LAF to Receive $30,000 NEA Art Works Grant

JANUARY 15, 2020

The Landscape Architecture Foundation (LAF) has been approved for a $30,000 Art Works grant to support the LAF Fellowship for Innovation and Leadership. The LAF Fellowship was established to foster transformational leadership capacity and support innovation to amplify the role of landscape architects and bring about impactful change in the world. Overall, the National Endowment for the Arts has approved 1,187 grants totaling $27.3 million in the first round of fiscal year 2020 funding to support arts projects in every state in the nation, as well as the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico.

The Art Works funding category supports projects that focus on public engagement with, and access to, various forms of excellent art across the nation; the creation of art that meets the highest standards of excellence; learning in the arts at all stages of life; and the integration of the arts into the fabric of community life.

"We are thankful for the NEA's investment in this transformative program," said LAF CEO Barbara Deutsch, FASLA. "Past Fellows have recounted the huge impact the program has had on their lives and the communities they serve. NEA's support will help to amplify the role of design, and specifically of landscape architects, in addressing the issues we face today."

Landscape architects selected for the LAF Fellowship for Innovation and Leadership engage in a yearlong journey to develop their leadership capacity and work on ideas that have the potential to create positive and profound change in the profession, the environment, and humanity. Each Fellow receives a $25,000 award and dedicates 12 weeks of time over the course of the coming year to pursuing their proposed project. The fellowship consists of this project work, supported by facilitated discussions, critiques, mentorship, and explorations of transformational leadership that occur during three 3-day residencies in Washington, DC.

Visit the NEA website for the full list of projects recommended for Art Works grant funding in this round. In the previous years, Art Works grants have supported LAF's Case Study Investigation program, and we are extremely grateful for NEA's support of our work.