Today, we are pleased to officially welcome a new partner to the ArtPlace America family: The Stavros Niarchos Foundation! The Foundation approved a $1,000,000 grant to support our national work in the field of creative placemaking. ArtPlace is thrilled about this generous support and the opportunity to learn from and be a part of an international community of grantees--see the full announcement from the foundation below:
NEW YORK — May 19, 2015 — The Stavros Niarchos Foundation approved a $1,000,000 grant to support ArtPlace America’s national work in the field of creative placemaking. The $1,000,000 grant distributed over two years will support ArtPlace America’s four program areas:
- a national grants program that annually supports creative placemaking projects in communities of all sizes across the United States;
- Community Development Investments in 6 place-based community planning and development organizations that are working to permanently and sustainably incorporate arts and culture into their core work;
- fieldbuilding initiatives to connect and grow the field of practitioners; and
- research strategies to understand, document, and disseminate successful creative placemaking practices.
ArtPlace America (ArtPlace) was established in 2010 as a ten-year collaboration among a number of leading US foundations, federal agencies, and financial institutions that works to position arts and culture as a core sector of comprehensive community planning and development in order to help strengthen the social, physical, and economic fabric of communities. This entails having arts and culture represented alongside sectors like housing and transportation – with each sector recognized as part of any healthy community; as requiring planning and investment from its community; and as having a responsibility to contribute to its community’s overall future.
“We are thrilled to welcome the Stavros Niarchos Foundation as ArtPlace’s fifteenth foundation partner,” said Jamie Bennett, Executive Director of ArtPlace America. “We are grateful for their generous support, and we are eager to both learn from and share lessons with their community of grantees around the world.”
“ArtPlace America’s mission aligns with one of the Foundation’s core principles of engaging and revitalizing communities through the arts,” stated Andreas Dracopoulos, co-President of the Board of Directors of the Stavros Niarchos Foundation. “For a number of years, ArtPlace has been the leading force behind the philanthropic community’s creative placemaking efforts and we are honored to be part of this collaborative initiative to help further their outreach.”
About the Stavros Niarchos Foundation
The Stavros Niarchos Foundation (www.SNF.org) is one of the world’s leading private international philanthropic organizations, making grants in the areas of arts and culture, education, health and sports, and social welfare. The Foundation funds organizations and projects that are expected to achieve a broad, lasting and positive impact for society at large, and exhibit strong leadership and sound management. The Foundation also seeks actively to support projects that facilitate the formation of public-private partnerships as an effective means for serving public welfare.
From 1996 until today, the Stavros Niarchos Foundation has made grant commitments of $1.59 billion / €1.23 billion, through 3,020 grants to nonprofit organizations in 111 nations around the world.
In 2012 and 2013, the Foundation announced two new initiatives of €100,000,000 ($130 million) each, in addition to its standard grant-making activities, to help address the ongoing crisis in Greece. While the initiative in 2012, which has been completed, aimed to provide immediate relief against the adverse effects of the deepening crisis, the one in 2013 aims to address the high percentage of youth unemployment, seeking to create better employment prospects and new opportunities for the young.
The Foundation’s largest single gift ($796 million / €566 million) is the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center (SNFCC), in Athens, which is expected to be completed in 2016. The project, designed by Renzo Piano, includes the new facilities of the National Library of Greece, and of the Greek National Opera, as well as the Stavros Niarchos Park. The SNFCC is a testament and a commitment to the country’s future. It is also an engine of short- to mid-term economic stimulus.