The Department of Arts and Culture wants to support applications from the region for NEA Our Town funding. However, an appropriate amount of time is necessary to review and discuss proposed projects, partnerships, and collaboration, and allow sufficient notice and time to route correspondence to elected officials. Please plan accordingly.
The NEA Our Town grant is a unique opportunity with unique requirements. Notably, Our Town requires all proposals to include partnership between a government entity and the non-governmental arts organization, demonstrated by a partner support letter. If you plan on applying to NEA Our Town grant and are requesting a partner letter of support, please contact the LA County Department of Arts and Culture at least 21 days before the application due date with the following information via email to grants@arts.lacounty.gov:
- Confirmation that the applicant and proposal meet all NEA Our Town eligibility requirements.
- Brief scope of your proposed project.
- Brief scope of proposed partnership with Department of Arts and Culture. Please keep in mind that scope and depth of partnerships and collaborations vary and are limited depending on agency capacity and what initiatives are already underway.
- Draft letter of support that we can use and/or update as needed.
- Name of the most relevant Department of Arts and Culture division to contact: Grants, Arts Education, Civic Art, Research and Evaluation.
Once you submit your email it will be routed to appropriate staff for follow up.
- Please note that requesting a partner letter of support does not guarantee that one will be provided to you. As the requests require some level of partnership and collaboration, further internal discussion is needed to determine Department’s capacity as well as alignment to agency goals as well as support from Board offices.
- If your organization is not a current grantee of the Department of Arts and Culture, please provide additional background information with the following: link to website, mission, history, as well as documented producing and programming history in Los Angeles County from 2019-2022 either in-person or online that was open to the public. Fundraising events and programs do not qualify. Documentation may include links to press or reviews, organization website, social media. Additionally, include submitted Federal Form 990 for most recently completed year.
- In addition to the partner support letter to show partnership with a local government entity, NEA Our Town requires that the highest government official provide a letter of support. If you are seeking partnership with LA County, the highest official is a member of the Board of Supervisors. Please cc the Department at grants@arts.lacounty.gov on all such requests to Board offices. For projects where the Department of Arts and Culture is providing a partner support letter, staff can facilitate a request to Board offices for the elected official signature. Please note that routing letters of support to elected officials may take 7-10 business days so plan accordingly.
Requests for Partner Support Letters
Please note that the following criteria must be met:
- Organization meets all NEA Our Town eligibility requirements (including legal requirements and organization 3-year history of programming)
- Department has the resources and capacity to serve as a partner for the project
- Proposals are not in conflict with Department’s mission or Department/County/Board policies and are not competing with an application that the Department is preparing to submit
- Organization has demonstrated ability to carry out the proposed project
- Proposal is responsive to the needs of the community that applicant proposes to serve