The Tennessee Arts Commission has awarded 347 Fiscal Year 2019 Annual Grants Awards totaling $4,226,710 to help fund arts and cultural activities for arts organizations, schools, local governments, nonprofits and artists in Tennessee. A total of $330,000 of those grant awards went to organizations in Hamilton County.
ArtsBuild received $94,560 in grant funding from the Tennessee Arts Commission for
three grants: Major Cultural Institutions grant of $70,500, Arts Build Communities grant of $18,560 and Arts Education: Teacher Training matching grant of $5,500.
“The Tennessee Arts Commission’s continued funding is vital to ArtsBuild’s sustainability and to
the fulfillment of our mission to build a stronger community through the arts,” said Dan
Bowers, president of ArtsBuild. “The TAC is the backbone of the arts in this state and their
ongoing support of ArtsBuild is validation that Chattanooga is a leader in utilizing the arts to
strengthen our community.”
The objective of the $18,560 ABC grant award is to build communities by nurturing artists, arts
organizations and arts supporters. The award, funded by the Tennessee General Assembly and
administered in cooperation with the TAC and ArtsBuild, provides funds for a variety of quality
arts projects.
ArtsBuild received $5,500 for an Arts Education Teacher Training grant, which is awarded to
arts organizations who "provide outstanding professional development opportunities for
educators in arts integration instruction techniques and curriculum planning." The grant funds
will cover the expenses of two workshop leaders from the John F. Kennedy Center for the
Performing Arts who will "guide teachers through intensive workshops and hands-on coaching
that strengthen literacy instruction through the arts."
ArtsBuild and the Hamilton County Department of Education are participants in the Partners in
Education Program with the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. The Partners in Education
Program supports the development of arts professional development workshops for classroom
teachers. This year marks ArtsBuild’s 15th year of partnering with the Tennessee Arts Commission,
HCDE and the Kennedy Center to provide these workshops to local educators.
TAC Annual Grants provide funds for operating support to well-established arts organizations;
project support for arts projects in urban and rural counties; and a variety of arts education
projects, such as professional development for teachers, arts education in communities and
programming for children in grades PK-12, officials said.
“It is an honor to award these annual grants that support Tennessee’s communities and schools
through the arts. These investments help cultivate the arts which benefit all of us through
quality of life, economic development, tourism and providing a more balanced education for
our children,” said Tennessee Arts Commission Chair Steve Bailey.
The Annual Grants are the first of a series of grants that will be made by the Tennessee Arts
Commission. The Commission expects to award over 1,000 grants during FY2019, totaling more
than $5 million dollars. "These funds have a direct impact on communities and schools across
Tennessee, in both urban and rural areas," officials said.
“The arts are a vital tool for attraction and retention of businesses, and help build stronger
communities by enhancing the distinctive character of Tennessee places,” said Anne B. Pope,
executive director for the Tennessee Arts Commission.
Of the $5 million, $4.4 million comes from specialty license plate fees earmarked to benefit the
arts. Additionally, the Commission receives a state appropriation from the Tennessee General
Assembly and federal funding, namely from the National Endowment for the Arts.