Council designates Upper Peninsula Arts and Culture Alliance as local arts agency to pursue NEA regranting

The Escanaba City Council on May 15 approved a resolution designating the Upper Peninsula Arts and Culture Alliance as the city's local arts agency for purposes of applying for and, if awarded, regranting National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) funds across the Upper Peninsula.

Sue Rolle, president of the nonprofit's board, addressed council during public comment and described the alliance as a regional nonprofit that supports arts, history, libraries, museums and cultural programming across the Upper Peninsula. Rolle said the NEA now accepts regranting applications that require local governmental endorsement and that the alliance seeks to secure up to $30,000 to distribute to arts and culture projects in multiple cities across the region.

"We're all about promoting and facilitating arts and culture, which includes history, libraries, museums, arts, concerts, music, everything like that," Rolle said during public comment.

Councilors asked how the alliance would allocate funds if requests exceeded the award amount; Rolle said the alliance had not yet set final distribution criteria but intended to be open to eligible nonprofit arts organizations and to prioritize projects that demonstrated community connection. The resolution designates the alliance to operate "in cooperation with the city and to receive and subgrant funds from the National Endowment for the Arts." Council approved Resolution No. 25-09 by roll call.

Next steps: if the NEA award is granted to the alliance, the group will submit distribution criteria and project proposals for local awards; the city's designation enables the alliance to demonstrate official municipal support as required by the NEA regranting program.