We’re off to the races.
This year is going by at the speed of light for us on the NCPF team!
In early March, ArtPlace received and began to process the almost 1,400 applications submitted to the National Creative Placemaking Fund this year.
Leila and I, along with an amazing network of 48 brilliant peer reviewers from communities across the country, got to learn about some incredible people and places all across the country through the stories, maps and videos that were shared with us.
Selecting just 80 projects to move forward from among these extraordinary proposals continues to be one of the biggest professional challenges of our careers. Over the course of the next two months, Leila and I, along with some of those peer reviewers, will travel to visit each of those 80 sites to better understand the people and places that are part of these projects. At the same time, each of these projects will prepare a more in-depth application, as we select the projects in which we will be able to invest this year.
It is worth stressing that there were many, many incredible projects that we were not able to advance to the next stage, and it is important to acknowledge all of the time and hard work that went into completing the initial applications. Hopefully, many of those will be able to move forward with having artists, arts organizations, and arts activities help to strengthen their communities, even though we are not able to financially support all of them this year.
Take some time to get to know more about our fantastic finalists and stay tuned for updates from the road in the weeks to come!