$50,000 Grant Awarded To Shaker Heights

SHAKER HEIGHTS, OH — Shaker Heights will be receiving one of 89 grants awarded by the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA). The city was recommended to receive $50,000 to support public art, art events, and cultural planning for public places, like the Moreland District.

This year, the NEA reviewed 274 applications for Our Town grants. Each award ranges between $25,0000—$100,000. In total, the NEA will give out $6.89 million in 2017. (To stay up to date on local stories, subscribe to the Patch Shaker Heights newsletter. As news breaks and the story develops, you will be the first to receive updates from Patch.)

“The National Endowment for the Arts award enables Shaker Heights to invest significantly in a neighborhood identity based in the arts and responsive to the community-driven Moreland Rising initiative,” said Mayor Earl Leiken in a statement.

Shaker Heights will use the funds to sponsor community conversations, a call for artists to design neighborhood gateways, and historical markers to help distinguish the Moreland Neighborhood area. The fund will also be used for a series of summer arts-related events in 2018, the city says.

“The arts reflect the vision, energy, and talent of America’s artists and arts organizations,” said NEA Chairman Jane Chu in a statement. “The National Endowment for the Arts is proud to support organizations such as the Moreland district in Shaker Heights, to cultivate vitality in their community through the arts.”

The city will also partner with Ingenuity Cleveland on the project. The city says the organization will help with the rebuilding of the Moreland Neighborhood infrastructure and improve housing for the approximately 1,760 residents of the area.

For a complete list of projects recommended for Our Town grant support, please visit the NEA web site at arts.gov. The NEA recently relaunched the creative placemaking web page which has lots of resources.

Photo from Google Earth