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The award-winning plan calls for a proposed 50-foot-wide, 1,250-foot-long garden bridge and arboretum that would span Interstate 630, linking the SOMA (South Main) neighborhood to McArthur Park. Image courtesy University of Arkansas Community Design Center.

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – The National Endowment for the Arts is awarding a $50,000 grant to the University of Arkansas Community Design Center, an outreach program of the Fay Jones School of Architecture. The funding comes as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, commonly referred to as the federal “economic stimulus” program.

The NEA has roughly $50 million to distribute to arts organizations around the country, for the purpose of preserving or creating jobs. The Community Design Center will use the grant funds to help pay the salaries of its four full-time staff members.

“The center depends on grants, contracts and donations, in addition to our annual support from the university, to meet our operating expenses,” said Stephen Luoni, director of the Community Design Center. “It’s obvious that in the current economic climate this grant from the NEA is very important to us.”

The University of Arkansas Community Design Center was established in 1995 to advance creative development in Arkansas through education, research and design solutions that enhance the physical environment. The professional staff and university students connected to the center have provided innovative and award-winning design and planning services for more than 30 Arkansas communities and organizations, and helping them raise more than $62 million in grant funding to complete suggested improvements. Projects the center has designed include affordable “green” neighborhoods for Habitat for Humanity and the MacArthur Park District Master Plan.

To qualify for a grant an organization must have received a previous NEA grant in the past four years. The Community Design Center and the Arkansas Repertory Theatre Co. were the only two organizations in Arkansas to be awarded the stimulus grants.

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Contact:

Stephen Luoni, director
University of Arkansas Community Design Center
479-575-5772, sluoni@uark.edu

Steve Voorhies, manager, media relations
University Relations
479-575-3583, voorhies@uark.edu