NEA Announces Second Round of Grants for FY 2022
From Liz Auclair, National Endowment for Arts –
18 Tennessee organizations are receiving a total of $1,409,900.
Washington, DC — For its second major grant announcement of fiscal year 2022, the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) is announcing more than $91 million in recommended grants to organizations in all 50 states and U.S. jurisdictions. Grants are in three NEA funding categories: Grants for Arts Projects, Our Town, and State and Regional Partnerships.
“The National Endowment for the Arts is proud to support arts and cultural organizations throughout the nation with these grants, providing opportunities for all of us to live artful lives,” said NEA Chair Maria Rosario Jackson, PhD. “The arts contribute to our individual well-being, the well-being of our communities, and to our local economies. The arts are also crucial to helping us make sense of our circumstances from different perspectives as we emerge from the pandemic and plan for a shared new normal informed by our examined experience.”
The Tennessee grant recipients are:
- Girls Write Nashville | $15,000 Brentwood, TN
Grants for Arts Projects – Music - ArtsBuild | $25,000 Chattanooga, TN
Grants for Arts Projects – Local Arts Agencies - City of Germantown, Tennessee | $50,000 Germantown, TN
Our Town – Design - Boys & Girls Clubs of the Tennessee Valley | $10,000 Knoxville, TN
Grants for Arts Projects – Arts Education - County of Knox, Tennessee | $10,000 Knoxville, TN
Grants for Arts Projects – Literary Arts - Knoxville Museum of Art (aka KMA) | $45,000 Knoxville, TN
Grants for Arts Projects – Museums - City of Memphis, Tennessee (aka Memphis Housing and Community
Development) | $75,000 Memphis, TN
Our Town – Design - New Ballet Ensemble (aka New Ballet or NBE) | $30,000 Memphis, TN
Grants for Arts Projects – Arts Education - Country Music Foundation, Inc. (aka Country Music Hall of Fame and
Museum) | $25,000 Nashville, TN
Grants for Arts Projects – Arts Education - Frist Art Museum | $45,000 Nashville, TN
Grants for Arts Projects – Museums - Humanities Tennessee | $15,000 Nashville, TN
Grants for Arts Projects – Literary Arts - Nashville Film Festival | $20,000 Nashville, TN
Grants for Arts Projects – Media Arts - Nashville Opera Association | $30,000 Nashville, TN
Grants for Arts Projects – Opera - Nashville Repertory Theatre, Inc. | $10,000 Nashville, TN
Grants for Arts Projects – Theater - Nashville Shakespeare Festival | $15,000 Nashville, TN
Grants for Arts Projects – Theater - Nashville Symphony Association (aka Nashville Symphony) | $35,000 Nashville, TN
Grants for Arts Projects – Music - New Dialect | $20,000 Nashville, TN
Grants for Arts Projects – Dance - Tennessee Arts Commission | $934,900 Nashville, TN
Partnerships (State & Regional) – State & Regional
Grants for Arts Projects
Grants for Arts Projects (GAP) is the principal grant category of the National Endowment for the Arts. Matching grants range from $10,000 to $100,000, and are recommended for organizations in all 50 states, U.S. Virgin Islands, and Washington, DC. In July 2021, the agency received 1,806 eligible GAP applications. Approved for funding are 1,125 projects totaling more than $26.6 million.
Through this grant category, the NEA supports artistically excellent projects that celebrate our creativity and cultural heritage, invite mutual respect for differing beliefs and values, and enrich humanity. Grants range across 13 artistic disciplines and fields.
The next deadline for organizations interested in applying for Grants for Arts Projects is July 7, 2022; visit arts.gov for more information.
Our Town
Our Town is the NEA’s creative placemaking grants program. Through Our Town, the NEA supports projects that integrate arts, culture, and design activities into efforts that strengthen communities. Projects advance local economic, physical, and/or social outcomes in communities, ultimately laying the groundwork for systems change and centering equity. Matching grants in this category range from $25,000 to $150,000 and support projects that will take place in 29 states. The agency received 215 eligible applications and approved for funding are 51 recommended projects totaling $3,900,000.
Key to Our Town projects are partnerships between a nonprofit organization and a local government entity, with one of the partners being a cultural organization.
The next deadline for organizations interested in applying for Our Town is August 4, 2022; visit arts.gov for more information.
More information about all of the National Endowment for the Arts’ grant opportunities is available at arts.gov/grants. This section also includes resources for first-time and returning applicants as well as information on how to volunteer to be an NEA panelist.
State and Regional Partnerships
Each year, 40 percent of the agency’s grantmaking funds are designated for state arts agencies, regional arts organizations, and national service organizations that support the work of the states and regions. A total of $60.58 million is recommended for these partners in FY 2022, with $49 million of that total designated for SAAs. Each SAA and RAO matches its NEA funding on at least a 1:1 basis.
The Partnership Agreements for the state arts agencies extend the NEA’s reach to even more communities. Using state funds in combination with NEA Partnership funding, state arts agencies support approximately 23,000 projects and organizations in over 5,500 communities.
About the National Endowment for the Arts
Established by Congress in 1965, the National Endowment for the Arts is an independent federal agency that is the largest funder of the arts and arts education in communities nationwide and a catalyst of public and private support for the arts. By advancing equitable opportunities for arts participation and practice, the NEA fosters and sustains an environment in which the arts benefit everyone in the United States. Visit arts.gov to learn more.
