We are pleased to announce that ACE has been approved by the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) for a Grants for Arts Projects award of $40,000. This grant will support digitizing, cataloging, and repatriating the 1935-39 Florida recordings made by Zora Neale Hurston and John and Alan Lomax, and hold workshops and a community scholar institute in the source communities. In total, the NEA will award 1,135 Grants for Arts Projects awards totaling more than $37 million as part of its second round of fiscal year 2024 grants.

“Projects like [these] exemplify the creativity and care with which communities are telling their stories, creating connection, and responding to challenges and opportunities in their communities—all through the arts,” said NEA Chair Maria Rosario Jackson, PhD. “So many aspects of our communities such as cultural vitality, health and wellbeing, infrastructure, and the economy are advanced and improved through investments in art and design, and the National Endowment for the Arts is committed to ensuring people across the country benefit.”

We look forward to working with our partners in this project, including the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress, Dr. Antoinette Jackson (University of South Florida; Living Heritage Institute/Story Studio; Black Cemetery Network), Nicka Sewell-Smith (BlackProGen LIVE), and the Florida Folklife Program.

Stay tuned for updates and programming announcements! 

For more information on other projects included in the NEA’s grant announcement, visit arts.gov/news.