Through its grant-making to thousands of nonprofits each year, the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) promotes opportunities for people in communities across America to experience the arts and exercise their creativity. In the second major grant announcement of fiscal year 2015, the NEA will make a $40,000 grant to Urban Gateways to support in-school multidisciplinary arts integration residencies for 1,400 students and 45 teachers in 10 Chicago elementary schools, with each student receiving a minimum of 20 sequential instructional hours on average over the school year.
The NEA will make 1,023 awards totaling $74.3 million nationwide in this funding round. For more information on projects included in the NEA grant announcement, visit arts.gov.
NEA Chairman Jane Chu said, “The NEA is committed to advancing learning, fueling creativity, and celebrating the arts in cities and towns across the United States. Funding these new projects, like the one from Urban Gateways, represents an investment in both local communities and our nation’s creative vitality.”
“A grant from the National Endowment for the Arts is a tremendous honor and a testament to the extraordinary work of Urban Gateways Teaching Artists and staff,” said Urban Gateways Executive Director Eric Delli Bovi. “This critical funding enables Urban Gateways to extend and deepen arts learning experiences so that a significant number of students can more fully realize their creative potential.”
Urban Gateways delivers high-quality, accessible arts experiences that advance students’ personal and academic growth. Professional artists engage Chicago’s youth in arts activities that build essential skills like creativity, collaboration, and innovation, and improve their self-esteem and confidence to encourage success throughout life.
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For more information on this NEA grant or Urban Gateways, please contact Brian Foster, Director of Marketing and Sales at Urban Gateways – (312) 445-2749 or bfoster@urbangateways.org.
