Applications closed
Metro received 95 applications for the 2021 cycle. Grant awards will be announced in early January.
Last cycle's grantees
The 11 efforts are led by and directly support our youth of color, Latinx, Black, Slavic, immigrant and refugee, Indigenous and disability community.
Meet the 2020 grantees
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Metro’s Community Placemaking grants help people tackle community challenges or opportunities through arts-based, equity-focused efforts.
What is Community Placemaking?
Community Placemaking has a few key ingredients. The idea comes from the community the effort is intended to serve. Those community members, especially people of color or other historically marginalized communities, play a role in making it happen. Arts or cultural activities bring people together to strengthen their connection to each other and the places they care about.
Program objectives
Placemaking: People’s connections to each other and to places they care about are strengthened.
Equity: People of color and members of historically marginalized communities have power and resources to influence their neighborhoods and communities.
Partnerships: People’s efforts are maximized because they work in partnership with each other and with Metro.
Leadership: People participate in projects and decisions that affect them.
2021 grant cycle
Up to $193,000 will be awarded in grants ranging from $5,000 to $25,000 for the 2021 cycle. Awards will be announced in early January. Metro received 95 applications requesting more than $1.9 million. Applications were accepted August 3 through October 2. One-on-one assistance was available and encouraged. You can watch a past information session from August, which walks through the application handbook and other important details. The information presented is the same in each.
Who is eligible to apply?
Community Placemaking grants support community-driven initiatives, and partnerships are key to a competitive proposal. Given that, anyone meeting the following conditions can apply:
- Community-based organizations with nonprofit status.
- Community groups or individuals without nonprofit status must partner with a fiscal sponsor, such as a state certified, federally approved 501(c) nonprofit or a public agency. Learn more about a fiscal sponsor’s role in the application handbook beginning on page 7.
- Public agencies must have community partners involved in the implementation of the project and a plan to involve the broader public.
- If you are a past recipient of a Community Placemaking grant and your grant was exclusively an event (spanning a single or multiple days), you may not reapply the year following your award.
Past recipients
Community Placemaking efforts are creative at their core and can take many forms. Get started thinking by looking at recipients of the 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2020 cycles to see the range of efforts this program has supported.