Elevate scores $25K NEA grant for public art Downtown
The annual weeklong exhibition in Downtown Atlanta gets a boost in its fifth year
The city of Atlanta’s annual Downtown public art exhibition Elevate just got a boost from the National Endowment of the Arts in the form of a $25,000 grant.
The grant is one of 1,023 awards, totaling $74.3 million nationwide, the NEA will grant in this second round of 2015 funding. In a press release, the Mayor’s Office of Cultural Affairs Executive Director Camille Russell Love stated, “It is an honor to be recognized with this national grant as we prepare for the fifth year of ELEVATE. With the support of the NEA, we will continue to enhance resident and visitor experiences with public art in Downtown Atlanta.”
Spearheaded by former Public Art Division project supervisor at the Mayor’s Office of Cultural Affairs and Dashboard Co-op co-founder Courtney Hammond, Elevate has literally elevated the dead-end of Downtown for one week during the past four years. Local artists including Branden Collins, Romy Maloon, Abby Joslin, the Thimblerig Circus, and Kebbi Williams and the Wolfpack enlivened MARTA and deserted-after-work spaces last year in the Fairlie-Poplar District with large-scale installations, digital, visual, musical, and performance art.
Elevate 2015 is scheduled for October.