Assemblymember Phil Goldfeder has announced that the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) recently released its “Our Town” grant guidelines and is now accepting applications for its creative neighborhood placemaking initiative.
The “Our Town” grant encourages community arts engagement and connects neighborhoods through local involvement in which communities working together assist in cultural planning, public space design and other creative activities.
“National Endowment for the Arts Grant Program provides the perfect opportunity for artists to connect with their local neighbors and enrich our community through their talents and creative imaginations,” said Goldfeder. “It is imperative that we continue to support our artists and organizations by providing funding to build the arts and develop creative and unique communities and projects.”
Presently, Our Town has provided $11.57 million to fund 131 projects throughout the country dispersed among each individual state. Last year, 41 of the 80 distributed grants supported projects in communities with populations under 50,000. Grant awards range from $25,000 to $200,000. This year’s application deadline is January 14, 2013 at 11:59 .pm.
In 2011, New York City Department of Cultural Affairs was awarded $200,000 from the Our Town grant to support Space for Art, a community arts engagement program that places artists in residence at senior centers across New York City. Space for Art was developed as part of Age-Friendly NYC, a citywide effort to make New York more livable for its rapidly growing senior population.
“It’s easy to make cuts to art programs and eliminate funding to local art organizations during these challenging economic times, but I commend the NEA for their continued commitment to these great grant programs,” said Goldfeder. “I urge all eligible applicants to take advantage of the National Endowment for the Arts Grant Program.”
For more information about this year’s Our Town application, guidelines are available at arts.gov/grants/apply/OurTown/index.html or contact Goldfeder’s Office at 718- 945-9550 or goldfederp@assembly.state.ny.us.
