Arts Council receives Endowment grant

The Arkansas Arts Council announced Tuesday that it had been awarded its largest grant ever from the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA).

Founded in 1966 and part of the Division of Arkansas Heritage, the council was awarded an annual state partnership grant of $821,300.

The council administers federal and state funds to provide financial aid and state arts grants for programs and services benefiting Arkansas organizations, schools and artists.

Established by Congress in 1965, the National Endowment for the Arts is the independent federal agency that funds art learning.

“The Arkansas Arts Council’s main mission is to provide funding and support for the arts community for the whole state,” said Shea Lewis, interim secretary of the Department of Parks, Heritage and Tourism, in a news release. “This partnership between the Arkansas Arts Council and the National Endowment for the Arts proves that the arts community is thriving in Arkansas, and we’re proud to support it.”

According to the news release, the funding from the NEA will go toward Arts in Education grants that help schools and arts organizations establish artist residencies that will benefit pre-K through 12th grade students via in-school, after-school and summer programs. It will also fund development of new curricula that will be used to guide Arts in Education programming.

The grant will also be used to support the council’s participation in the Poetry Out Loud program, a poetry recitation competition sponsored by the NEA and the Poetry Foundation.

“Children love creating art,” said Patrick Ralston, director of the Arkansas Arts Council. “That’s where the support of art needs to begin. When we can support the creativity of children and arts education programs from the beginning, we are setting the stage for a thriving arts community for all Arkansans.”

The grant will also help fund the council’s online Foundant grants management system and a grants technician to run the system, in addition to all of the council’s operations, from office supplies to artist programming.

“This is an incredible opportunity for the Arkansas Arts Council to make a difference in the arts,” said Jimmy Bryant, director of Arkansas Heritage. “As the state’s designated arts agency, the Arkansas Arts Council works to build up the arts, one artist, one organization, one community at a time.”