NOTO Arts & Entertainment District to Receive $40,000 Grant from the National Endowment for the Arts
NOTO Arts & Entertainment District is pleased to announce it has been approved by the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) for a Grants for Arts Projects award of $40,000. This grant willsupport a mural project painting the North side of the Kansas Ave. bridge. In total, the NEA will award1,135 Grants for Arts Projects awards totaling more than $37 million as part of its second round of fiscal year 2024 grants.
“Projects like The Story of NOTO in Art exemplify the creativity and care with which communities are telling their stories, creating connection, and responding to challenges and opportunities in their communities—all through the arts,” said NEA Chair Maria Rosario Jackson, PhD. “So many aspects of our communities such as cultural vitality, health and wellbeing, infrastructure, and the economy are advanced and improved through investments in art and design, and the National Endowment for the Arts is committed to ensuring people across the country benefit.”
"For years we have been driving an effort to further develop the Veterans Park area in a way that will serve the neighborhood while also telling the story of NOTO through art" said NOTO Executive Director Thomaas Underwood, Ph.D. "This NEA award will make a significant contribution to our vision of expanding the NOTO area and furtherings its draw as a destination location for visitors from across the region."
The focus of this project is to create a collection of murals on the underpart of the Kansas Ave. bridgerunning through Veterans Park. The murals will represent area history, such as the railroad and the Oregon Trail, and highlight the people and communities that have helped form modern-day NOTO. The bridge offers significant surface area to display murals, with 12 sets of 3 piers topped by large caps, and the underside of its exterior overhangs. Portions low to the ground will serve as a muralplatform for the community, such as students from the local elementary school, to continue telling NOTO's story. Transitional areas not used for storytelling will be painted in the NOTO logo colors with a wave design, invoking the nearby Kansas River while tying the murals to the district at large.
This project also includes installing a walking path to connect visitors to the murals and join the two halves of the park that are split by the Kansas Ave Bridge. The path is part of a larger development initiative funded in part by a City of Topeka grant received by the Historic North Topeka East Neighborhood Improvement Association, and funds from Shawnee County Parks and Recreation.
For more information on other projects included in the NEA’s grant announcement, visit arts.gov/news.
