Announced just last week - Ford Foundation grant to NALAC

[Hey, Latino artists and cultural workers: more money for NALAC translates to more $$ to support our work...! ]


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

August 14, 2008


NALAC Receives $475,000 from the Ford Foundation
Grant to Support NALAC Fund for the Arts and a New Transnational Arts Fund

SAN ANTONIO – The National Association of Latino Arts and Culture (NALAC) has been awarded $475,000 from the Ford Foundation to support the NALAC Fund for the Arts and launch a new regranting initiative designed to promote intergenerational cultural transmission and community participation in the United States, Mexico and Central America.

NALAC, which celebrates its 20th Anniversary in 2009, delivers important services to the national Latino arts and culture sector through a series of core programs. These programs include direct funding support, leadership training, regional and national convenings, and field research.

“It is an honor to receive this generous award,” says NALAC Executive Director Maria Lopez de Leon. “This grant will enable NALAC to provide much needed support to an innovative community of Latino artists and organizations whose work greatly enriches the cultural life of the nation and promotes understanding among culturally and economically linked populations in other communities in the Americas.”

The NALAC Fund for the Arts (NFA), which was launched in 2005 with major support from the Ford Foundation and JPMorgan Chase, has awarded more than $379,000 in three years to 128 Latino artists, ensembles, and small and mid-size Latino arts and culture organizations. The grantees reflect every discipline and region of the country.

The new Transnational Cultural Remittance (TCR) initiative builds on NALAC’s longstanding leadership role in supporting artistic work that addresses issues of social justice, cultural transmission and economic empowerment. The TCR initiative will support the creation and dissemination of new artistic works that directly explore, engage and articulate the complex issues facing transnational communities in the United States, Mexico and Central America.

“We are thankful for the Ford Foundation’s continued support,” says Abel Lopez, Chair of the NALAC Board. “Through their partnership in programs such as the NFA, the Ford Foundation is making a difference in the quality of life in communities across the country. Through the Transnational Cultural Remittance initiative, we look forward to addressing serious cultural issues and creating new avenues for artistic, social and economic participation throughout North America and Central America”

The NALAC Transnational Cultural Remittance initiative builds on NALAC's experience administering the NALAC Fund for the Arts and its long-term commitment to empowering artists and arts and culture organizations working on issues vital to communities in the United States, Mexico, Central America, Latin America, and the Caribbean. Guidelines for the new NALAC Transnational Cultural Remittances regranting initiative will be available later this year.

About the Ford Foundation: The Ford Foundation is an independent, nonprofit grant-making organization. For more than half a century it has been a resource for innovative people and institutions worldwide, guided by its goals of strengthening democratic values, reducing poverty and injustice, promoting international cooperation and advancing human achievement. With headquarters in New York, the foundation has offices in Africa, the Middle East, Asia, Latin America and Russia.

About NALAC: Founded in 1989, NALAC is the only national Latino arts and culture service organization in the United States. It plays a vital role in fostering understanding, providing advocacy, conducting original research, creating networking opportunities, and providing leadership instruction that ensures the health and sustainability of the national Latino arts. NALAC’s core programs include the NALAC Fund for the Arts, the annual NALAC Leadership Institute, Regional Arts Training Workshops, the NALAC National Conference, El Aviso Latino arts magazine, and the monthly eBoletin online newsletter. NALAC is headquartered in San Antonio, Texas.


For more information, call 210-432-3982, email maria@nalac.org or visit www.nalac.org

# # #