National Endowment for the Arts Chairman Jane Chu has approved more than $82 million to fund local arts projects and partnerships in the NEA’s second major funding announcement for fiscal year 2016. Included in this announcement is an Art Works award of $25,000 to Cambridge Community Foundation.
“As the community foundation of the City of Cambridge, we are delighted to receive this funding,” said Geeta Pradhan, president and CEO of the Foundation. “The goal of our project is to ensure that Central Square can continue to be both a vibrant cultural destination and a place where every part of Cambridge comes together. This grant creates a wonderful opportunity for us to partner with neighborhoods, businesses and the cultural community.”
The Cambridge project, titled Cambridge Connects, will bring together artists and community leaders to tell stories that describe what kind of community local residents want Cambridge to be. The focus is on five neighborhoods including the Port, Cambridgeport, Riverside and Mid-Cambridge, as well as the Central Square District. It will use a variety of forms storytellers find compelling to place local residents in a dynamic and changing city.
The work is designed to inform the Cambridge Community Foundation’s future work and the city’s strategic planning process.
“The arts are all around us, enhancing our lives in ways both subtle and obvious, expected and unexpected,” said NEA Chairman Chu. “Supporting projects like the one from Cambridge Community Foundation offers more opportunities to engage in the arts every day.”
CONTACT: David Trueblood, dtrueblood@cambridgecf.org 617-576-9966 ext. 103
Cambridge Community Foundation was established in 1916. The only foundation with the whole city of Cambridge in its purview, it is a key supporter of nonprofit organizations, distributing $1.3 million in grants in 2015. The Foundation provides advocacy and technical support to deal with urgent local challenges and partners with donors to provide a permanent source of charitable funds for the community.
