Outgoing NEA Chairman Dana Gioia recently announced the creation of a new funding category for artists’ communities – those organizations whose primary purpose is to promote and provide artistic residency programs. Mario Garcia Durham, NEA’s Director of Presenting, will oversee “Artists’ Communities” at the NEA. Here’s an excerpt from Chairman Gioia’s letter to the Alliance of Artist Communities…

"I have always understood the critical role that Artist Communities play
in American Culture. You are a unique field whose main focus is on the
individual artist. You play an irreplaceable role in this nation’s
artistic creativity and vision.

It is for these reasons that on October 31st the NEA’s National Council
on the Arts approved the creation of a new field designation for Artist
Communities. This is the first NEA new field designation in over a
decade.

Beginning this January, standing proudly along the fields of Music,
Dance, Theater, Opera, Visual Arts, and Literature will be the new, and
distinct, designation of Artist Communities."