Announcing ArtsHERE Grantees in the M-AAA Region
By Sarah Mote
15 organizations in the M-AAA six-state region will be awarded more than $1.6 million in the National Endowment for the Arts Pilot Program
The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) is pleased to announce 112 organizations recommended for awards under ArtsHERE, including 15 organizations in the heartland. A new pilot program in partnership with South Arts and in collaboration with the other five U.S. Regional Arts Organizations, ArtsHERE is designed to expand access to arts participation across the nation.
These nonprofit organizations are recommended for non-matching grants of $65,000 to $130,000, totaling $12.356 million, to fund specific projects that will strengthen the organizations’ capacity to sustain meaningful community engagement and increase arts participation. Grant recipients will also take part in peer-learning and technical assistance opportunities, and the NEA will report on lessons learned from this initiative.
“An Artful Life for Everyone”
“The National Endowment for the Arts is thrilled to provide resources to a group of exceptional organizations through ArtsHERE, a program to help deepen meaningful and lasting arts engagement in underserved communities,” said Maria Rosario Jackson, PhD, chair of the National Endowment for the Arts. “Everyone should be able to live an artful life, and ArtsHERE is an important step in ensuring we are strengthening our nation’s arts ecosystem to make this a reality.”
Historically underserved groups and communities—those whose opportunities to experience the arts have been limited by factors such as geography, race or ethnicity, economics, or disability—frequently report lower rates of participation in various arts activities than other groups do. Managed by South Arts, the NEA announced the ArtsHERE pilot grant program in 2023 in recognition that engaging in the arts is essential to individual, social, civic, and economic well-being.
Recommended grant recipients are from all 50 states, DC, Guam, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. ArtsHERE aims to address disparities in arts participation through grants that help organizations better serve and reach their communities.
Meet the M-AAA ArtsHERE Grant Recipients
Ovations+ (Tricycle Theatre for Youth) Link Up concert with children in the audience. Tricycle Theatre for Youth has been recommended to receive a 2024 ArtsHERE grant. Photography courtesy of Tricycle Theatre for Youth
Ovations+, Bentonville, AR
Wyandot Nation of Kansas, McLouth, KS
Art as Mentorship, Kansas City, MO
Creative Reaction Lab, St. Louis, MO
Kimbilio, St. Louis, MO
Mattie Rhodes Center, Kansas City, MO
The Union for Contemporary Art, Omaha, NE
Art Maker, Pawhuska, OK
RACE Dance Collective, Oklahoma City, O
Art Spark Texas, Austin, TX
Arts Connect Houston, Houston, TX
Future Front Texas, Austin, TX
RSA of Dance & Performing Arts, Houston, TX
Teatro Dallas, Dallas, TX
The Welman Project hosts a beginners sewing class where attendees make aprons. The Welman Project has been recommended to receive a 2024 ArtsHERE grant. Photo courtesy of The Welman Project
The Welman Project, Fort Worth, TX
About the ArtsHERE Pilot Program
In addition to grant awards, ArtsHERE grant recipients will participate in quarterly peer learning workshops, monthly cohort sessions, and one-on-one meetings with technical assistance coaches and field experts. These meetings are designed for knowledge-sharing, learning, and capacity-building, to help reinforce the initiative’s opportunities for cross-sector engagement.
As a pilot program, ArtsHERE will be documented and evaluated by the NEA to better understand the project activities supported by this program and how grantees approached the work. These insights may inform the future of ArtsHERE and similar funding programs in the future.
More than 4,000 organizations applied for ArtsHERE funding in late 2023 and early 2024. Applications were reviewed by multiple review panels based on published review criteria, including the applicant’s organizational capacity and their capacity-building project, alignment with ArtsHERE’s commitment to equity, and engagement with historically underserved communities. The selected organizations will receive funding to support their projects, which will take place between October 2024 through June 2026.
ArtsHERE is also supported by The Wallace Foundation through matching funds to the Regional Arts Organizations in support of this program.
Read more about all the grant recipients and their projects on the NEA website.