NEA Our Town, FY2020 | 2019NEA01OT

Opportunity Information: Apply for 2019NEA01OT

NEA Our Town (FY2020) is a discretionary grant program from the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) that funds creative placemaking projects. The core idea is to support place-based work where arts, culture, and design are not treated as add-ons, but as practical tools used alongside community development efforts. Projects are expected to strengthen communities by advancing local outcomes that are economic (such as business activity, jobs, tourism, or revitalized commercial corridors), physical (such as the design and use of public spaces, streetscapes, or cultural districts), and/or social (such as community connection, identity, belonging, safety, or civic participation). The program emphasizes projects that can lead to longer-term, systemic shifts so that arts and design strategies remain integrated in local planning and development after the grant ends.

A defining requirement of Our Town is the partnership structure. Every application must be submitted by a partnership between a local government entity and a nonprofit organization, and one of the two partners must be a cultural organization. While the lead applicant can be either the government or the nonprofit, the expectation is that the partnership is real and active, with shared planning and implementation. The NEA also encourages teams to bring in additional partners from other sectors to make the work more durable and more relevant to community goals. Examples of encouraged sectors include agriculture and food, economic development, education and youth, environment and energy, health, housing, public safety, transportation, and workforce development. In practice, the strongest projects usually show how these cross-sector relationships will help the arts-driven strategy become part of how the community routinely tackles challenges and opportunities.

Funding is provided as matching grants ranging from $25,000 to $200,000, with a required minimum cost share/match equal to the NEA request. In other words, applicants must commit at least one dollar of non-federal match for every dollar requested from the NEA. The award ceiling is $200,000. Funded project activity supported by the NEA may begin on July 1, 2020, or any time after that date, and the program allows a grant period of up to two years, giving applicants flexibility to plan, design, build partnerships, and deliver programming or engagement over a realistic timeline.

The FY2020 cycle highlighted the 10-year anniversary of the Our Town program, and the NEA signaled a desire for projects that reflect a new and catalytic way of working. That means proposals are expected to demonstrate more than a one-time event or isolated arts activity; they should show potential for sustained support and recognition of arts, design, and culture as essential components across every phase of community development, from planning and engagement through implementation and long-term stewardship.

In terms of applicant eligibility, the program is open to a wide range of government and nonprofit entities, reflecting the required government-nonprofit partnership model. Eligible applicants include state, county, and city or township governments; special district governments; independent school districts; federally recognized tribal governments; public and state-controlled institutions of higher education; private institutions of higher education; and nonprofits with 501(c)(3) status (other than institutions of higher education). The CFDA number associated with this opportunity is 45.024. The funding opportunity number is 2019NEA01OT, and the original application closing date listed for this cycle was August 8, 2019.

The program is also structured to allow multiple avenues for organizations that are active with NEA funding. An organization may submit up to two applications as a lead applicant to Our Town in this cycle. Organizations can also participate as partners on as many Our Town applications as they like, which makes it possible for a single nonprofit or public agency to support several community efforts without being limited to only one collaboration. Applicants may also apply to other NEA opportunities, such as Art Works and Challenge America, as long as each request is for a distinctly different project or a distinctly different phase of a project. Finally, the program explicitly notes that prior unsuccessful applicants are welcome to apply again; not being recommended for funding in the past does not prevent future submissions.

Overall, NEA Our Town FY2020 is best understood as a competitive, partnership-driven investment in creative placemaking, aimed at helping communities use arts and design to produce measurable community development outcomes and to build lasting local systems that keep cultural strategies embedded in ongoing planning and redevelopment work.

• The National Endowment for the Arts in the arts sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "NEA Our Town, FY2020" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 45.024.
• This funding opportunity was created on 2019-05-22.
• Applicants must submit their applications by 2019-08-08. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• Each selected applicant is eligible to receive up to $200,000.00 in funding.
• Eligible applicants include: State governments, County governments, City or township governments, Special district governments, Independent school districts, Public and State controlled institutions of higher education, Native American tribal governments (Federally recognized), Nonprofits having a 501 (c) (3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education, Private institutions of higher education.

Apply for 2019NEA01OT

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