CFDA No. 45.024
2012NEAOT

Application Deadline: You are required to submit your application electronically through Grants.gov, the federal government's online application system. The Grants.gov system must receive your validated and accepted application no later than 11:59 p.m., Eastern Time, on March 1, 2012. We strongly recommend that you submit at least 10 days in advance of the deadline to give yourself ample time to resolve any problems that you might encounter. The Arts Endowment will not accept late applications.

Grant Program Description

Art works to improve the lives of America's citizens in many ways. Communities across our nation are engaging design and leveraging the arts to create livable, sustainable neighborhoods with enhanced quality of life, increased creative activity, distinct identities, a sense of place, and vibrant local economies that capitalize on existing local assets. The NEA defines these efforts as Creative Placemaking:

"In creative placemaking, partners from public, private, nonprofit, and community sectors strategically shape the physical and social character of a neighborhood, town, tribe, city, or region around arts and cultural activities. Creative placemaking animates public and private spaces, rejuvenates structures and streetscapes, improves local business viability and public safety, and brings diverse people together to celebrate, inspire, and be inspired."

Ann Markusen, Markusen Economic Research Services
Anne Gadwa, Metris Arts Consulting
From Creative Placemaking

Through Our Town, subject to the availability of funding, the National Endowment for the Arts will provide a limited number of grants, ranging from $25,000 to $150,000, for creative placemaking projects that contribute toward the livability of communities and help transform them into lively, beautiful, and sustainable places with the arts at their core. Our Town will invest in creative and innovative projects in which communities, together with their arts and design organizations and artists, seek to:

• Improve their quality of life.
• Encourage creative activity.
• Create community identity and a sense of place.
• Revitalize local economies.

Partnerships

A key to the success of creative placemaking involves the arts in partnership with a committed governmental leadership and the philanthropic sector. All Our Town applications must reflect a partnership that will provide leadership for the project. These partnerships must involve two primary partners: a nonprofit organization and a local government entity. One of the two primary partners must be a cultural (arts or design) organization.

Additional partners are encouraged and may include an appropriate variety of entities such as state level government agencies, foundations, arts organizations and artists, nonprofit organizations, design professionals and design centers, educational institutions, real estate developers, business leaders, and community organizations, as well as public and governmental entities.

Projects

Our Town projects should represent the distinct character and quality of their communities and must reflect:

• A systemic approach to civic development and a persuasive vision for enhanced community vibrancy.
• Clearly defined civic development goals and objectives that recognize and enhance the role that the arts and design play at the center of community life.
• An action plan aligned with the project vision and civic development goals.
• A funding plan that is appropriate, feasible, indicates strong community support, and includes a well-conceived sustainability strategy.

Funding under Our Town is not available for:

• Projects that do not involve the required partnership that will provide leadership for the project. Partnerships must involve at least two primary partners: a nonprofit organization and a local government entity. One of the two primary partners must be a cultural (arts or design) organization.
• Activities that are not tied directly to long-term civic development goals.
• Projects where the arts, design, or cultural activity are not core to the project's plan.
• Capacity building initiatives for artists that are not integral to a broader civic development strategy.
• Construction, purchase, or renovation of facilities. (Predevelopment, design fees, community planning, and installation of public art are eligible; however, no Arts Endowment or matching funds may be directed to the costs of physical construction or renovation or toward the purchase costs of facilities or land.)
• Subgranting or regranting, except for local arts agencies that are designated to operate on behalf of their local governments or are operating units of city or county government. (See more information on subgranting.)
• Financial awards to winners of competitions.
• Fund raising or financing activities.

Note: The Grants for Arts Projects guidelines provide additional information on what we do not fund; see "Administrative Requirements" for more information.

The Arts Endowment plans to support a variety of diverse projects, across the country in urban and rural communities of all sizes. Please review the list of grants on our website to see the types of projects that have been funded recently through Our Town and the related Mayors' Institute on City Design 25th Anniversary Initiative.

Projects may include planning, design, and arts engagement activities such as:

Planning

• Creative asset mapping.
• Cultural district planning.
• The development of master plans or community-wide strategies for public art.
• Support for creative entrepreneurship.
• Creative industry cluster/hub development.

Design

• Design of rehearsal, studio, or live/work spaces for artists.
• Design of cultural facilities – new construction or adaptive reuse.
• Design of public spaces, e.g., parks, plazas, streetscapes, landscapes, neighborhoods, districts, infrastructure, bridges.
• Design of wayfinding systems.
• Community engagement activities including charrettes, competitions, and community design workshops.

Arts Engagement

• Innovative programming that fosters interaction among community members, arts organizations, and artists, or activates existing cultural and community assets.
• Festivals and performances in spaces not normally used for such purposes.
• Public art that improves public spaces and strategically reflects or shapes the physical and social character of a community.

We understand that creative placemaking projects are often multi-year, large-scale initiatives. Please specify in your application which phase or phases of your project are included in your request for NEA funding. All phases of a project -- except for construction, purchase, or renovation of facilities as noted above -- are eligible for support. All costs included in your Project Budget must be expended within your period of support.

If relevant to your project, you will be required to provide information in accordance with the National Environmental Policy Act and/or the National Historic Preservation Act. See here for more information.

Intended Outcome

Through Our Town projects, the Arts Endowment intends to achieve the following outcome: Livability: American communities are strengthened through the arts.

The anticipated long-term results for Livability projects are measurable community benefits, such as growth in overall levels of social and civic engagement; arts- or design-focused changes in policies, laws, and/or regulations; job and/or revenue growth for the community; and changes in in-and-out migration patterns. You will be asked to address the anticipated results in your application. If you receive a grant, you will be asked to provide evidence of those results at the end of your project. Given the nature of Livability projects, benefits are likely to emerge over time and may not be fully measureable during the period of a grant. You will need to provide evidence of progress toward achieving improved livability as appropriate to the project. Before applying, please review the reporting requirements for Livability.

Beyond the reporting requirements for all grantees, selected Our Town grantees may be asked to assist in the collection of additional information that can help the NEA determine the degree to which agency objectives were achieved. For example, Our Town grantees may be asked to participate in surveys or interviews, and/or may be asked to assist in publicizing and promoting these data collection efforts. You may be contacted to provide evidence of project accomplishments including, but not limited to, work samples, community action plans, cultural asset studies, programs, reviews, relevant news clippings, and playbills. Please remember that you are required to maintain project documentation for three years following submission of your final report.

Award Information

Grant Amounts and Matching Funds

We anticipate awarding a limited number of grants, subject to the availability of funding.

You must request a grant amount at one of the following levels: $25,000, $50,000, $75,000, $100,000, or $150,000. We will award very few grants at the $150,000 level; these will be only for projects of significant scale and impact.

All grants require a nonfederal match of at least 1 to 1. These matching funds may be all cash or a combination of cash and in-kind contributions. You may include matching funds that are proposed but not yet committed at the time of the application deadline.

All costs included in your Project Budget must be expended within your period of support. Costs associated with other federal funds, whether direct or indirect (e.g., flow down through a state arts agency), can't be included in your Project Budget.

Period of Support

The Arts Endowment's support of a project may start on September 1, 2012, or any time thereafter. A grant period of up to two years is allowed.

No pre-award costs (income or expenses) are allowable in the Project Budget. Project costs that are incurred before the project start date will be removed from the Project Budget.

Applicant Eligibility

All applications must have partnerships that involve two primary partners: a nonprofit organization and a local governmental entity. One of the two primary partners must be a cultural (arts or design) organization. Additional partners are welcomed.

One of the two primary partners must act as the official applicant (lead applicant). This lead applicant must meet the eligibility requirements, submit the application, and assume full responsibility for the grant.

Eligible lead applicants are:

• Local governments, including counties, parishes, cities, towns, villages, or federally recognized tribal governments. Local arts agencies, local education agencies (school districts), and local government-run community colleges are eligible local governments. The following do not qualify as local governments: state level government agencies, state higher education institutions, regional governments, and quasi-government organizations (e.g., regional planning organizations, economic development authorities, business improvement districts).

• A public entity or a nonprofit tax-exempt 501(c)(3) organization with a documented three-year history of programming.

To be eligible, the lead applicant organization must:

• For an organization other than a local government, have a three-year history of programming prior to the application deadline.
• Meet the Arts Endowment's "Legal Requirements," including nonprofit, tax-exempt status, as detailed in the Grants for Arts Projects guidelines, at the time of application.
• Have submitted acceptable Final Report packages by the due date(s) for all Arts Endowment award(s) previously received.

Additional partners beyond the two primary partners are encouraged. These may include a variety of entities such as state level government agencies, foundations, arts organizations and artists, nonprofit organizations, design professionals and design centers, educational institutions, real estate developers, business leaders, and community organizations, as well as public and governmental entities. Federal agencies cannot be monetary partners.

The designated state and jurisdictional arts agencies (SAAs) and their regional arts organizations (RAOs) may serve as partners, but not primary partners, in Our Town projects. However, all grant funds must be passed on to the other partners. NEA funds can't support any SAA or RAO costs.

All applicants must have a DUNS number (www.dnb.com) and be registered with the Central Contractor Registration (CCR, www.ccr.gov) and maintain an active CCR registration until the application process is complete, and should a grant be made, throughout the life of the award. Finalize a new or renew an existing registration at least two weeks before the application deadline. This action should allow you time to resolve any issues that may arise. Failure to comply with these requirements may result in your inability to submit your application. Maintain documentation (with dates) of your efforts to register or renew at least two weeks before the deadline.

Application Restrictions

Each local government -- whether applying as the lead applicant or as the primary partner with a nonprofit organization -- is limited to one application. The local government must coordinate internally to ensure that only one application is submitted to the NEA, rather than multiple applications through its various offices. The submitted application must be identified as proposing the chosen project by a formal endorsement letter from the highest ranking official of the local government. If more than one application is submitted for a government, we will ask the highest ranking official to select one application to move forward.

Only one application per geographically represented area will be accepted. For example, if both a county and a city within that county apply, no project activities in the county's project can take place in the city's boundaries, unless they are partnering on the same grant.

Current Our Town grantees (FY 2011) and their officially named partners are not eligible to apply under these FY 2012 Our Town guidelines. They may apply to the Our Town category again in FY 2013.

Mayors' Institute on City Design 25th Anniversary Initiative grantees (FY 2010) may apply for Our Town, but must request support for a distinctly different project, or a distinctly different phase of the project, from that which was funded with the Mayors' Institute on City Design 25th Anniversary Initiative grant. All Mayors' Institute on City Design 25th Anniversary Initiative grant activities must be complete and your final report must be submitted by June 1, 2012, before a FY 2012 Our Town grant can be awarded.

Other NEA Funding Opportunities

You may apply to other Arts Endowment funding opportunities, including Grants for Arts Projects, in addition to Our Town. In each case, the request must be for a distinctly different project. If you have applied to the NEA in the past and were not recommended for funding, you may apply again to any funding opportunity, including Our Town.

How to Prepare and Submit an Application

You are required to submit your application through Grants.gov, the federal government's online application system. The Grants.gov system must receive your validated and accepted application no later than 11:59 p.m., Eastern Time, on March 1, 2012. We strongly recommend that you submit at least 10 days in advance of the deadline to give yourself ample time to resolve any problems that you might encounter.

See "How to Prepare and Submit an Application" for further instructions.

See the "Frequently Asked Questions" for answers to frequently asked questions about the application.

Application Review

Applications are reviewed on the basis of agency-wide criteria of artistic excellence and artistic merit.

The following are considered during the review of applications:

The merit of the project, which includes the following:

• Potential of the project to achieve results consistent with the NEA outcome for Livability: Strengthening communities through the arts. This includes the potential to:
  • Enhance the livability of the community and catalyze a persuasive vision for enhanced community vibrancy.
  • Support local artists, design professionals, and arts organizations by integrating design and the arts into the fabric of civic life.
  • Reflect or strengthen a unique community identity and sense of place, and capitalize on existing local assets.
• Quality of the proposed partnership, including the required partners, and engagement of the private and public sectors in support of the project.
• Appropriateness of the project to the partners' missions.
• Extent to which the project engages the public in planning for and participating in the project.
• Where appropriate, potential to reach underserved populations such as those whose opportunities to experience the arts are limited by geography, ethnicity, economics, or disability.
• Ability to carry out the project based on such factors as the:
  • Appropriateness of the budget, its feasibility, level of community support, and sustainability strategy.
  • Quality and clarity of the project goals and design.
  • Resources involved.
  • Qualifications of the project's personnel.
  • Readiness to meet requirements of the National Environmental Policy Act and/or the National Historic Preservation Act, where relevant.
  • Likelihood that the project will be completed within the proposed period of support.
• As appropriate, plans for documentation and evaluation of the project results.
• Appropriateness of the proposed performance measurements and their ability to provide evidence that the NEA Livability outcome was achieved.

The excellence of the project, which includes the:

• Quality of the artists, design professionals, arts organizations, works of art, or services that the project will involve, as appropriate for the community in which the project takes place.

What Happens to Your Application

All applications are reviewed by an advisory panel comprised of qualified peer experts representing a range of multidisciplinary art, design, and economic and community development fields. Panel recommendations are forwarded to the National Council on the Arts, which then makes recommendations to the Chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts. The Chairman reviews the Council's recommendations and makes the final decision on all grant awards. Pending the availability of funding, it is anticipated that applicants will be notified of award or rejection in July 2012.

Award Administration

Crediting Requirement

Grantees must clearly acknowledge support from the National Endowment for the Arts in their programs and related promotional material including publications and websites. Organizations that receive grants may be provided with specific requirements for acknowledgment of this initiative.

Administrative Requirements

Before submitting an application, organizations should review the Grants for Arts Projects guidelines and General Terms & Conditions for detailed information on legal requirements, financial reviews and audits, and other administrative matters that pertain to this announcement.

Contacts

If you have questions about how to complete your application, please contact the NEA staff at OT@arts.gov with your question or to set up a time to speak to staff. Due to the high volume of interest in Our Town, please allow 24 to 48 hours for NEA staff to return your e-mail or call.

If you have questions about CCR or Grants.gov:

• CCR Assistance Center: Call 1-866-606-8220, send a message through the website at www.ccr.gov, or see the information posted on the CCR website at Help.
• Grants.gov Contact Center: Call 1-800-518-4726, e-mail support@grants.gov, or consult the information posted on the Grants.gov website at Help. The Grants.gov Contact Center is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

Reporting Burden

The public reporting burden for this collection of information is estimated at an average of 32 hours per response including the time for reviewing instructions, searching existing data sources, gathering and maintaining the data needed, and completing and reviewing the collection of information. The Arts Endowment welcomes any suggestions that you might have on improving the guidelines and making them as easy to use as possible. Send comments regarding this burden estimate or any other aspect of this collection of information, including suggestions for reducing this burden, to: Office of Guidelines & Panel Operations, Room 620, National Endowment for the Arts, 1100 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20506-0001. Note: Applicants are not required to respond to the collection of information unless it displays a currently valid U.S. Office of Management and Budget (OMB) control number.

December 2011

OMB No. 3135-0112 Expires 11/30/2013

National Endowment for the Arts · an independent federal agency
1100 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20506

 Frequently Asked Questions

 Our Town Webinar Archive

 How to Prepare and Submit
     an Application