Back

National Creative Placemaking Fund is Accepting Project Proposals

January 5, 2016

By: ArtPlace America

We are excited to announce that $10.5 million is available to fund projects that work with artists and arts organizations help build stronger, healthier communities anywhere in the United States.

Applications will need to be submitted here by Wednesday, March 2, 2016 (and you will need to register no later than Tuesday, February 16, 2016).

We expect many people to apply – last year, we received 1,300 applications – so the competition will be stiff.  Recognizing that, we created a simple and focused application that consists of 4 questions, a one-number budget, and some basic identifying information.

If you are thinking about a project that:

  1. Focuses on a neighborhood or other geographic community
  2. Is looking to work on a community challenge related to agriculture/food; economic development; education/youth; environment/energy; health; housing, immigration; public safety; transportation; or workforce development
  3. Has a way that artists, arts organizations, and/or arts activities can help address that challenge
  4. Will have a way of knowing whether the project has made progress on the challenge

then you should think about submitting an application.  Here is a quick video that explains everything you need to know:

If you prefer reading the information, there is a document that presents the same information here.

And if you are interested in seeing what we have funded in the past, you may search all of our 227 grantees’ projects here.

You will note that we have funded in communities of every size, from a community of 400 people to one with 8.3 million people in it.  (In fact, 24% of ArtPlace’s funding has gone to communities with fewer than 50,000 people.)  

We are also interested in reaching a broad geography.  So far, we have funded in 43 states and the District of Columbia.  This year, we would love to be able to add projects in Delaware, Montana, New Hampshire, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Utah, and Wyoming to that list.

For those of you who have applied to ArtPlace in the past, here are a couple of things to note:

We are now calling this pot of money the National Creative Placemaking Fund (or NCPF) to avoid confusion with our Community Development Investments, which is our other national grant program.

In addition, we have seen that most successful community development projects involve a range of partners working together.  So this year, all of the projects we fund will need to have at least one partner.

Finally, we have not had a lot of projects that are looking at issues related to environment/energy; health; and public safety, so we are especially eager to look at projects addressing anything in those areas.

We are really excited to learn about all of the great work that is happening around the country and cannot wait to see the new ideas that will come in this year!