FOA-Limited Submission - National Endowment for the Arts – Our Town (2020NEA01OT); August 6, 2020

 

Purpose: Our Town is the National Endowment for the Arts’ (NEA’s) creative placemaking grants program. Through project-based funding, the NEA supports projects that integrate arts, culture, and design activities into efforts that strengthen communities by advancing local economic, physical, and/or social outcomes. Successful Our Town projects ultimately lay the groundwork for systemic changes that sustain the integration of arts, culture, and design into local strategies for strengthening communities. These projects require a partnership between a local government entity and nonprofit organization, one of which must be a cultural organization; and should engage in partnership with other sectors (such as agriculture and food, economic development, education and youth, environment and energy, health, housing, public safety, transportation, and workforce development).

 

Our Town projects must integrate arts, culture, and design activities into efforts that strengthen communities by advancing local economic, physical, and/or social outcomes. Project types include: Arts Engagement, Cultural Planning, Design and Artist and Creative Industry Support. The NEA encourages applications for artistically excellent projects that:

·   Bring new attention to or elevate key community assets and issues, voices of residents, local history, or cultural infrastructure.

·   Inject new or additional energy, resources, activity, people, or enthusiasm into a place, community issue, or local economy.

·   Envision new possibilities for a community or place – a new future, a new way of overcoming a challenge, or approaching problem-solving.

·   Connect communities, people, places, and economic opportunity via physical spaces or new relationships.

 

The NEA plans to support a variety of projects across the country in urban, rural, and tribal communities of all sizes.

 

Special Eligibility/Requirements: All applications must demonstrate a partnership that will provide leadership for the project. These partnerships must involve two primary partners, as defined by these guidelines:

1.      Nonprofit organization

2.      Local government entity

One of these two primary partners must be a cultural (arts or design) organization. The highest ranking official of the local government is required to submit a formal statement of support designating the project as the one of the up to two applications being submitted for the local government.

 

Funding Amount/period: $25,000, $50,000, $75,000, $100,000, or $150,000 levels with very few grants at the $150,000 level; 2 year project period

 

Cost Share/Matching Funds: 1:1 nonfederal match required

 

Link to Funding Opportunity

 

Institutional Limit:  2 (as a lead applicant)

 

Internal Competition: To participate in the university’s selection process, please upload the following, assembled into a single PDF file, to the Office of the Vice President for Research via this portal with a copy to your Associate Dean for Research by June 24, 2020:

• Names and departments or affiliations of the Project Director and other key personnel or partners;
• Title of program and/or funding opportunity announcement number: (NEA Our Town)
• Brief project description, indicating project type (Arts Engagement, Cultural Planning, Design and Artist and Creative Industry Support) – 2 pages maximum
• Budget, including the potential source of matching funds
• Brief biographical sketches of key personnel

 

For questions or issues with submission through the portal, email the limited submission mailbox (limitedsubmissions@uky.edu), or call 257-2861.

 

Agency deadline: August 6, 2020