NEA Announces $3 Million in Grants for MICD25
(7-15-10) 21 grants totaling $3 million have been awarded through the National Endowment for the Arts Mayors’ Institute on City Design 25th Anniversary Initiative (MICD 25). The announcement was made by NEA chairman Rocco Landesman from the base of the former Bethlehem Steel Plant known as SteelStacks Campus.
Among the cities receiving the largest grants from the program are Hartford, CT and Rochester, NY as well as Chicago, Il and San Francisco, CA.
Each of the MICD25 projects takes a problem such as isolated neighborhoods or a neglected waterfront and uses the arts to solve that problem. The aesthetic and communal qualities of art make them excellent construction materials for transforming physical spaces. Although the arts are at the center of each of the projects, the grantees are extending beyond the arts world to collaborate with local entities such as chambers of commerce, downtown redevelopment councils, departments of transportation, urban planning offices, and park and recreation offices.