NEA Awards ValleyArts $50K Grant

The National Endowment for the Arts has awarded ValleyArts, of West Orange and Orange, a $50,000 grant to support its yearlong initiative.

The arts initiative, ANIMATE ORANGE!, aims to provide exceptional artistic programming that reflects the surrounding community and engages people of all ages, ethnicities, and abilities to directly participate in the arts.

"We are deeply grateful to the National Endowment for the Arts for recognizing that ValleyArts, in collaboration with HANDS, is ready for the next step in the decade-long drive to restore and animate this neighborhood and city through an arts-driven agenda that works," said the ValleyArts executive director, Richard Bryant.

The program is in collaboration with HANDS, Inc., Orange Board of Education, artists, and other community partners.  

It will also assist individual artists with the business aspects of their arts careers while helping to further establish the Valley Arts District as a vibrant arts destination. 

 The grant is part of the NEA’s ‘Our Town’ grants which in its third year total $4.725 million awarded to 34 states.

According to the NEA, it received 254 applications for Our Town this year. Recommended grant amounts ranged from $25,000 to $200,000 with a median grant amount of $50,000. 

Through Our Town, the NEA supports creative place making projects that help transform communities into lively, beautiful, and sustainable places with thearts at their core.

 Valley Arts is the arts service and activist organization of the Valley Arts District in Orange in West Orange, which presented the Hat City Street Festival along with numerous events at the Luna Stage. Check out more information here.

For a complete listing of projects recommended for Our Town grant support, head to the NEA web site at arts.gov.