Culture: connecting to sustainability + place-making (funding opportunity, new blog)

[Debbie Hillman]

To:

Advocates for Urban Agriculture (Greater Chicago)

Food Love Chicago (food lovers in general)

Illinois Local Food and Farms Coalition (Illinois)

Illinois Farmers Market Assn. (serving all 300+ Illinois markets)

Good Greens Midwest (6 states served by USDA FNS Midwest Office:  IL, IN, OH, MI, MN, WI, based in Chicago)

Women, Food and Agriculture Network (national, based in Iowa)

Most of us "local food" practitioners and advocates are aware that food connects to EVERYTHING!    

And that through our need to find food, grow food, and feed ourselves (and those in our care), we create culture.   

And that in 2012 we are facing daily choices about whether we create a resilient culture (called sustainability) or whether we continue creating a culture of destruction.

And that all of our choices are made in a place, either place-making or place-unmaking (for lack of a better word).

Here are two initiatives that connect all those dots:

1.  A funding opportunity from National Endowment for the Arts through their "Our Town" grant program.   

http://foundationcenter.org/pnd/rfp/rfp_item.jhtml?id=398100035

Just like everyone else in 21st century western culture, many people and institutions in the traditional arts and culture community are re-awakening to the "food and farm" arts.   A place-making grant such as this one is a good place to reinforce that re-awakening.  

See details below.  

Deadline is Jan. 14, 2013.

2.  Sustainability:  What's Culture got to do with it?     A new blog by Illinois anthropologist, Jennifer Hirsch 

 http://jhirschconsulting.blogspot.com/

Her latest blogpost is titled:  What Do Daycare and Soul Food Have to Do with Climate Change? Check out the Chicago Community Climate Action Toolkit on Facebook

After working at the Field Museum for a number of years, Jenny recently started her own consulting firm, specializing in:
-  Asset-based Community Development  

-  Sustainability  

-  Cultural Diversity  

-  Coalition-Building 
-  Organizational Development and Leadership

-  Experiential Education

I do not know if she does grant-writing herself, but you can see from her blog that she is a terrific writer.  I can say that she's great to work with   Jenny's based in the Chicago area, but has visited farms in rural areas and I think is interested in expanding those connections.  Sustainability has as much to do with farmer economic livelihood as anything else.  Here's her contact information:

Jennifer Hirsch, Ph.D.
Consultant
jhirs...@gmail.com
(224) 392-5608

-- Debbie

Debbie Hillman

Evanston, Illinois

D. Hillman Strategies:  Food Policy for Voters

847/328-7175

DLHi...@sbcglobal.net

FoodVote.2012.com    (http://DHillmanStrategies.com)

Posted on October 28, 2012
Deadline: January 14, 2013

National Endowment for the Arts Invites Creative Placemaking Proposals for Our Town Grant Program

The National Endowment for the Arts has published guidelines and the application for the next funding round of Our Town, the agency's primary creative placemaking grants program.

Through the program, the endowment will provide a limited number of grants for creative placemaking projects that contribute toward the livability of communities of all sizes in the United States and help transform them into lively, beautiful, and sustainable places with the arts at their core.

The program seeks to invest in creative and innovative projects in which communities, together with their arts and design organizations and artists, seek to improve their quality of life; encourage greater creative activity; foster stronger community identity and a sense of place; and revitalize economic development. Projects may include arts engagement, cultural planning, and design activities.

All Our Town applications must reflect a partnership that will provide leadership for the project. These partnerships must involve two primary partners — a nonprofit organization and a local government entity. One of the two primary partners must be a cultural (arts or design) organization. Additional partners are encouraged and may include an appropriate variety of entities such as state-level government agencies, foundations, arts organizations and artists, nonprofit organizations, design professionals and design centers, educational institutions, real estate developers, business leaders, and community organizations, as well as public and governmental entities.

Grants will range from $25,000 to $200,000.

Complete program guidelines, an FAQ, and information on previously funded projects are available at the NEA Web site.

Contact:
Link to Complete RFP

Primary Subject: Arts and Culture