MetLife Foundation Innovative Space Awards

The MetLife Foundation Innovative Space Awards (ISA) program recognizes, rewards, and promotes successful artist space development projects that exhibit innovation, affordability for artists, sustainability, and community impact.

The ISA is a competitive national awards program developed by LINC and MIT’s Department of Urban Studies and Planning in partnership with both the MetLife Foundation and the Ford Foundation. The program emphasizes the role affordable artist space projects play in community revitalization and socially progressive community development, and will increase awareness of replicable, sustainable approaches and models.

In December 2009, the MetLife Foundation Innovative Space Awards annouced awards ranging from $10,000 to $50,000 to provide support for six winning projects. The ISAs currently have an open call for entries to apply for the second and final cycle of awards. Online applications must be completed by 5pm EST on April 23, 2010.

The ISA seeks to identify opportunities for developers and urban planners to weave artists into community development strategies, and to enlist artists for projects that contribute to neighborhood revitalization through their concern for communities’ environmental well being, economic renewal, and diversity.

The Artists Space Database is a collection of applicant entries, and serves as comprehensive online resource. Through the award program, this online resource will establishes a national database of artist spaces to encourage the replication of model projects and policies. The increased visibility of these projects and their developers is intended to promote cross-sector collaborations among artists, developers, local municipalities, public agencies, artist-focused organizations, community development corporations, and others.

Best practices, research, project and community data, shared lessons, and other information on nominated and winning projects will be made widely available through LINC’s website. Found on www.lincnet.net, the Artists Space Database will house information gathered from program submissions and winning entries, creating a national database of artist spaces. The contributions of applicants will increase the quantity of available, searchable information. Data on types of artist spaces, building features, financing and development practices, and the functions of spaces both for artists and as contributors to the vibrancy and health of their surrounding communities will be accessible by a broad audience. The database has user-friendly and accessible features and is structured to capture essential information for those interested in learning about or pursuing artist space development projects – from artists and developers to researchers in the arts and community development fields. This database will serve as a comprehensive resource for the field, encouraging the exchange of ideas and practices related to artist space development projects and community revitalization.