AURORA| The Aurora Cultural arts District could see a major uptick in visitors in 2015 following the organization’s recent selection as a finalist for the ArtPlace America 2015 National Grants Program.
“We were pretty thrilled, it’s an honor to even be short-listed,” said Tracy Weil, executive director of the ACAD.
The ACAD was one of 90 program finalists from around the country selected for the annual grant by ArtPlace America on Jan. 12. A ten-year collaboration, ArtPlace is a foundation-sponsored organization focused on placemaking, which is the practice of using art and culture to intentionally transform a place, according to the ArtPlace website.
“They’re very prestigious grants, so they bring a lot of attention in the nationwide arts community, and the projects that they do really help to create that sense of place we’re trying to achieve here,” Weil said. “And the events they put on draw a lot of people to the district…so this would allow us to do that on a really large scale.”
Approximately 75,000 people passed through the ACAD in 2013, a number Weil said was likely surpassed in 2014. The city recently leant the ACAD a temporary staff member to calculate how many people the district hosted last year, though a final count is still pending.
ArtPlace has a total of approximately $57 million to be awarded to the eventual grant winners who will be announced in June. About half of the 90 finalists are actually offered grants, according to Weil.
Spanning 40 states, each organization’s application consisted of a short “elevator speech”-style pitch on what it would do with the money. In its bid, the ACAD outlined a series of performing arts events entitled “Lifting Limits,” intended to engage the area’s diverse refugee population.
“The project is to create an event or series of events… that sort of explore issues of cultural identity and immigration and becomes something that will help uplift the refugee and immigrant communities in our neighborhood,” Weil said.
The ACAD is asking for $220,000 from ArtPlace to fund the $300,000 project, with the difference coming from contributions from the district’s 15 partner organizations.
The district joins three other grant-seeking finalists from Colorado, all of which are from Denver: Su Teatro in the Santa Fe Arts District, Urban Land Conservancy in Park Hill, and Wonderbound, an arm of Ballet Nouveu Colorado in the Ballpark neighborhood.
Weil said potential grant money could also go toward the ACAD’s ongoing efforts to put up five murals with topical themes around the district.
“We’re trying to add more murals in the district anyways to create a kind of community sense and energy, and to let people driving through to know they’re in an arts district,” he said.
In addition to increasing out-of-district traffic, Weil said being awarded the grant would help make the ACAD more appealing to nearby residents, a demographic the organization has struggled to target.
“One of our goals is to be able to engage the direct community around us, because this is their art district and we want them to be involved and able to come down and enjoy it,” he said.
In total, ArtPlace received 1,298 letters of inquiry for the grants, and of the finalists, 71 percent were for projects from urban centers, 25 percent from rural communities and 4 percent from suburban areas. The ACAD fell into the urban center category.