National Endowment for the Arts Acting Chairman Mary Ann Carter has approved more than $27 million in grants as part of the NEA’s first major funding announcement for fiscal year 2019. Included in this announcement is an Art Works grant of $10,000 to the Atlanta BeltLine Partnership (ABP) for Art on the Atlanta BeltLine. Art Works is the Arts Endowment’s principal grantmaking program. The agency received 1,605 Art Works applications for this round of grantmaking, and will award 972 grants in this category.
“The arts enhance our communities and our lives, and we look forward to seeing these projects take place throughout the country, giving Americans opportunities to learn, to create, to heal, and to celebrate,” said Mary Anne Carter, acting chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts.
“The Atlanta BeltLine Partnership appreciates the generous support of the National Endowment for the Arts,” said ABP Executive Director Rob Brawner. “Art on the Atlanta BeltLine provides access to public art for everyone and is representative of the broad public/private partnerships that are necessary to bring the Atlanta BeltLine vision to life. We’d also like to thank Atlanta BeltLine, Inc. (ABI) for their leadership and vision in creating what has become the south’s largest temporary public art exhibition and one of Atlanta’s most popular public art events.”
“Arts funding is vital to a city’s culture and promoting conversations with community,” said Clyde Higgs, ABI’s President and CEO. “Generous support from our partners at the NEA and ABP help boost Art on the Atlanta BeltLine as part of Atlanta’s thriving arts scene. We are very grateful for their continued support.”
Art on the Atlanta BeltLine is the largest outdoor temporary public art exhibition in the history of Atlanta and the largest in the South. It showcases the work of hundreds of visual artists, performers, musicians, lecturers, and art historians along the Atlanta BeltLine corridor. This spectacular exhibition provides opportunities to artists in every stage of their careers to display work for the nearly 2 million people who visit the Atlanta BeltLine every year. Recently, it has expanded to a year-round exhibition that includes BeltLine Walls (murals), BeltLine Flow (performance series), BeltLine Concert Series, “A City for All” sculpture exhibition, “BeltLine After Dark” festival, a lecture series, and special projects.
Art on the Atlanta BeltLine showcases how art strengthens and beautifies current and former industrial areas with seven miles of linear gallery space, making art free and accessible to all. Art on the Atlanta BeltLine touches almost 20 intown communities. Art on the Atlanta BeltLine is programmed by Atlanta BeltLine, Inc. and receives support from the Atlanta BeltLine Partnership and public and private donors. For more information, visit www.Art.BeltLine.org.
For more information on projects included in the NEA grant announcement, visit arts.gov/news.
Media Contacts:
Jess Hunt-Ralston, Director of Marketing and Communications, Atlanta BeltLine Partnership; (404) 446-4414; jess@atlblp.org
Keona Swindler, Communications & Media Relations Manager, Atlanta BeltLine, Inc.; (404) 477-3550; kswindler@atlbeltline.org
