ICYMI: New Initiative from the National Endowment for the Arts Supports Increased Opportunities for Arts Participation
From National Endowment for the Arts: A new initiative from the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) announced today aims to expand access to arts participation in our country. A partnership with South Arts and in collaboration with the other five U.S. Regional Arts Organizations (RAOs), ArtsHERE will provide non-matching grant support for organizations that have demonstrated a commitment to equity within their practices and programming. Grants will fund specific projects that will strengthen grantees’ capacity to sustain meaningful community engagement and increase arts participation for underserved groups/communities. ArtsHERE is also a knowledge-sharing endeavor, with peer-learning and technical assistance opportunities for grantees. Working with grantees throughout the projects, the NEA also plans to report on lessons learned from this pilot initiative, which may inform the future of ArtsHERE and other similar funding programs and practices. The deadline to submit a statement of interest is Friday, January 19, 2024. Visit ArtsHERE.org for full guidelines and to apply.
Chair of the National Endowment for the Arts, Maria Rosario Jackson, PhD, said, “The National Endowment for the Arts is committed to ensuring everyone in this nation has opportunities to live an artful life. ArtsHERE will make strides toward this goal with grants that will strengthen organizations’ efforts to advance inclusion and access to the arts. The program will make impacts in communities nationwide and will help us learn about how to best support work that is inclusive and accessible for all people in our nation.”
Managed by South Arts, ArtsHERE will award approximately 95 nonprofit organizations with non-matching grants of $65,000 to $130,000. Applicants should propose a specific project that will strengthen and sustain the organization’s capacity for robust community engagement, as well as support strategies to increase arts participation for underserved groups/communities. Grants are also intended to help organizations better serve their communities and to approach their operations and programming in ways that will expand their reach.