Museums one of 89 National Endowment for the Arts Our Town projects selected

City of Platteville’s Mining & Rollo Jamison Museums one of 89 National Endowment for the Arts Our Town projects selected nationwide

National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) Chairman Jane Chu announced 89 awards totaling $6.89 million supporting projects across the nation through the NEA’s Our Town program. The City of Platteville’s Mining & Rollo Jamison Museums is one of the recommended organizations for a grant of $25,000 to develop a creative community plan. The NEA received 274 eligible applications for Our Town this year and will make grants ranging from $25,000 to $100,000. 

“The arts reflect the vision, energy, and talent of America’s artists and arts organizations,” said NEA Chairman Jane Chu. “The National Endowment for the Arts is proud to support organizations such as the City of Platteville and the Mining & Rollo Jamison Museums, to cultivate vitality in their communities through the arts.”

“The Museums are excited to be working with Arts Wisconsin and the Platteville community on this planning project to take our existing cultural assets and develop strategies to use our expertise in cultural development and extend into economic impact and livability,” said Museum Director Diana Bolander.

The City of Platteville’s Museum Department, working with a dedicated group of community volunteers, is partnering with Arts Wisconsin to better identify the community’s unique artistic, creative and cultural assets and develop a creative community plan and implementation strategy that highlights civic amenities; creates and supports meaningful experiences accessible to all; and draws people to live, work and play in the community. The project, titled PATH – Platteville Art, Trails and History Project, will use a 12 month collaborative planning process to develop a vision of and action plan for the future. The PATH project will engage a broad range of community members and institutions and strengthen cooperation among businesses, organizations, and institutions. The planning process will identify and build upon the community’s unique assets and help create strategies to promote a more diverse, vibrant, and sustainable economy that benefits the entire community. These strategies will capitalize on our local identity to stimulate economic development; distinguish Platteville as an authentic, innovative community; highlight civic amenities; provide access to the arts for everyone in the community; and attract entrepreneurs, visitors, and students who are so critical to our local economy.

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.

To join the Twitter conversation about this announcement, please use #NEASpring17