repair and conservation of internationally recognized artist Vollis Simpson's original large-scale "Whirligigs," which are kinetic sculptures. The project will serve as a national model by generating new employment and training opportunities associated with the conservation of these vernacular artworks.

Ballroom Marfa in Marfa, Texas, will receive $250,000 to support a multi-stage improvement plan for Vizcaino County Park, which is on several acres of scenic desert on the northeastern edge of town. The park will be a permanent home for Marfa's "Drive-In," a new outdoor venue for music, film, and performing arts.

One of the Wormfarm Institute's Roadside Culture Stands

Wormfarm Institute in Reedsburg, Wisconsin, will receive $50,000 to support the planning, piloting, and evaluation of their "Farm/Art D-Tour." Guided and self-led tours will take place along rural roads in northern Sauk County, Wisconsin, featuring farm-based, ephemeral art installations and performances; artist-designed-and-built mobile farm stands; and interpretative signage about rural culture and the local arts, food, and farming communities.

See the complete listing of Our Town grants.

Our Town builds on the NEA's 25-year history of investment in creative placemaking, which has included:
The Mayors' Institute on City Design®, run in partnership with the American Architectural Foundation and the U.S. Conference of Mayors, which connects mayors and design professionals to tackle communities' most pressing design challenges.

The MICD 25th Anniversary Initiative, for which 21 grants totaling $3 million were announced in July 2010. The grants focused in four specific areas: reuse of abandoned space, commissioning public art, cultural district planning, and new ways of designing infrastructure.

Your Town: The Citizens' Institute on Rural Design, managed in partnership with the faculty of Landscape Architecture at SUNY Syracuse, which provides local leaders in rural areas the tools they need to wisely direct the physical growth of their communities.

A panel discussion on creative placemaking, held in September 2010, that examined the role of the arts and the creative community in creating livable, sustainable communities. Participants included Richard Florida, Author, The Great Reset and The Rise of the Creative Class; Tim Jones, President & CEO, Toronto Artscape; Rick Lowe, Founder, Project Row Houses, Houston, Texas; and Ann Markusen, Professor and Director, Project on Regional and Industrial Economics at the University of Minnesota's Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs.

Creative Placemaking, a white paper by Ann Markusen and Anne Gadwa that summarizes two decades of creative placemaking in the U.S., drawing on original economic research and case studies of path-breaking initiatives in communities of all sizes.

Live from Your Neighborhood: A National Study of Outdoor Arts Festivals, an NEA report that examines the range and variety of arts festivals in the U.S., the artists they employ, the communities they serve, and the roles they play in shaping our cities, towns, and neighborhoods.

The National Endowment for the Arts was established by Congress in 1965 as an independent agency of the federal government. To date, the NEA has awarded more than $4 billion to support artistic excellence, creativity, and innovation for the benefit of individuals and communities. The NEA extends its work through partnerships with state arts agencies, local leaders, other federal agencies, and the philanthropic sector. For more information, go to arts.gov.