New Grants Provide Arts Programming for Military-Connected Individuals

by Glasstire September 19, 2021

Creative Forces Community Engagement Grants Launches

The National Endowment for the Arts, in partnership with Mid-America Arts Alliance and the Departments of Defense and Veterans Affairs, has launched a new national grant program, The Creative Forces Community Engagement Grants. The program will support arts engagement programming for military and veteran populations and family members. Funding will support projects beginning on or after July 1, 2022 in amounts ranging from $10,000 – $50,000., and the deadline to apply is December 15, 2021.

Creative Forces Community Engagement projects will require at least one partner with a history of creative or artistic programming. Via the announcement: “The aim of these grants is to expand programming into the community and address the distinct experiences, challenges, and strengths of military and veteran families, care providers, and veteran populations.”

Says Ann Eilers, acting chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts: “Our military service members and their families have sacrificed to protect and defend the freedom of our nation. The projects supported by this grant program will recognize that arts engagement can provide a powerful outlet for fostering community and personal connections. We are pleased to be working with Mid-America Arts Alliance to develop and manage this new program.”

“I was recently able to see first-hand the benefit of creative arts therapies in a Veterans’ hospital and I look forward to seeing how artists and community arts organizations will utilize creative arts programming to contribute to the health and well- being of their local military and Veterans, as well as their families and caregivers,” says Department of Veterans Affairs Secretary Denis McDonough.

Mid-America Arts Alliance host a webinar for potential applicants on Wed., October 13, 2021, and the online Creative Forces National Resource Center makes research and resources available to support the practice of arts engagement with the military community.

Partnerships among arts organizations and veteran and military service organizations are highly encouraged. Complete guidelines and application for a Creative Forces Community Engagement grant can be found here.

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About the Creative Forces Initiative: Creative Forces®: NEA Military Healing Arts Network is an initiative of the National Endowment for the Arts in partnership with the U.S. Departments of Defense and Veterans Affairs. The initiative seeks to improve the health, well-being, and quality of life for military and veteran populations exposed to trauma, as well as their families and caregivers. Creative Forces is managed in partnership with Americans for the Arts, the Henry M. Jackson Foundation for the Advancement of Military Medicine, and Mid-America Arts Alliance. More information, including clinical-based activities and research, can be found at arts.gov/creativeforces. 

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