SA P and Albuquerque Partners Receive NEA Our Town Grant
July 22, 2013
The National Endowment for the Arts Our Town grant will provide $150,000 to support the design of new permanent community gathering and garden spaces along Route 66 in Albuquerque's International District.
The partnership includes the City of Albuquerque and its Cultural Services Department, the University of New Mexico School of Architecture & Planning, the ABQ UNM City Lab, Bernalillo County, the Albuquerque Metropolitan Arroyo Flood Control Authority (AMAFCA) and two non-profit organizations instrumental to the project—Littleglobe and Story of Place Institute.
Michaele Pride, associate dean, UNM School of Architecture & Planning, said, "We will host and manage the design project with City Lab as the venue for the project, which allows us to leverage our commitment with the City of Albuquerque."
The highly-competitive Our Town program will award $4.725 million in this cycle, with the City of Albuquerque Partnership receiving $150,000. The two-year partnership project will culminate in a design to revitalize a community space in the International District with input from the people who live and work there. The design of the community garden/plaza space will serve as a model for four more similar spaces along Central Avenue.
Pride added, "This is the first of these larger NEA grants secured by the School of Architecture & Planning in recent history. By engaging government, the private sector and the community, we are creating a model of how we impact New Mexico communities in the future." The project will provide an enriched academic experience for students and faculty.
