Extremely competitive national grant program will consider 70 projects
ArtPlace America announced that the Seattle Office of Arts & Culture’s (ARTS) development of permanent cultural space at King Street Station is one of 70 finalists for the 2017 National Creative Placemaking Fund (NCPF). ArtPlace selected these 70 proposals from 987 applications, making ARTS’ project one of just 7% of the projects across the country to make this cut.
King Street Station. Seattle, Washington.
ZGF Architects
© Benjamin Benschneider All rights Reserved.
ArtPlace’s National Creative Placemaking Fund is a highly competitive national program, receiving 987 applications this year. Investing money in communities across the country in which artists, arts organizations, and arts and culture activity help drive community development change across 10 sectors of community planning and development: agriculture and food; economic development; education and youth; environment and energy; health; housing; immigration; public safety; transportation; or workforce development.
“We are thrilled to be a finalist for ArtPlace America’s Creative Placemaking Fund,” says Randy Engstrom, director, Office of Arts & Culture. “King Street Station is a vital piece of our history and being a finalist is an acknowledgement of the important work the City is doing to not only preserve the station, but to create a unique cultural space that reflects our community.”
The third floor of King Street Station will be permanent cultural space providing public access to presentation and creative spaces, ARTS staff and resources, professional development and other services. It will be a vibrant arts center for collaboration, communication, connection and experimentation. This innovative plan utilizes an underused city resource to address issues of affordability and livability while preserving the unique creative economy that drives Seattle.
“The National Grants Program is actively building a portfolio that reflects the full breadth of our country’s arts and cultural sector, as well as the community planning and development field,” said ArtPlace’s Director of National Grantmaking F. Javier Torres. “Knowing that these projects, and the hundreds of others who applied, are using arts and culture strategies to make the communities across this country healthier and stronger is inspirational ”
“We believe that these projects, when added to our tremendously strong portfolio of demonstration projects, will inspire, equip and connect members of the arts and culture field, the community planning and development field and those who are working to make healthy and equitable communities creatively across the country,” said ArtPlace America Executive Director Jamie Bennett.
The complete list of the 2017 applicants for ArtPlace’s National Creative Placemaking Fund may be found here.
About ArtPlace America
ArtPlace America (ArtPlace) is a ten-year collaboration among 16 partner foundations, along with 8 federal agencies and 6 financial institutions, that works to position arts and culture as a core sector of comprehensive community planning and development in order to help strengthen the social, physical, and economic fabric of communities.
ArtPlace focuses its work on creative placemaking, projects in which art plays an intentional and integrated role in place-based community planning and development. This brings artists, arts organizations, and artistic activity into the suite of placemaking strategies pioneered by Jane Jacobs and her colleagues, who believed that community development must be locally informed, human-centric, and holistic.
