Washington, DC— The Citizens' Institute on Rural DesignTM (CIRD) is pleased to announce that six organizations have been selected to host rural design workshops for the 2016-2017 program year. The workshops will bring together local leaders, non-profits, community organizations, and citizens with a team of rural planning and creative placemaking professionals to craft actionable solutions to their communities’ development and design challenges. CIRD is a program of the National Endowment for the Arts in partnership with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Project for Public Spaces, and the Orton Family Foundation.
Recommended by a rural review panel, the six host communities are: Thomasville, GA; Salmon, ID; Isle de Jean Charles, LA; Red Lodge, MT; Hogansburg, NY and Chimacum, WA. CIRD awardees receive a $10,000 stipend to support the workshop and follow-up planning sessions. Each also receives in-kind design expertise and technical assistance valued at $35,000, and additional support through webinars, conference calls, and web-based resources on www.rural-design.org.
"The Citizens' Institute on Rural DesignTM represents important tenets of the NEA’s work,” said NEA Chairman Jane Chu. “By providing resources to assist rural communities in crafting design and arts-based solutions to their development challenges, the NEA and its partners will help make a difference in the quality of life for these rural places.”
“We were extremely impressed by the volume and high quality of the applications we received. The selected communities demonstrate rich potential for leveraging partnerships to take action on a wide range of rural design issues,” said Cynthia Nikitin, CIRD Program Director and Senior Vice President of Project for Public Spaces, Inc.
“Each of the projects selected for CIRD workshops has the potential to lay the foundation for positive transformation. Collectively they demonstrate how planning for the future by focusing on assets and opportunities strengthens the social, cultural, and economic vibrancy of communities,” said David Leckey, Executive Director of the Orton Family Foundation.
In addition to the workshops that will be scheduled fall 2016 through spring 2017, the Orton Family Foundation will be offering free on-line capacity building events that are open to the public. These quarterly webinars will be geared towards leaders working on issues related to rural design or planning, and will help participants develop the skills they need to succeed, as well as provide inspiration to help them get started. For information and registration click here.
