Arts News
Accessibility 101 for Arts and Culture Organizations
Accessibility 101 for Arts and Culture Organizations
Wednesday February 7, 2024
12:00 - 1:00 PM
Mark your calendars for this informative and interactive webinar, cohosted by the Minnesota State Arts Board and the National Endowment for the Arts Office of Accessibility.
This one-hour webinar is designed to help Minnesotan arts and cultural workers answer the question, "where do I start?" when creating inclusive, accessible spaces and programs for people with disabilities.
Attendees can expect to leave with a foundational understanding of
Requirements for accessibility when your organization receives a grant from the Arts Board or National Endowment for the Arts.
The importance of completing a self-evaluation or ADA checklist, and how to do it.
The many ways of providing inclusive and equitable access, beyond just physical / architectural.
The importance of appointing an access coordinator in your organization, and what they do.
This webinar is free, but registration is required.
NEA and Arts Midwest offer grants to theater companies for young audiences
NEA and Arts Midwest Offer Theater Arts Opportunity for Young Audiences
Shakespeare in American Communities Opportunity
About Shakespeare in American Communities
Shakespeare in American Communities is a theater program of the National Endowment for the Arts in partnership with Arts Midwest. Through grants to theater companies, this program supports productions and educational activities for young audiences throughout the United States. Applicants can choose from two paths: Schools or Juvenile Justice. Grants range from $15,000 to $25,000 each.
What: Shakespeare in American Communities is a project-based, matching grant that helps theater companies and organizations bring Shakespeare and works inspired by Shakespeare to students.
When: The mandatory Intent to Apply is due January 25, with final applications due February 8, 2024, and funded projects must occur between August 2024 – July 2025.
Where: Nonprofit theater companies and organizations located across the United States and the Native nations that share this geography can apply.
Who: The schools program is available to theater companies producing a play that is a work written or inspired by Shakespeare, an adaption of Shakespeare’s text, or a production that incorporates scenes, monologues, and/or sonnets by Shakespeare, with related educational activities in partnership with schools. The Juvenile Justice program is available to nonprofit organizations providing Shakespeare educational activities in partnership with the Juvenile Justice System.
Ready to Apply?
Learn more about Shakespeare in American Communities, review eligibility requirements, and read the guidelines on Arts Midwest website.
Arts Midwest and NEA Big Read “Where We Live” Accepting Applications
Arts Midwest and the National Endowment for the Arts Accepting Applications for the NEA Big Read
About the NEA Big Read
An initiative of the National Endowment for the Arts in partnership with Arts Midwest, the NEA Big Read supports community reading programs designed around a single NEA Big Read book. The goal of this program is to inspire meaningful conversations, celebrate local creativity, elevate a wide variety of voices and perspectives, and build stronger connections in each community. Grants range from $5,000 to $20,000 each.
What: The NEA Big Read is a reading program that brings communities together around the central theme, "Where We Live," using one of 50 available NEA Big Read Books as inspiration.
When: The mandatory Intent to Apply is due January 10, with final applications due January 24, 2024 , and funded projects must occur between September 2024 and June 2025.
Where: Nonprofit organizations and public libraries located across the United States and the Native nations that share this geography can apply.
Who: Arts organizations, universities, libraries, service organizations, museums, school districts, and tribal governments are all encouraged to apply.
Ready to Apply?
Learn more about the NEA Big Read review eligibility requirements, and read the guidelines on Arts Midwest website.
Request for Applications for the Citizens’ Institute on Rural Design
National Endowment for the Arts
Citizens' Institute on Rural Design
The National Endowment for the Arts has opened a Request for Applications for the Citizens' Institute on Rural Design.
The Citizens' Institute on Rural Design (CIRD) is a program of the NEA in partnership with the Housing Assistance Council and design partner, To Be Done Studio. Communities selected to participate will receive at least four Local Design Workshops that address the community's specific rural design challenge, and a Design Learning Cohort program that will invite approximately twenty rural communities to engage in peer learning and expert led sessions online.
All rural communities with populations of 50,000 or less are eligible to apply for the CIRD opportunities. The NEA welcomes applications from nonprofits, tribal or municipal governments, regional planning organizations, arts organizations, and other community partners. The NEA will hold open office hours on April 11 from 12:00 - 5:00 p.m. Eastern Time (Zoom link here) to assist applicants.
The city of Spring Grove, MN (population 1,200) recently participated in CIRD's 2021-2022 cycle. Read more about Spring Grove's Local Design Workshop with CIRD (link here) and the resulting plan to create a one-room schoolhouse for the 21st century (link here).
Will yours be the next Minnesota community to participate?
The Request for Applications contains further details about the program goals, eligibility, benefits, expectations, and a preview of all the application questions.
The deadline to apply is April 21, 2023. Apply now!
Click here to learn how to apply