FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact:

Meg Matthews

PR Manager,

mmatthews@littlerock.gov,

501-371-4421

City of Little Rock’s “The Creative Corridor” Project

Receives a 2014 ArtPlace America Grant

Little Rock, June 25, 2014

ArtPlace America announced today that the City of Little Rock has been awarded a $345,000 grant to enhance its creative placemaking project on Main Street Creative Corridor – a four block area of Main Street where arts organizations are relocating.  Little Rock is one of only 55 of 1,300 communities selected to receive 2014 funding. 

In Little Rock the money will be used in a four block area of the Creative Corridor to enhance streetscapes, signage, artwork and an opening celebration. 

“We are delighted to share this exciting news with our community. While we know first-hand that deploying the arts can transform communities, having our work recognized by a generous grant from ArtPlace further supports and validates our efforts to use the arts to revitalize our city,”  said Mayor Mark Stodola.

“Investing in and supporting the arts have a profound impact on the social, physical, and economic futures of communities,” said ArtPlace Executive Director Jamie L. Bennett. “Projects like these demonstrate how imaginative and committed people are when it comes to enhancing their communities with creative interventions and thoughtful practices.”

About ArtPlace America

ArtPlace America (ArtPlace) advances the field of creative placemaking, in which art and culture plays an explicit and central role in shaping communities’ social, physical, and economic futures.  To date, ArtPlace has awarded $56.8 million through 189 grants to projects serving 122 communities across 42 states and the District of Columbia.

ArtPlace is a collaboration among the Barr Foundation, Bloomberg Philanthropies, The Ford Foundation, The James Irvine Foundation, The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, The Kresge Foundation, The McKnight Foundation, The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, The William Penn Foundation, The Rockefeller Foundation, Rasmuson Foundation, The Surdna Foundation, and two anonymous donors.

ArtPlace seeks advice and counsel from its close working relationships with the following federal agencies: the National Endowment for the Arts, the US Departments of Housing and Urban Development, Health and Human Services, Agriculture, Education, and Transportation, along with leadership from the White House Office of Management and Budget and the Domestic Policy Council.

ArtPlace has additional partnership from six major financial institutions: Bank of America, Citi, Deutsche Bank, Chase, MetLife and Morgan Stanley.

For additional information about ArtPlace contact: Bow Bridge Communications, LLC,

New York City, Libby Mark, Managing Principal, 917- 968-5567, info@bow-bridge.com

or visit www.artplaceamerica.org.

Little Rock Creative Corridor schematic designs for Main Street are on the City’s website: http://www.littlerock.gov/!userfiles/editor/docs/The%20Creative%20Corridor_Final%20Report.pdf.

For further information on this project contact the City of Little Rock’s Interim Assistant City Manager Caran Curry, ccurry@littlerock.gov, 501-371-4510.

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Meg Matthews

Public Relations Manager

mmatthews@littlerock.gov

(501) 371-4421 (Desk)

(501) 804-4822(Cell)

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