(The Center Square) – Lansing will give $83,750 to nine arts and cultural groups in Lansing to create art, hold events, and plan festivals within the next year.
The Fiscal Year 2023 Arts Project grantees include the following:
Capital City Film Festival.Lansing 5:01.Lansing Art Gallery and Education Center.Lansing Matinee Musicale.Lansing Poetry Club.Lansing Symphony Orchestra.Michigan Institute for Contemporary Art.Michigan Dance and Movement Collective.REO Town Commercial Association.
The spending aims to beautify the city hit hard by Michigan’s work-from-home policy enacted during COVID that helped kill the capital city’s foot traffic.
Mayor Andy Schor welcomed the spending.
“We are so proud of this grant program and the support it offers our arts and cultural organizations,” Schor said in a statement. “The Arts and Culture Grants provide funding that highlights the important work our community organizations do to make our city one that is vibrant, growing and economically thriving. These dollars help them to bring forth projects, festivals, concerts, educational experiences and more that enrich the lives of our residents and draw tourists to our region and our downtown. With every effort we make to feature Lansing as an arts destination, we support our area’s tourism industry, our business owners and our entrepreneurs, all those folks that make Lansing prosperous.”
The annual City of Lansing Arts and Culture Grants program funds the art project grants, administered by by the Arts Council of Greater Lansing, which is funded by donations and member dues.
The Lansing Arts and Culture Grants help organizations create community-driven artistic projects and a “sense of place” for residents, businesses, and visitors. The Arts Project Grants specifically fund projects and programs that increase accessibility to arts and culture for everyone.
Arts Council Director Meghan Martin said the spending aims to make Lansing a “destination city.”
“Administering the City of Lansing Arts Projects grants is an honor we look forward to every year, and we are so excited to see the 2023 projects our area organizations have planned,” said Martin said in a statement. “Mayor Schor and the City of Lansing have made arts funding a priority for our region, and we are so grateful to them for supporting arts and culture and believing in its power to make Greater Lansing a destination city. Our arts and cultural organizations bring vibrancy and opportunity to our region, and they truly are deserving of this support.”
