Joe’s Movement Emporium Receives $240,000 Grant from ArtPlace America: Phase II of Art Lives Here Begins

Mount Rainier, MD, May 20, 2013 –  ArtPlace America announced today the award of a $240,000 grant to Joe’s Movement Emporium. This grant will support phase II of Art Lives Here, a visibility campaign designed to showcase creative life in the Prince George’s County Gateway Arts District. Art Lives Here was chosen from over 1,200 other projects across the country as an exceptional example of creative placemaking.

This is ArtPlace America’s third cycle of grant awards. With this round of grants, in total, ArtPlace America has awarded a total of $42.1 million in 134 grants to 124 projects. “ArtPlace America recognizes the central role arts and cultural activities can have in the revitalization of American cities.” Said Rip Rapson, chair of ArtPlace America’s Presidents’ Council. “With this grant award ArtPlace America is directing individual project support to scores of creative, high-impact projects throughout the country.”

Art Lives Here is being developed in collaboration with several other community based organizations including Art Works Studio School, City of Mount Rainier, Community Forklift, Gateway Community Development Corporation, Hyattsville Community Development Corporation, the Mount Rainier Business Association, The Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission, several developers and commercial property owners. Partners in the project will engage citizens through participatory public arts projects, pair artists with businesses and create pop-up installations, lease blighted commercial spaces and establish a Downtown Arts Season.

“The continued growth of the Gateway Arts District is critical to the expansion of one of our most important economic corridors in the County,” said Prince George’s County Executive Rushern L. Baker, III. “I want to congratulate Joe’s Movement Emporium for receiving this significant award from ArtPlace and I am very excited about the opportunities it will create for the Gateway Arts District and the County.”

“We receive this investment on behalf of the artists in the Gateway Arts District. We will use these funds for programming, marketing, the creation of new work, and to enhance arts education,” said Brooke Kidd, Joe’s executive director. “After 12 years of capital asset building in the Route 1 corridor, we are ready to animate the spaces and sustain an audience to benefit our small business community.”

ArtPlace America is a collaboration of leading national and regional foundations, banks and federal agencies committed to accelerating creative placemaking – putting art at the heart of a portfolio of strategies designed to revitalize communities. The complete list of 2013/2014 ArtPlace America awards can be found at www.artplaceamerica.org.

Share Your Arts District Photos, Videos, and Stories

Did you attend the Gateway Open Studios Tour, Mount Rainier Day, or other Art Lives Here programs? Share your favorite photos, videos, or stories to show that Art Lives Here! We’re updating our “Gateway on Foot” effort by expanding the Gateway Arts District’s Community Photo Gallery & Channel on MyGatewayArts.org. We’re also updating the Art Lives Here Blog to share blog entries by Gateway artists and visitors:

- Share a story or a blog entry of an exhibition you saw, an event you attended, or a place you’ve visited (like your favorite restaurant or gallery);

- Visit our Flickr Photo Group and upload your favorite photos (like your favorite exhibition); or

- Watch a video on our Youtube Channel (find live music, footage by Gateway Artists performing and exhibiting across the area, gallery tours, and promo videos!)

View our latest photos on flickr!

If you’d like to add, or have any questions, contact the MyGatewayArts.org Content Management Team.

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