Program Overview Art & Community Landscapes (ACL) is a partnership of New England Foundation for the Arts (NEFA), the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) and National Park Service (NPS).
Now in its final cycle, ACL supports site-based public art as a catalyst for increased environmental awareness and stewardship. The program addresses the natural environment through site-specific art projects that may include temporary or permanent art installations, exhibitions, interpretive media, festivals, or other works informed by the site and community in which the project is located.
Project sites and partner organizations were selected to work closely with an artist or artist team for one year or longer. Together, the artist and partner organization develop and implement a publicly accessible project that inspires greater community involvement in protecting and enhancing the natural environment. For images of past projects, view the Art & Community Landscapes report.
Program Goals:
Support artists to work with community-based collaborators to stimulate and advance environmental awareness through the process of experiencing or making art
Bring diverse community members together to participate in site-based art projects that address local and regional environmental concerns
Support cross-disciplinary approaches to the creative process that are mutually informative and may elicit new outcomes and models of partnership
How were project sites and artists selected? ACL project sites were pre-selected in collaboration with the National Park Service and local community art and environment advocacy organizations. Project sites were selected by a panel including representatives from the fields of art, environment, community building and neighborhood development as well as ACL program and partner staff.
ACL's artists were selected in a two-step process. Interested artists were asked to submit qualification materials. From these initial applications, a jury panel selected three artists or artist-teams for each project to receive planning grant funding. Planning grant recipients then developed project proposals, and one artist or artist-team was selected for each project to receive a $50,000 implementation grant.
Will there be future opportunities for art and environment projects?
The New England Foundation for the Arts is interested in continuing to support public art projects that inspire environmental awareness. Though a formal grant program does not exist at this time, we would be interested to hear about your community’s project. Please see our Public Art at NEFA page for more information on our current programs and services or contact the Public Art Coordinator at publicart@nefa.org or [617] 951-0010 ext. 528.
