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New Grant Opportunity for Creative Placemaking in Tennessee

How can your community enhance its unique assets to strengthen economic vitality, livability and growth? How can your community leverage its arts and culture resources to help address key opportunities and challenges?

The Tennessee Arts Commission has designed a Creative Placemaking Grants Competition to help build stronger communities through the arts. It specifically focuses on the use of arts or cultural assets to enhance the distinctive character of local Tennessee places for positive economic and community outcomes.

“The Commission believes that creativity is a catalyst for innovation, entrepreneurship and invention,” said Patsy White Camp, Chair of the Tennessee Arts Commission.

Creative placemaking provides the opportunity to animate public and private spaces, rejuvenate structures and streetscapes and improve local business visibility and public safety. It brings diverse people together to build shared understanding of culture and community. This grants competition offers opportunities for applicants to build on the distinctiveness of place.

“Arts and culture can be used by communities to encourage economic growth, quality of life, tourism or address barriers to community development,” said Anne B. Pope, Executive Director of the Tennessee Arts Commission. “Partnerships among public, private, nonprofit and community sectors working together can strategically shape the physical and social character of Tennessee’s neighborhoods, towns, cities or regions through the arts.”

The Commission expects to provide five to ten awards ranging from $5,000 to $8,000 for projects that occur in one place. Applications that involve partnerships of two or more towns, cities and/or counties can request up to $10,000. At least two awards will be made to eligible rural applicants. A total of $50,000 in grants will be awarded for FY2016.

Eligible projects could include:

  • Arts used as a catalyst to revitalize downtowns or neighborhoods
  • Development of an arts or cultural business incubator or  apprenticeship program
  • Development of an activity or project that encourages greater engagement with the arts in state parks, farmer’s markets, or other natural, unique ecological or recreational assets
  • Transformation of a perceived community liability into a community asset through the arts

Grant applications are now available online. The deadline for submissions is midnight (CT) July 17, 2015. For questions, contact Shannon Ford, Director of Community Arts Development, 615-532-9796 or Hal Partlow, Associate Director for Grants, 615-741-2093.