Harrison Center to Receive $70,000 Our Town Grant from National Endowment for the Arts

Harrison Center has been approved for a $70,000 Our Town award from the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) to support the Polk Fellowship program. This is one of 68 grants nationwide, totaling $5 million, that the NEA has approved in the Our Town category. These creative placemaking grants support projects that integrate arts, culture, and design activities into local efforts to strengthen and authentically engage communities, center equity, advance artful lives, and lay the groundwork for long-term systems change.

“Projects like the Polk Fellowships program exemplify the creativity and care with which communities are telling their stories, creating connection, and responding to challenges and opportunities in their communities—all through the arts,” said NEA Chair Maria Rosario Jackson, PhD. “So many aspects of our communities such as cultural vitality, health and wellbeing, infrastructure, and the economy are advanced and improved through investments in art and design, and the National Endowment for the Arts is committed to ensuring people across the country benefit.”

Polk Fellows, Anderson and Michelle Bonilla

Future Polk Fellows, Nabil Ince and Pascal Glock

The Polk Fellowships program will support 24 artists/fellows over a span of two years. They will work with the local community and showcase their work at the Polklore Micro-Museum to help preserve culture and integrate new quality-of-life objectives in the Martindale Brightwood neighborhood. In collaboration with neighbors, the Harrison Center has identified the importance of preserving the neighborhood's historic fabric and culture to enhance and sustain the overall quality of life. The new Polk Fellowship residency program aims to facilitate ongoing discussions and develop cultural solutions to address community challenges.

The Polk Fellowship acknowledges the power of art in helping the neighborhood achieve its quality-of-life plan goals. This encompasses preserving the neighborhood's culture and sparking the creation of new art, ideas, or initiatives to tackle the neighborhood's economic, social, and educational needs.

Polk Recording studio

For more information on the projects included in the Arts Endowment grant announcement, visit arts.gov/news.

About the Harrison Center

The Harrison Center is a community-based, nonprofit arts organization that seeks to be a catalyst for renewal in the city of Indianapolis. Founded in 2001, the organization’s work is two-fold. The Harrison Center is for the Arts by hosting 40 artists’ studios and 8 galleries. It provides programming to foster the creation of new art, build community among artists and emerging patrons, and provide a forum for public conversation. The Harrison Center is for the City by connecting people to culture, community, and place to strengthen Indianapolis’s core neighborhoods. For more information on the Harrison Center, call 317.396.3886 or visitwww.harrisoncenter.org. Connect with the Harrison Center on social media at Facebook/@HarrisonCenterArts, Instagram/@harrisoncenterarts, or Twitter/@HarrisonCtrArts.