Congressional District: 10

The Urbana-Champaign Independent Media Center’s ArtsHERE grant will support a five-year strategic planning process, including cultural strategy training and a study series for local artists and community leaders.  Founded in 2001, UCIMC has transformed a historic post office into a community media and arts center, supporting various community programs and fiscally sponsoring over 60 organizations. The Urbana-Champaign Independent Media Center’s mission is to foster the creation and distribution of media and art that highlight underrepresented voices and perspectives, and to promote empowerment and expression through media and arts education.

Arts Midwest Gig funds are being requested to assist the Community Council in hiring an Appalachian artist to paint a mural in East Dayton, celebrating the community's history and diversity. The artist will work with Montgomery Preparatory Academy, Belmont High School students, and community volunteers to create a mural that contains a QR code connected to personal stories and histories.

"Where we live" in Athens, Georgia is fluid, changing with each new resident. Every community member's origins inform where we, as a city, are going. Our focus is on "The People," our ancestors and lineage and the places we all call "home." Through shared reading of Gyasi's novel, Homegoing, we explore our city's African American history and culture, connecting to present-day diversity.

MOCA will curate a series of programming including book and panel discussions, immersive performances, creative writing workshops, and a special exhibition on “Interior Chinatown” by Charles Yu. This series will engage local artists and community organizations, connecting past and present through dialogues and personal histories on themes of living in Chinatowns and the immigrant experience.

Museums and libraries celebrate the exchange of ideas and self-expression--Where We Live: In Curiosity, is a community collaboration by the Clark County Public Library and the Springfield Museum of Art, inspired by book artist Amanda Love's exhibition Tigris and Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451. This Big Read provides public exchange of ideas, creative outlets and lifelong learning opportunities.

The Fitz Center for Leadership in Community at the University of Dayton, in collaboration with Dayton Metro Library, Daybreak Dayton, the African American Visual Artists Guild, and the Paul Laurence Dunbar House Historic Site, will offer assorted public programming in conjunction with a community-wide reading of Yaa Gyasi’s book, “Homegoing,” from September 18, 2024, through May 18, 2025.

In Theatre for a New Audience’s (TFANA) World Theatre Project arts education residency, students engage in an in-depth study of a Shakespeare play and attend student matinee performances of TFANA’s professional production. The program will serve approximately 1,100 students and teachers in grades 5 to 12 in 10 underserved New York City Public Schools.

The BLACK LIFE as subject MATTER exhibition showcases visual art illustrating the complex and nuanced beliefs, knowledge, and communication unique to black life. During the exhibition, the Museum will also...

Brushwood Center will engage Fifth House Ensemble (5HE) and the American Indian Center for a public performance and a community outreach activity for Rivers Empyrean. The concert will take place...