NEA Funding Guidelines for Our Town

The National Endowment for the Arts has released guidelines and application materials for Our Town, the agency's primary creative placemaking grants program. Pending availability of funding, grants will range from $25,000 to $200,000. Application deadline is January 13, 2014 at 11:59 PM ET, and a webinar to learn more about this funding opportunity will be held on November 4, 2013 at 2:00 PM ET.

Our Town will invest in creative and innovative projects in which communities, together with arts and/or design organizations and artists, seek to:

• Improve their quality of life;
• Encourage greater creative activity;
• Foster stronger community identity and a sense of place; and
• Revitalize economic development.

Projects may focus on:

• Arts engagement activities including:
  • innovative arts programming
  • festivals/performances
  • public art that improves public spaces
• Cultural planning activities including:
  • creative asset mapping
  • cultural district planning
  • master plans or community-wide strategies for public art
  • creative entrepreneurship.
  • creative industry cluster/hub development
• Design activities including:
  • design of rehearsal, studio, or live/work spaces for artists
  • design of cultural spaces
  • design of public spaces
  • design charrettes, design competitions, and community design workshops