Roanoke, Virginia – The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) has sanctioned a $75,000 Our Town grant to the City of Roanoke, a move that recognizes the city’s commitment to cultivating local arts and community bonding. Alongside this, the city will contribute a matching amount of $75,000, raising the total funds to $150,000 for the project dubbed “Arts Connect Neighborhoods.”
This initiative, conceived and nurtured through the synergy between the Roanoke Arts Commission and the Roanoke Cultural Endowment, aims to fortify community spirit via the arts and stimulate resident engagement.
“The project is the next step in our ongoing efforts demonstrating the many ways the arts improve our lives and our city,” expressed Meighan L. Sharp, Chair of the Roanoke Arts Commission. In a time when the city is still recovering from the pandemic’s impact, this initiative offers a fresh way to revitalize community participation and breed unity.
Arts Connect Neighborhoods will create a platform for both individual artists and consolidated arts organizations to offer arts-oriented services and cultivate profound relationships within Roanoke neighborhoods.
David Wine, Chair of the Roanoke Cultural Endowment, attests to the project’s uniqueness: “It’s not something we’ve seen somewhere else. We’re creating a model here that builds from one of our City’s great assets—a robust, collaborative, and innovative arts community.”
The project aims to sponsor artists and arts organizations to design interactive and potentially educational activities that would foster camaraderie among neighbors and enhance their understanding of their city.
“We expect to see a broad spectrum of arts activity happening all across the city,” anticipated Wine. “From performances and concerts to workshops, tours and creative classes, these activities will strengthen ties between neighbors and connect neighborhoods to the arts resources around them.”
The grant given to Roanoke is part of a broader pool of 57 Our Town grants totaling $4,175,000, granted by NEA. The purpose of these grants is to encourage creative placemaking, supporting endeavors that incorporate arts, culture, and design activities into initiatives aimed at enhancing community engagement, promoting equity, nurturing creativity, and setting the stage for enduring systemic change.
NEA Chair Maria Rosario Jackson, PhD, stated, “These organizations play an important role in advancing the creative vitality of our nation and helping to ensure that all people can benefit from arts, culture, and design.”
In light of these developments, an Arts Connect Neighborhoods catalog is set to be developed by the arts community in the fall of 2023, providing free neighborhood events for the following year.
