National Endowment for the Arts Announces Innovation Grants in Design

As part of its first major grant announcement of fiscal year 2009, the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) announced that it will award $540,000 to fund 20 Access to Artistic Excellence Innovation Grants in Design. Grant amounts range from $10,000 to $40,000.

“We often hear from our grantees that the NEA’s grant support has a catalytic effect, helping the organization to exponentially garner additional funding for its project. These grants are an investment in our nation’s culture, and I’m proud to say that the return on that investment benefits Americans from coast to coast,” said former NEA Chairman Dana Gioia.

Support for design innovation at the NEA encompasses many disciplines including, but not limited, to urban design and planning, architecture, landscape architecture, interior design, product design and graphic design. The 20 innovation grants in design support projects that explore new approaches to advance, reform, or disseminate the latest techniques of design practice, community engagement and research.

“These projects reinforce a growing national trend to promote popular access to quality design and innovation as a basic democratic right. Each represents an opportunity to educate the general public broadly, about the power of the built and natural environments around them. Collectively they represent some of the best expressions of design innovation and advocacy in the interest of public architecture and landscape architecture,” said NEA Design Director Maurice Cox.

Examples of projects in design supported by Access to Artistic Excellence grants include:

ACSA | Washington, DC $15,000

To support 64 Ways to Home: Four Designs, Four Critics, Four Symposia on Innovative Design Strategies for Affordable Housing. A series of coordinated peer-reviewed design projects and regional symposia will be conducted to stimulate and promote innovative design approaches to affordable and mixed-income housing.

Architecture for Humanity | San Francisco, CA $30,000
To support The 2009 Open Architecture Challenge: Portable Classrooms, an online design competition. The project will invite K-12 students and teachers to partner with architects in their community to design innovative and viable alternatives to portable classrooms.

Alaska Design Forum Anchorage, AK | $15,000
To support FREEZE, an outdoor winter exhibition with public programs, and an accompanying catalogue. Exhibitions will feature designers and artists from around the globe who will collaborate in creating installations that feature as primary materials, snow, ice, and light.

New York Foundation for Architecture | New York, NY $25,000
To support the exhibition Optimization: The Art of Engineering, with accompanying catalogue and public programs at the Center for Architecture. The project will address the importance and innovative practices of engineering and its impact on the architectural design process, especially in the New York urban landscape.

Chicago Architecture Foundation | Chicago, IL $40,000
To support Open House America a national design-education initiative, and its pilot Open House Chicago. Held in partnership with the City of Chicago Mayor’s Office of Special Events, Open House Chicago will offer free access to innovative sites and the built environment along with education programs to inspire appreciation for and knowledge of architecture, design, and planning in the city.

Children’s Museum of Pittsburgh | Pittsburgh, PA $25,000

To support Reaching Great Heights: A Design Process for the Creation of an Interactive Climbing Sculpture. The museum plans to install a structure that will invite visitors to explore, and experience art physically.

City of Newark | Newark, NJ $25,000
To support Beyond the Box: New Houses for Newark. The project will bring together locally-based and internationally-known architects with city officials, planners, developers, and the public to discuss and establish a new vision for Newark’s low-rise multi-family in-fill house.

City of Natchez Natchez, MS | $20,000
To support and further the design process for the Forks of the Road Slave Market Interpretive Center. Major project activities will include the design, site analysis, historical research, installation design, and engineering of the proposed site.

Cultural Landscape Foundation | Washington, DC $20,000

To support the production of an interactive documentary interview series. The Pioneers of American Landscape Design Oral History Series will cover the biography, education, design philosophy, and work of several 20th-century landscape architects.

Elizabeth River Project | Portsmouth, VA $20,000

To support the Learning Barge education program. In partnership with the School of Architecture Foundation at the University of Virginia the project will include publications, a Web site, and residency for a designer/art outreach educator.

Los Angeles Forum for Architecture and Design | Los Angeles, CA $10,000
To support Dingbat 2.0: A Competition to Revamp Existing Housing Stock. Dingbat 2.0 is an open competition, exhibition, and pamphlet project calling upon designers, architects, planners, artists, and academics to identify design solutions that transform dilapidated stucco apartment buildings into livable low-income dwellings.

Gulf Coast Community Design Center | Mississippi State, MS $50,000

To support the Moss Point Community Studio, a series of exhibits, workshops, and extended staff hours in a publicly accessible community space in Moss Point, Mississippi. The project will foster community involvement in the redevelopment of the community which was impacted by Hurricane Katrina.

North Carolina University | Raleigh, NC $10,000
To support Bridging the Gap: Architectural Internships in Public Service. The collection of essays will present innovative models and best practices in public service architectural internships.

openhousenewyork, inc. | New York, NY $40,000
To support the seventh annual openhousenewyork weekend. The event tours all five boroughs and provides access to buildings and facilities not typically open to the public celebrating the architectural and design significance of New York City’s built environment.

Public Design Studio | San Francisco, CA $25,000
To support the Pro Bono Road Show. The traveling exhibition will showcase excellence in pro bono design, inspiring both architects and nonprofit organizations by raising collective awareness about the potential of pro bono design including its importance in improving public life.

University of Arkansas | Fayetteville, AR $25,000

To support the printing and distribution of the book Visioning Rail Transit in Northwest Arkansas: Lifestyle and Ecologies. The printed publication will help mobilize support for rail transit among stakeholders in the region and will help centralize the role of good design and smart-growth planning in an area without a strong planning tradition.

University of Detroit Mercy Detroit, MI | $30,000

To support the design plan for an exterior amphitheater playhouse. Designs for Playhouse: An Exterior Urban Community Theater will be developed through community workshops and temporary installations meant to encourage community participation in the design process..

Community Design Resource Center | Houston, TX $20,000
To support a public symposium and workshop addressing community design issues in underserved Houston neighborhoods. The project will develop and disseminate dynamic design strategies that have the potential to catalyze neighborhood change.

University of Southern California Los Angeles, CA | $10,000

To support a collaborative graphic design initiative. The project will introduce topics of design fundamentals and process, technology as a design tool, layout, and collaborative design. The USC Roski School of Fine Arts Design Area will partner with Ryman Arts, a studio arts program for high school youth, on the initiative.

WWW.NEXT.CC, Inc. | Shorewood, WI $10,000
To support a workshop series that will introduce teachers to the Web site www.NEXT.cc (NEXT). The Web site will be used as a design education tool to complement traditional teaching methods in K-12 design curriculum.