Iroquois Museum to Receive 83,340 ArtsHERE Grant

HOWES CAVE — The Iroquois Museum is one of 112 organizations nationwide selected to receive an ArtsHERE grant for $83,340.00 as part of a new pilot program from the National Endowment for the Arts, in partnership with South Arts and collaboration with the other five U.S. Regional Arts Organizations.  These grants support specific projects that will strengthen the organization’s capacity to sustain meaningful community engagement and increase arts participation for underserved groups and communities. 

“The National Endowment for the Arts is thrilled to provide resources to a group of exceptional organizations through ArtsHERE, a program to help deepen meaningful and lasting arts engagement in underserved communities,” said Maria Rosario Jackson, PhD, Chair of the National Endowment for the Arts.  “Everyone should be able to live an artful life, and ArtsHERE is an important step in ensuring we are strengthening our nation’s arts ecosystem to make this a reality.” 

Historically underserved groups and communities – those whose opportunities to experience the arts have been limited by factors such as geography, race or ethnicity, economics, or disability – frequently report lower rates of participation in various arts activities than other groups do. ArtsHERE aims to address disparities in arts participation through grants that help organizations better serve and reach their communities.

 The Iroquois Museum is an educational institution dedicated to fostering an understanding of Iroquois culture using Iroquois art as a window to that culture. The project represents developing and implementing an effective promotional plan that will steadily grow Museum visitation and serve as a sustainable model that can be built upon beyond the grant period.  This includes professionalizing our current efforts to grow and diversify our visitor base.  The Project also includes developing a strategy to raise awareness of the Museum as a resource that offers unique arts experiences and initiates intercultural dialogue.  By engaging an experienced consultant, the Museum will maximize its communication efforts and establish vital groundwork in best practices related to creative marketing, messaging, and promotion.

The Iroquois Museum ArtsHERE grant award will assist in the creation and implementation of a multi-channel marketing campaign to reach underserved communities and increase engagement for the 2025-2026 seasons.  While the Museum upholds the highest program standards, we have limited promotional capacity due to a modest marketing budget and extremely small staff, none of which are marketing professionals. This award will make it possible to address this liability by securing the skills of a communication and marketing professional on a contractual basis for two years. 

More than 4,000 organizations applied for ArtsHERE funding in late 2023 and early 2024.  Applications were reviewed by multiple review panels based on published review criteria. This includes the applicant’s organizational capacity and capacity-building project, alignment with ArtsHERE’s commitment to equity, and engagement with historically underserved communities.  The selected organizations will receive funding to support their project, which will take place between October 2024 through June 2026.  For more information on all of the ArtsHERE recommended grants, visit artsHere.org. 

ArtsHere is also supported by The Wallace Foundation through matching funds to the Regional Arts Organizations in support of this program.