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National Endowment for the Arts (NEA): Our Town - FY 2025

Agency: U.S. National Endowment for the Arts
CFDA: 45.024
Federal FON: 2024NEA01OT
Office: National Endowment for the Arts (NEA)
Multipart Grant: No
Next Due: 08/15/2024 (Multiple)
Solicitation Date: 04/23/2024
   
Match Required: Yes
Match Type: Cash/In-Kind
Actual Funds: Unspecified
Award Range: $25,000 (Min) / $150,000 (Max)
Summary:

The purpose of this program is to support creative placemaking projects that integrate arts, culture, and design into local efforts that strengthen communities over the long term. Projects supported through this program will engage a wide range of local stakeholders in efforts to advance local economic, physical, and/or social outcomes in communities.

Projects should focus on community-identified or -supported goals and may include collaborative strategies such as:

  • Planning activities such as artist/designer-facilitated community planning, cultural planning, cultural district planning, creative asset mapping, or public art planning, that incorporate artists and culture bearers as key project leads
  • Design processes including, design of artist spaces, design of cultural facilities, or public space design
  • Supporting the creative economy through creative business development or professional artist/designer development
  • Creating opportunities for community building and arts engagement through artist residencies, arts festivals, community co-creation of art, performances, and public art

Competitive projects will:

  • Clearly identify local characteristics of a community and aim to understand, address, and/or develop a response to a facet of life in that community
  • Demonstrate a specific role for the arts, culture, and design to strengthen the local community
  • Pilot new arts, culture, and design activities that are led by a diverse range of local partners
  • Establish new or deepen existing authentic, cross-sector partnerships that engage area residents, local governmental or quasi-governmental entities, and community-based nonprofit partners
  • Advance inclusive community engagement and community-desired outcomes for a place
  • Lay the groundwork for long-term systems change that sustains the integration of arts, culture, and design into strategies for strengthening communities over the long term
  • Demonstrate alignment with the funding agency's commitment to diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility

For FY 2025, the funding agency is particularly interested in arts, culture, or design projects that address health/well-being, transportation/infrastructure, or climate-related challenges within a community.

Funds may be used for:

  • Fees for artists, designers, and/or architects
  • Staff and/or consultant costs
  • Materials and supplies
  • Marketing/promotion/outreach
  • Access accommodation costs
  • Equipment costs
  • Production/technical costs
  • Stipends for culture bearers

An optional webinar and optional office hours are scheduled for this program. Refer to the Application section for additional information.

Last Updated: July 25, 2024

Eligibility Notes:

Eligible applicants are:

  • 501(c)(3) nonprofit organizations
  • Nonprofit institutions of higher education
  • Units of local government
  • Federally recognized tribal communities or tribes

Applications must be submitted by one organization and require at least one partner organization. The applicant/partner pair must include a nonprofit organization and a local government or quasi-government entity. If neither the nonprofit organization nor the local government entity have the requisite arts, culture, or design expertise necessary to carry out the project, a third partner with that arts, culture, or design expertise is required. Additional partners across all sectors are encouraged.

Applicants must meet the funding agency's legal requirements and must have completed a three-year history of programming prior to the application deadline.

For U.S. territories where no local government exists, the territory government may serve as the local government applicant or required partner.

Applicants may apply to other programs offered by the funding agency, including the Grants for Arts Projects program, known in eCivis Grants Network as US10090, and Challenge America program, known as US8103; however, each request must be for a distinctly different project or a distinctly different phase of a project. Applicants with other awards from the funding agency or pending applications with activities and/or project periods that will overlap with their proposed project must contact the program staff, using the information provided in the Contact section, for guidance to ensure that the projects are different or for a distinctly different phase of a project. Applicants that have applied to the funding agency in the past and were not recommended for funding may apply again to any funding opportunity, including this program.

Previous award recipients may apply for a distinctly different project or a distinctly different phase of the project from that which was previously funded. No award recipient may receive more than one award from the funding agency for the same activities during the same project period.

An organization may serve as the eligible applicant on up to two applications. A partnering organization may serve as a partner on as many applications as they like. Exceptions to the application limit are made only for parent organizations that have separately identifiable and independent components. A parent organization that comprises separately identifiable and independent components may submit an application for each such component. In addition, a parent organization may submit one application on its own behalf for a project that is different from any project submitted in an application by its independent component(s). An eligible independent component must be a unit that is both programmatically and administratively distinct from the parent organization.

Local schools, school districts, and K-12 education authorities are not eligible to apply; however, they may participate as project partners.

The following entities are not eligible to apply:

  • Entities applying through a fiscal sponsor/agent
  • State and jurisdictional arts agencies (SAAs)
  • Regional arts organizations (RAOs)
Eligible Applicants:
Local Government
Academic Institutions
Consortia
Native American Tribe
Non Profits
Schools/School Districts
Application Notes:

Mandatory part 1 applications must be received by 11:59 p.m. ET on August 1, 2024.

Part 1 applications must be submitted online at www.ecivis.com/grants.gov.

Part 1 applications must include the application for federal domestic assistance/short organizational form.

Part 2 applications will be available beginning at 9:00 a.m. ET on August 8, 2024, and must be received by 11:59 p.m. ET on August 15, 2024.

Part 2 applications must be submitted online at applicantportal.arts.gov.

Part 2 applications must include:

  • Organization information
  • Programmatic history
  • Project details
  • Project participants
  • Project locations
  • Project budget
  • Items to upload:
    • Letters of commitment (10 letters max)
    • Work samples
    • Documentation of quasi-government designation of the required partner (if applicable)
  • Organization and project data

Statements of support must be combined into a single .pdf document. The submission of three to four substantive work samples is highly recommended.

The following are required in order to submit an application:

  • Unique Entity Identifier (UEI) number
  • SAM (System for Award Management) registration

Applicants may obtain a UEI number and verify or renew SAM registration status at www.ecivis.com/sam.

An optional webinar will be held for this program as follows:

June 13, 2024
2:00 p.m. ET
Registration: arts.zoomgov.com

A recording of the webinar can be found online at www.youtube.com.

Optional office hours will be held for this program as follows:

June 25, 2024
1:00 p.m. ET
Registration: arts.zoomgov.com

July 10, 2024
3:00 p.m. ET
Registration: arts.zoomgov.com

July 23, 2024
Noon ET
Registration: arts.zoomgov.com

August 8, 2024
2:00 p.m. ET
Registration: arts.zoomgov.com

Applications will be evaluated according to the following criteria:

  • Artistic excellence
  • Artistic merit

If more than one application is submitted from an eligible applicant or within the same geographic area, the capacity of the applicant organization or geographic area to carry out and sustain multiple projects will be considered during the application evaluation process.

Refer to the NOFA and Guide files for additional application information.

Match Required: Yes
Match Type: Cash/In-Kind
Actual Funds: Unspecified
Award Range: $25,000 (Min) / $150,000 (Max)
Match Notes:

Applicants must provide at least 50 percent of the total project costs via nonfederal cash and/or in-kind contributions.

In general, it is preferable that applicants provide some cash match, and the funding agency will look very carefully at projects showing largely in-kind contributions.

Matching contributions may include funds that are proposed but not yet committed at the time of the application deadline.

Funds raised prior to the project may be used as a match; however, matching funds must be spent on eligible project activities during the proposed project period.

Costs that pertain strictly to preparing a site specifically for the art or design work, such as slabs or pedestals, landscaping that is necessary for the art work, and landscaping that is the art work may be used for the match.

Matching contributions may not include:

  • Costs associated with other federal funds, whether direct or indirect
  • Costs incurred prior to July 1, 2025
Funding Notes:

An unspecified amount of funding is available to support awards ranging from $25,000 to $150,000 through this program. The funding agency will issue very few awards at or above the $100,000 level; these awards will only be issued for projects of significant scale and impact.

Award notifications will be made in April 2025.

The project period may last up to two years and may begin no earlier than July 1, 2025.

Funds may not be used for:

  • Costs incurred prior to July 1, 2025
  • General operating
  • Support for a full season of programming
  • Direct grants to individuals
  • Direct grants to individual elementary or secondary schools, local education agencies, or school districts
  • Projects that replace arts instruction provided by an arts specialist
  • Literary publishing that does not focus on contemporary literature and/or writers
  • Projects for which no curatorial, juried, or editorial judgment has been applied to the selection of artists or art works
  • Social activities such as receptions, parties, galas, community dinners, picnics, and potlucks
  • Costs of entertainment, including amusement, diversion, and social activities any any associated costs

Refer to pages 13-15 of the NOFA file for additional information regarding unallowable costs.

Contacts:

Program Staff
OT@arts.gov

Agency Address
National Endowment for the Arts
400 7th Street, SW
Washington, D.C. 20506

Contact Notes:

Questions should be directed to the program staff.

Part 1 applications must be submitted online at www.ecivis.com/grants.gov.

Part 2 applications must be submitted online at applicantportal.arts.gov.

The agency address provided is for reference purposes only.

Files:
NOFA File: US10089_NOFA_FY2025.pdf (470.8 Kb)
Other Pre-Award File: US10089_Webinar_FY2025.pdf (65.0 Kb)
Other Pre-Award File: US10089_BudgetWorksheet_FY2025.xlsx (34.2 Kb)
Award File: US10089_Award_FY2025.pdf (2.6 Mb)
Other Pre-Award File: US10089_WebinarPresentation_FY2025.pdf (2.4 Mb)
Guide File: US10089_Guide_FY2025.pdf (520.0 Kb)
File Notes:

The NOFA file contains the full solicitation for this program. The Guide file contains revised, detailed application instructions. The Webinar file contains information regarding optional webinars and office hours scheduled for this program. The BudgetWorksheet file contains a budget worksheet that applicants may use to prepare their project budget in advance and should be used for reference purposes only. The WebinarPresentation file contains the slides of the pre-application webinar held for this program. The Award file contains information on previous award recipients.

July 25, 2024
Revised application instructions have been released and attached as the Guide file.

June 28, 2024
A recording of the webinar for this program has been released, and a link to the presentation is available in the Application section. Additionally, the slides of the webinar have been released and attached as the WebinarPresentation file. The Summary section has been updated accordingly.

Project: SoFA Creates & Connects (790.6 Kb)
Applicant: Office of Cultural Affairs
Summary:

The purpose of this program is to support creative place-making projects that contribute to the livability of communities and help make them lively, beautiful, and sustainable places with arts at their core. The City of San Jose Office of Cultural Affairs requested and received $200,000 to fund SoFA Creates & Connects, a partnership with Movimiento de Arte Y Cultura Latino Americano that aims to increase livability in San Jose's downtown district through innovative arts programming and community interaction. The City of San Jose provided matching funds of $400,000.

 
Grant Keywords
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Grant Categories
Arts & Culture
Community Development
Economic Development
Parks & Recreation