YAC to Receive $17,000 Grant from the National Endowment for the Arts

National Endowment for the Arts Chairman Jane Chu has approved more than $80 million in grants as part of the NEA’s second major funding announcement for fiscal year 2018. Included in this announcement is an Art Works grant of $17,000 to the Yoknapatawpha Arts Council (YAC) for its Arts Incubator. The Art Works category is the NEA’s largest funding category and supports projects that focus on the creation of art that meets the highest standards of excellence, public engagement with diverse and excellent art, lifelong learning in the arts, and/or the strengthening of communities through the arts.

“The variety and quality of these projects speaks to the wealth of creativity and diversity in our country,” Chu said. “Through the work of organizations such as Yoknapatawpha Arts Council in Oxford, NEA funding invests in local communities, helping people celebrate the arts wherever they are.”
“We’re delighted that Lafayette County has been nationally recognized for the Arts Incubator and the small businesses that creative people are starting and sustaining here.” said Wayne Andrews, executive director of YAC. “Oxford is a hub of creativity that has economic impact of $11, whether visual, literary or performance arts. The arts council is delighted that people are finding the workshops and resources we offer useful for their small businesses.”
The Arts Incubator, launched in 2009, provides a monthly series of workshops and working sessions for artists and small business entrepreneurs. Each workshop tackles an aspect of a small business and addresses current trends through real world scenarios. The Oxford-Lafayette County Economic Development Foundation partners to help with the Big Bad Business Series. It culminates in a “Night of Genius”, where entrepreneurs share an idea and receive constructive feedback from experts in the field. The next workshop is a QuickBooks working session with Reed Ingram, CPA. The workshops are free and open to the public.
“The incubator has several components: the Big Bad Business workshop series, the community-supported artist program, which helps artists take their work and develop a business model, and the Arts Incubator Resource Center,” said Meghan Gallagher, coordinator for the incubator. “Creatives, whether in graphic design or more traditional art forms, find the small business support they need in everything from grant writing or strategic planning to accounting issues, without being put at a material disadvantage at a critical time in their start up.”
“We just want to see Oxford preserve its unique charm and tell its stories as it grows,” Andrews said.
For more information on projects included in the NEA grant announcement, visit arts.gov/news.

Special to HottyToddy.com
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