Community Project Grants Update
Margaret Mead said, “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.” At Enough Pie, we feel the same way. We think that creative and collaborative projects have the ability to catalyze positive change in a community when citizens come together to implement good ideas. One project on its own may seem small, but collectively these projects can build social capital, reach more stakeholders and add vibrancy and diversity to an area.
The Community Project Grants are a signature piece of Enough Pie’s programming. We believe the best ideas for a community come from those most passionate about its future. We know we don’t have all the ideas – so we want to throw the opportunity back to the community via targeted “micro-funds” that support projects with art and culture at the core. To date we have funded four of these Community Project Grants from community-made mosaic hopscotch boards to a student photography project about African American burial grounds. Find Hop, Skip and a Jump at the Romney Urban Garden and join Ramona La Roche on December 28th for the Kwanzaa UJIMAA celebration, at 1630 Meeting Street at 5pm. Ramona and the student photographers will be talking about the exhibit Gullah Book of the Dead.
Enough Pie’s work is focused in the area of the Upper Peninsula, but there are great things that can be done all across this fine City. That is why we are very excited to be a part of a new website that encourages citizens to share ideas about what they would do to make the City of Charleston even better. If you were Mayor is an incredible platform for sharing ideas and building momentum. We hope some of our ideas will reach more people and we hope more people will share ideas with us! So get your creative juices flowing and if your project fits into our Community Project Grant parameters, you just might be able to take your idea out of cyberspace and into reality! Take some time to explore this new website! What would you do if you were Mayor?
We plan to launch the 3rd round of Community Project Grants in early 2015. In the past our CPGs have been very opened ended as long as they included art and culture. Going forward we plan to take a more thematic approach to get people thinking about collaboration more specifically. For the 3rd round of CPGs we will be looking for creative ideas that happen where Art + Education collide. So start brainstorming projects and stay tuned for the call for applications!