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July 16, 2015
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New York State Council on the Arts Congratulates Three New York Recipients of 2015 National Endowment for the Arts Our Town GrantsTown of North Hempstead, New York City Housing Authority & Women’s Studio Workshop among 69 Our Town projects selected nationwide |
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Contact: Liz McAleer, liz.mcaleer@arts.ny.gov, 212-459-8808
NEW YORK — National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) Chairman Jane Chu announced 69 Our Town awards totaling almost $5 million through the program's fifth year of funding. Through the Our Town program, three arts-based community development projects in Manhasset, New York, and Rosendale will receive a total of $200,000. The Our Town grant program supports creative placemaking projects that help to transform communities into lively, beautiful, and resilient places with the arts at their core. Since the program’s inception in 2011, and including this year’s awards, the NEA has awarded 325 Our Town grants totaling almost $26 million in all 50 states, Puerto Rico, and the District of Columbia. This year’s funded New York State projects: Town of North Hempstead (Manhasset, NY) will receive $75,000 to support the Maritime Heritage Town Dock Resiliency Project. The initiative is an effort to incorporate creative placemaking into the reconstruction of the town dock, which was damaged by Hurricane Sandy. Through a cultural resource survey and collaborative visioning process, the town will transform the dock from an underused parking lot into an attractive, interactive park with green infrastructure, natural and built art elements, and spaces for community gatherings and arts programming that connect to the area’s maritime heritage. The Town of North Hempstead is partnering with Long Island Traditions, a regional folk arts organization, and Landmark on Main Street, a community and performing arts center, to engage the community in working with an artist to design a new Town Dock Park that will strengthen the community’s social and physical resilience.
New York City Housing Authority (New York, NY) will receive $100,000 to support "Make Mott Haven," a neighborhood-based effort to enrich the lives of South Bronx residents through local arts and cultural opportunities. The projects will bring together a wide variety of cultural programming, including public education and arts workshops, small and large scale dance and music performances, an artist residency program for up to five artists per year, film screenings and free workforce training in film production, and an annual large scale arts festival celebrating the area's rich cultural history. Primary partners are NYCHA and Casita Maria Center for Arts and Education, with active engagement from Dancing in the Streets, community development organization SoBRO, and the Ghetto Film School. This project builds on a $300,000 Choice Neighborhoods Initiative planning grant awarded to NYCHA in 2012 from HUD to create a master transformation plan for the Mott Haven neighborhood.
Women's Studio Workshop (Rosendale, NY) will receive $25,000 to support artists in residence to create public art for Rosendale's public spaces. Selected via a competitive process, artists will develop a public art project to be sited in a park, host an exhibition at the Women's Studio Workshop, and lead community engagement activities to ensure local buy-in for their public work. Women's Studio Workshop, Town of Rosendale, and other community partners will support Rosendale's redevelopment strategy by using its parks and rail trails to unite audiences and artists in creative interactions that spark tourism and population growth.
"The Town of North Hempstead, New York City Housing Authority and Women’s Studio Workshop demonstrate the best in creative community development and their work will have a valuable impact on their communities,” said Chairman Chu. "Through Our Town funding, arts organizations continue to spark vitality that support neighborhoods and public spaces, enhancing a sense of place for residents and visitors alike." “On behalf of Governor Cuomo and the New York State Council on the Arts, I congratulate this year’s Our Town grant recipients and look forward to the success of their innovative projects,” said Mr. Aby Rosen, Chair, New York State Council on the Arts. “New York State’s Our Town projects demonstrate, once again, arts, cultural and heritage activities and the work of artists must play a fundamental role in transforming New York State’s cities and towns into vital, prosperous and livable communities.” The NEA received 275 applications for Our Town this year and will make grants ranging from $25,000 to $200,000. For a complete listing of projects recommended for Our Town grant support, please visit the NEA website at arts.gov. Project descriptions, grants listed by state and by project type, and resources are available as well. The NEA’s online resource, Exploring Our Town, features case studies of more than 70 Our Town projects along with lessons learned and other resources. The Twitter hashtag is #NEAOurTown15 About the New York State Council on the Arts The New York State Council on the Arts (NYSCA), created by Governor Nelson Rockefeller and the NYS Legislature in 1960, is an agency of the Executive Branch of the New York State Government dedicated to preserving and expanding the rich and diverse cultural resources that are and will become the heritage of New York's citizens. For more information on NYSCA, please visit: www.arts.ny.gov |
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