The Asheville Art Museum is honored to be one of 886 nonprofit organizations nationwide to receive a National Endowment for the Arts Art Works grant, announced last week by NEA Acting Chairman Joan Shigekawa. The Museum is recommended for a $35,000 grant to support the planned major renovation and expansion project to create the new Asheville Art Museum.
Since its founding by area artists 66 years ago, the Asheville Art
Museum has been defined by its close ties to the community and its receptiveness
to the area’s needs. Since then, as Asheville and Western North Carolina have
grown, so has the Museum. The Museum has expanded five times in its history to
serve growing demand from community partners, members, visitors, educators,
students and artists, and in response to the needs of housing and showcasing a
growing permanent collection, a unique cultural resource for our region.
The planned major expansion and
renovation project to create the new Asheville Art Museum is the next exciting
step. Utilizing the current building footprint of the Museum, this
environmentally friendly project calls for the historic preservation of the
Museum’s North Wing (the 1926 Pack Library Building), renovation of existing
Museum spaces and new construction to transform current disparate spaces into a
new cohesive, coherent Museum.
A visually stunning new glass entrance will
provide a 21st century architectural landmark in downtown Asheville.
The project will result in new exhibition galleries, collection and conservation
facilities, a well-equipped education suite of classrooms and studios, a larger
library and the addition of a rooftop sculpture terrace and café. The exterior
will be sheathed in glass inviting the public in to art-filled spaces and
lighted at night to illuminate Pack Square Park and the City center. The
overall design dramatically transforms the Museum’s identity and establishes a
vital new cultural center and arts destination in the city and the region.
NEA Acting Chairman Shigekawa said, “The NEA is pleased to announce
that the Asheville Art Museum is recommended for an NEA Art Works grant. These
NEA-supported projects will not only have a positive impact on local economies,
but will also provide opportunities for people of all ages to participate in
the arts, help our communities to become more vibrant, and support our nation’s
artists as they contribute to our cultural landscape.”
The Asheville Art Museum’s Executive Director Pamela Myers said, “The
Museum is honored to receive this prestigious award from the NEA in recognition
of the design excellence of the new Museum and of the need for an expanded
Museum to better serve our community as a vibrant center for inspiration and
education and an economic engine driving the city and region’s continued
growth.”
Art Works grants support the
creation of art that meets the highest standards of excellence, public
engagement with diverse and excellent art, lifelong learning in the arts, and
enhancement of the livability of communities through the arts. The NEA
received 1,515 eligible applications under the Art Works category,
requesting more than $76 million in funding. Of those applications, 886 are
recommended for grants for a total of $25.8 million.
For a complete listing of projects recommended for Art Works grant
support, please visit the NEA website at arts.gov.
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