Program Details

The National Grants Program is open to projects across the country, in communities of all sizes in all 50 states and territories.  In an effort to support the broad spectrum of creative placemaking practices across the United States, ArtPlace is particularly interested in projects from states in which it has not yet granted including Delaware, Montana, New Hampshire, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Utah, and Wyoming.

Approximately 50% of the $10 million disbursed in 2015 is completely unrestricted. In addition, several of ArtPlace’s foundation partners have deep commitments to their local and regional communities and have provided funding to ensure grants are made in specific communities.  As a result, the remaining 50% is restricted to the following communities and/or artistic disciplines: metropolitan communities in Minnesota; rural communities throughout Arizona, Iowa, the Upper Peninsula in Michigan, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oregon, South Dakota, Texas, and Wisconsin; and the cities of Akron, OH; Boston, Cambridge, and Somerville, MA; Charlotte, NC; Detroit, MI; Macon, GA; Miami, FL; Philadelphia, PA; San Jose, CA; and St. Paul, MN. Several funders are also interested in ensuring the participation and representation of the performing arts.

ArtPlace America uses the below definitions in all of its work:
Creative Placemaking- strengthening the social, physical, and economic fabric of a community through arts and culture.
Community- a group of people related by primarily by geography.

At ArtPlace we believe that successful creative placemaking applicants do four things:

  1. Define a community based in geography, such as a block, a neighborhood, a city, or a region
  2. Articulate a change the group of people living and working in that community would like to see
  3. Propose an arts-based intervention to help achieve that change
  4. Develop a way to know whether the change occurred

National Grants Program awards typically range from $50K-$500K for an 18-month grant period.  In 2015 we disbursed approximately $10 million.