Six Texas Arts Organizations Receive Inaugural NEA ArtsHERE Grants
The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) has announced that it is awarding more than $12 million in grants to 112 arts organizations across the U.S. through its ArtsHERE program. Six Texas organizations are among the awardees.
The pilot program ArtsHERE was announced last fall, the goal of this initiative is to support organizations committed to equity by increasing arts participation for historically underserved groups and communities. The recommended grant recipients are from all 50 states, D.C., Guam, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Grantees will receive $65,000 to $130,000 to support specific projects.
In a press release, Maria Rosario Jackson, PhD, the Chair of the NEA, remarked, “The NEA is thrilled to provide resources to a group of exceptional organizations through ArtsHERE, a program to help deepen meaningful and lasting arts engagement in underserved communities. Everyone should be able to live an artful life, and ArtsHERE is an important step in ensuring we are strengthening our nation’s arts ecosystem to make this a reality.”
The Texas awardees include Art Spark Texas and Babes Fest, Inc. in Austin, Arts Connect Houston and RSA of Dance & Performing Arts in Houston, Teatro Dallas, and The Welman Project in Fort Worth.
The Welman Project
Taylor Willis, Co-Founder and Co-Executive Director of The Welman Project, a creative reuse organization that provides free resources for educators, told Glasstire, “Receiving the ArtsHERE grant is transformative for our community, as it empowers us to build the needed infrastructure for a makerspace and tool library that provides equitable access to creative resources, a first in Fort Worth. This support brings us closer to the vision of the Transform 1012 N Main Street coalition, turning a former KKK building into a vibrant artistic hub where creativity, inclusivity, and community can flourish.”
A participant in the Welman Project
Learn about each of the proposed projects below, via descriptions provided by NEA.
Art Spark Texas
$105,903
With ArtsHERE funding, Art Spark Texas will conduct participant-informed research on how to re-engage and better serve young adults with disabilities. Through that project, it will build staff expertise, leverage arts through its programs, and increase accessibility and inclusion for individuals with disabilities. Art Spark Texas challenges perceptions of how people contribute by creating arts-inspired, inclusive communities of artists and individuals with and without disabilities.
Arts Connect Houston
$130,000
The ArtsHERE grant will leverage a decade of Arts Connect Houston’s (ACH) data and experience in arts education to develop replicable, community-driven benchmarking tools, focused on providing more students, especially those from underserved communities, with high-quality arts education. ACH unites the Greater Houston community to ensure equitable access to the arts for all students. With 95 arts and culture partners, they provide comprehensive arts education to over 200,000 students annually.
Babes Fest, Inc. (Future Front Texas)
$130,000
The ArtsHERE grant will help Future Front Texas codify its community curator program, to deepen staff capacity and create a public curriculum from community design within the arts and culture sector. This program provides traditionally overlooked creatives, artists, and cultural workers in Texas with the opportunity to explore equity-driven curatorial structures, program design-thinking and community-led creative work. Future Front focuses on supporting women and LGBTQ+ creatives in Texas through programs, workshops, and exhibitions that provide platforms for underrepresented voices in the arts.
RSA of Dance & Performing Arts
$125,000
The ArtsHERE grant will expand RSA’s Arts to Infinity program, an initiative for youth from under-resourced communities that combines dance education, performance opportunities, community development, and holistic wellness programming for families. The mission of RSA of Dance & Performing Arts is to provide quality arts education, mentorship, and experiences to underserved youth, ages three and older. The organization focuses on community development and youth engagement, promoting the arts as a means of personal and social growth.
Teatro Dallas
$74,000
The ArtsHERE grant will support strategic planning, board development, innovative marketing strategies, and stakeholder engagement to better reach the shifting demographics and Spanish-speaking communities of North Texas. For over three decades, the organization has addressed systemic barriers within the arts, particularly those affecting low-income, bilingual families and underrepresented artists. Through high-quality theatrical programming, Teatro Dallas employs the power of theater to empower the Latinx community, celebrate diverse traditions, and strengthen the community.
The Welman Project
$74,900
The ArtsHERE grant will support strategic planning and cultural competency training to help The Welman Project open its tool library and makerspace as part of the future Fred Rouse Center for Arts and Community Healing, which was formerly used as a KKK auditorium, in a majority Hispanic community. The Welman Project connects teachers and schools with surplus materials from businesses, promoting creative reuse and sustainability in education. It aims to enrich arts learning experiences while reducing waste and fostering environmental stewardship.
