Funding will go towards arts programming along the Hodiamont Greenway.
The St. Louis Arts Chamber has been approved for a $50,000 Our Town award from the National Endowment for the Arts to support arts programming along the Hodiamont Tracks (soon to be the Hodiamont Greenway). This is one of 51 grants nationwide that the agency has approved in this category to support projects that integrate arts, culture, and design activities into efforts that strengthen communities, advancing local economic, physical, and/or social outcomes, ultimately laying the groundwork for systems change and centering equity.
This initiative is a unique program fusing arts and community development. The Arts Chamber has partnered with the St. Louis Association of Community Organizations to transform vacant, potentially dangerous lots in the neighborhoods along the greenway into vibrant artist-designed parks and greenspaces, to become activated with arts programming.
Components of the project include:
- Oral history project gathering stories and testimonies from neighborhood residents, which will be used as inspiration for artwork created for the parks.
- Redeveloping vacant lots into parks and gardens.
- Little Free Library book sharing boxes installed along the Greenway.
- Mural on Taylor Avenue, designed by a student artist apprentice using community input, to be unveiled this Summer!
- Commissioning local artists to develop programming that will take place in the new spaces along the Greenway. Potential projects include public art and sculpture, music and dance performances, storytelling, and interactive workshops.
Judith Arnold, one of the leaders of this initiative, states “As an Urban Planner dedicated to reducing negative impacts of vacant lots in neighborhoods, this initiative serves as a model to be replicated. My work extends the successful passage of the $40M Prop NS by championing the greenway on the Hodiamont Tracks and developing a relationship with the St. Louis Arts Chamber of Commerce”
Mike LaBozzetta, President of the St. Louis Arts Chamber Board of Directors, adds “The Hodiamont Tracks is a special part of St. Louis with an important history of bringing this city together. We are thrilled to partner with SLACO to invest in this historic neighborhood and to celebrate art that brings us all together.”
The funds from the Our Town grant will go towards paying artists to create works for the Art Parks. A call for artists will be released in Fall 2022, with projects beginning in Spring and Summer 2023. For more information on the St. Louis Arts Chamber’s Hodiamont Tracks projects, please visit the Arts Chamber’s website: https://stlouisartschamberofcommerce.org/vacant-lot-rehabilitations-to-art-parks/
About the St. Louis Arts Chamber of Commerce: The Arts Chamber is a membership-based collaborative of artists and patrons who are committed to establishing the Greater St. Louis region as a premier arts destination. As an advocate for all genres and mediums of the arts, we aim to build a strong network of individuals and organizations with a shared interest in promoting and supporting professional growth, artistic expression, and community engagement.