NEA will host an "Our Town: How to Apply" webinar on Wednesday, June 20, 2018 at 3:00 p.m. EST. To register click here.
Our Town is the National Endowment for the Arts’ creative placemaking grants program. These grants support projects that integrate arts, culture, and design activities into efforts that strengthen communities by advancing local economic, physical, and/or social outcomes. Successful Our Town projects ultimately lay the groundwork for systemic changes that sustain the integration of arts, culture, and design into strategies for strengthening communities. Our Town offers support for projects in two areas:
- Place-Based Projects. Through arts engagement, cultural planning, design, and/or artist/creative industry support, these projects contribute to improved quality of life in local communities. These projects require a partnership between a nonprofit organization and a local government entity, with one of the partners being a cultural organization. Matching grants range from $25,000 to $200,000, with a minimum cost share/match equal to the grant amount. Grant Program description can be found here: https://www.arts.gov/grants-organizations/our-town/place-based-projects-grant-program-description
- Knowledge Building Projects. These projects build and disseminate knowledge about how to leverage arts, culture, and design as mechanisms for strengthening communities. These grants are available to arts service or design service organizations, and/or other national or regional membership, policy, or university-based organizations. These projects require a partnership that will facilitate the knowledge sharing and/or exchange. Matching grants range from $25,000 to $100,000, with a minimum cost share/match equal to the grant amount. Grant Program description can be found here: https://www.arts.gov/grants-organizations/our-town/knowledge-building-projects-grant-program-description
Grants generally will range from $10,000 to $100,000. No grants will be made below $10,000. Grants of $100,000 or more will be made only in rare instances, and only for projects that we determine demonstrate exceptional national or regional significance and impact. In the past few years, well over half of the agency's grants have been for amounts less than $25,000.
Through Our Town projects, the National Endowment for the Arts intends to achieve the following objective: Strengthening Communities: Provide opportunities for the arts to be integrated into the fabric of community life.
Eligibility Information:
Place-Based Projects - Applicant Eligibility:
All applications require partnerships that involve at least two primary partners as defined by these guidelines: a nonprofit organization and a local governmental entity. One of the two primary partners must be a cultural (arts or design) organization. Additional partners are encouraged.
One of the two primary partners must act as the official applicant (lead applicant). This lead applicant must meet the eligibility requirements, submit the application, and assume full responsibility for the grant.
Eligible lead applicants are:
Nonprofit tax-exempt 501(c)(3) U.S. organizations with a documented three-year history of programming.
Local governments. For the purposes of these guidelines, local governments are defined as counties, parishes, cities, towns, villages, or federally recognized tribal governments. Local arts agencies or other departments, agencies, or entities within an eligible local government may submit the application on behalf of that local government. The following do not qualify as local governments: state level government agencies, other state-designated entities, state higher education institutions, regional governments and entities, quasi-government organizations, regional planning organizations, and business improvement districts.
For U.S. territories, if no local government exists, the territory government can serve as the local government.
To be eligible, the lead applicant organization must:
Meet the National Endowment for the Arts "Legal Requirements," including nonprofit, tax-exempt status, at the time of application.
Have submitted acceptable Final Report packages by the due date(s) for all National Endowment for the Arts award(s) previously received.
Have a commitment to the project from the local government, as demonstrated by the required formal statement of support for the project from the highest ranking official of the local government participating in the project.
Additional partners are encouraged and may include an appropriate variety of entities such as arts organizations and artists, design professionals and design centers, state level government agencies, foundations, nonprofit organizations, educational institutions, real estate developers, business leaders, community organizations, council of governments, rural planning organizations, transportation agencies, special districts, educational organizations, as well as public and governmental entities. Federal agencies cannot be monetary partners.
The designated state and jurisdictional arts agencies (SAAs) and their regional arts organizations (RAOs) may serve as partners, but not primary partners, in projects. National Endowment for the Arts funds can't support any SAA or RAO costs. There is an exception for U.S. territories. The territory's SAA may serve as the local government primary partner. However, all grant funds must be passed on to the other partners
Knowledge Building Projects - Applicant Eligibility:
Organizations that may apply include:
Arts and design organizations that provide services to the field.
National and regional organizations or university-based organizations that provide training or assistance to those doing local community development work. This may include professionals that work in local communities across a variety of sectors (such as arts and culture, agriculture and food, economic development, education and youth, environment and energy, health, housing, public safety, transportation, and workforce development) who wish to engage in creative placemaking activities.
An art-based organization must have a community development knowledge consultant/organization/partner identified at the time of application, or a community development membership organization must have an arts-based knowledge consultant/organization/partner.
To be eligible, the applicant organization must:
Meet the Arts Endowment's "Legal Requirements" including nonprofit, tax-exempt status at the time of application.
Have a three-year history of programming prior to the application deadline.
Have submitted acceptable Final Report packages by the due date(s) for all Arts Endowment awards(s) previously received.
Additional partners are encouraged and may include an appropriate variety of entities such as colleges and universities, or individuals.
The designated state and jurisdictional arts agencies (SAAs) and their regional arts organizations (RAOs) may serve as partners in Our Town projects. NEA funds can’t support any SAA or RAO costs.
Grant Amounts, Cost Share, and Matching Funds:
NEA anticipates awarding a limited number of grants, subject to the availability of funding. You must request a grant amount at one of the following levels: $25,000, $50,000, $75,000, $100,000, $150,000, or $200,000. We will award very few grants at the $200,000 level; these will be only for projects of significant scale and impact. Grants cannot exceed 50% of the total cost of the project. All grants require a nonfederal match of at least 1 to 1. These matching funds may be all cash or a combination of cash and in-kind contributions. You may include in your Project Budget matching funds that are proposed but not yet committed at the time of the application deadline.
NEA reserves the right to limit support of a project to a particular phase(s) or cost(s). All costs included in your Project Budget must be expended during your period of performance. Costs associated with other federal funds, whether direct or indirect (e.g., flow down through a state arts agency), can't be included in your Project Budget. Costs incurred before the earliest project start date of July 1, 2019, can't be included in your budget or match.
Application Limits:
An organization may submit as a lead applicant two applications to Our Town
Interested applicants should send the following documents in sequence in one PDF no later than 4:00 p.m. on the internal submission deadline:
- Principal Investigator’s (PI's) names and departmental affiliation
- Co-PI's names and departmental affiliation(s)
- A list of possible participating organizations (if applicable)
- Department Head approval/agreement to match funds
- 2-page current Bio-sketch for all PIs and Co-PIs.
Project Description for Place-Based Projects (no more than two pages) and identify:
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The artistic excellence of the project, which includes the following:
- Quality of the artists, arts or design professionals, arts organizations, works of art, or services that the project will involve, as appropriate for the community in which the project takes place.Artistic excellence is evaluated based on the material and work samples submitted with the application. This includes a description of the process and criteria for the selection of artists, design professionals, arts organizations, works of art, or services to ensure artistic excellence; and work samples of selected or proposed artists, design professionals, arts organizations, works of art, or services that demonstrate artistic excellence. See "Prepare Application Material (PDF)" for the material and work samples that are required to ensure and demonstrate artistic excellence.
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The artistic merit of the project, which includes the following:
- Potential to advance local economic, physical, and social outcomes by:
- Bringing new attention to or elevating key community assets and issues, voices of residents, local history, or cultural infrastructure,
- Injecting new or additional energy, resources, activity, people, or enthusiasm into a place, community issue, or local economy,
- Envisioning new possibilities for a community or place - a new future, a new way of overcoming a challenge, or approaching problem-solving, or
- Connecting communities, people, places, and economic opportunity via physical spaces or new relationships.
Project Description for Knowledge Building Projects (no more than two pages) and identify:
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The artistic excellence of the project, which includes:
- Quality of the arts and non-arts consultants and organizations (such as agriculture and food, economic development, education and youth, environment and energy, health, housing, public safety, transportation, and workforce development) that the project will involve. This includes any information provided which shows the depth of expertise and experience of arts and non-arts consultants present in the bios and work samples.
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The artistic merit of the project, which includes the potential to:
- Potential to incorporate a systemic approach to building knowledge about creative placemaking for the organization and broader sectors.
- Potential to expand the capacity of artists and arts organizations to work more effectively with community development practitioners.
- Potential to expand the knowledge base in arts and non-arts industry associations on equitable community development which creates opportunities for all.
- Strength of the proposed partnership, including the required partners.
- Involvement of the organization's membership, as appropriate.
- Impact and reach of the project.
- Quality of the systems for the management of new ideas, documentation, the potential for learning, and sharing of capacity building.
- Effectiveness of the delivery of capacity building
- Where appropriate, potential to reach underserved populations such as those whose opportunities to experience the arts are limited.
- Ability to carry out the project based on such factors as the appropriateness of the budget, the quality and clarity of the project goals and design, the resources involved, and the qualifications of the project’s personnel.
- Appropriateness of the project to the organization's mission.
- Appropriateness of the proposed performance measurements, including, as appropriate, plans for documentation and evaluation of the overall project results.
Formatting Guidelines and Page Limit:
- Font/size: Times New Roman (12 pt.)
- Document margins: 1.0” (top, bottom, left and right)
- Standard paper size (8 ½” x 11)
Questions concerning the limited submissions process may be submitted to limitedsubs@psu.edu.