KANSAS CITY, MO, JANUARY 24, 2024: Charlotte Street is pleased to announce it has been approved by the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) for a Grants for Arts Projects award of $35,000. This grant will support Charlotte Street’s Studio + StartUp Residency Programs, the only programs in Kansas City that provide free studio, rehearsal, and storefront spaces to a mixed-disciplinary cohort of artists for 2-year terms. Notable alumni of the Studio Residency Program include Paul Anthony Smith, Anthony Baab, Rachel Hayes, Michelle Tyrene Johnson, cat mahari, and many more. In total, the NEA will award 958 Grants for Arts Projects awards totaling more than $27.1 million that were announced as part of its first round of fiscal year 2024 grants.
“The NEA is delighted to announce this grant to Charlotte Street, which is helping contribute to the strength and well-being of the arts sector and local community,” said National Endowment for the Arts Chair Maria Rosario Jackson, Ph.D. “We are pleased to be able to support this community and help create an environment where all people have the opportunity to live artful lives.”
For over 25 years, Charlotte Street has provided critical support to Kansas City’s arts community by providing free studio and rehearsal spaces in a city where affordable rents and available spaces are increasingly difficult to acquire. Many artists lack sufficient support structures available to people in other careers, such as regular income, access to capital, a professional network, and a space to work. Initiatives such as Charlotte Street’s StartUp Residency Program provide creative entrepreneurs a rent and utility-free storefront in the Pendleton Arts Block in Northeast Kansas City to create a proof-of-concept for their independent arts business. Through our work, we strive to foster an equitable, diverse, and inclusive art community, which we interpret as all artists having fair access to the tools and resources they need to realize their artistic endeavors.
For more information on other projects included in the NEA’s grant announcement, visit arts.gov/news.
For interview requests with Charlotte Street Residency + Programs Manager Pat Alexander, contact Marketing + Communications Manager Hope-Lian Vinson at [email protected].
ABOUT CHARLOTTE STREET
Charlotte Street centers Kansas City’s most forward-thinking visual artists, writers, and performers—acting as the primary incubator, provocateur, and connector for the region’s contemporary arts community, and its leading advocate on the national stage. Since 1997, Charlotte Street has distributed over $2.5 million in awards and grants to artists and their innovative projects, and connected individual artists to each other and to the greater Kansas City community. For more information about Charlotte Street, its awards, programs, and initiatives, visit www.charlottestreet.org.
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