Deadline:
March 1, 2012
Art works to improve the lives of America's citizens in many ways. Communities across our nation are engaging design and leveraging the arts to create livable, sustainable neighborhoods with enhanced quality of life, increased creative activity, distinct identities, a sense of place, and vibrant local economies that capitalize on existing local assets. The NEA defines these efforts as Creative Placemaking:
"In creative placemaking, partners from public, private, nonprofit, and community sectors strategically shape the physical and social character of a neighborhood, town, tribe, city, or region around arts and cultural activities. Creative placemaking animates public and private spaces, rejuvenates structures and streetscapes, improves local business viability and public safety, and brings diverse people together to celebrate, inspire, and be inspired."
- Ann Markusen, Markusen Economic Research Services
Anne Gadwa, Metris Arts Consulting
From Creative Placemaking
Through Our Town, subject to the availability of funding, the National Endowment for the Arts will provide a limited number of grants, ranging from $25,000 to $150,000, for creative placemaking projects that contribute toward the livability of communities and help transform them into lively, beautiful, and sustainable places with the arts at their core.
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 creative activity.
- Create community identity and a sense of place.
- Revitalize local economies.
Projects may include planning, design, and arts engagement activities such as:
Planning
- Creative asset mapping.
- Cultural district planning.
- The development of master plans or community-wide strategies for public art.
- Support for creative entrepreneurship.
- Creative industry cluster/hub development.
Design
Design of rehearsal, studio, or live/work spaces for artists.
Design of cultural facilities – new construction or adaptive reuse.
Design of public spaces, e.g., parks, plazas, streetscapes, landscapes, neighborhoods, districts, infrastructure, bridges.
Design of wayfinding systems.
Community engagement activities including charrettes, competitions, and community design workshops.
For full application guidelines, please visit the National Endowment for the Arts.
