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City of Boise Arts & History awards 11 America 250 grants from $30,000 pool
Summary
The City of Boise Arts & History Commission announced 11 recipients of a $30,000 America 250 grant pool drawn from the department's annual $150,000 grant program; 28 viable applications requested about $77,000 in total and most awards were reduced from applicant requests.
Keri, an Arts & History staff member, told the commission the department reserved $30,000 from its usual $150,000 annual grants budget for a special America 250 opportunity aimed at projects that interpret national themes locally.
The awards program drew 28 viable applications with a total request of about $77,000, Keri said, and a review panel that included Gabby representing the commission, four community members and a City of Boise Office of Community Engagement staff member selected 11 recipients to share the $30,000 pool.
"At the end of the day, we awarded 11 recipients for the available $30,000," Keri said. She described the review as a collaborative conversation and noted that most awards were for reduced amounts compared with applicants' requests. The America 250 opportunities were designed to align with five themes from the American Association for State and Local History, including Unfinished Revolutions and Power of Place.
Selected projects include a Juneteenth celebration project described as community‑building efforts; City Club of Boise's archiving project to digitize and transcribe forum recordings from 1995–2005; Full Circle Idaho's "Landscapes Project" exploring Boise's physical environment; a storytelling event at the Idaho State History Museum organized by the Foundation for Idaho History; a Jimma Arts concert series; Boise Bard Players performances of The Tempest staged in unusual locations; expansion of Treasure Valley Children's Theater's school program; a six‑part community workshop from African Community Development; a Boise Little Theater production; historian programming for youth camps by Trike; and a concert/performance by Common Ground Community Choir.
Keri said most of the projects are slated to take place in the summer but may start as early as April and run through the end of the fiscal year in September. When asked whether awardees received their full requests, she said, "Almost everybody is a reduced amount," and added that, based on conversations with recipients, she expects the projects will proceed.
Keri also clarified procedural timing: the America 250 awards were part of the FY26 annual grant cycle and organizations that are current or prior recipients may apply again in FY27 when that application period opens.
All grant details and award amounts will be posted on Arts & History's event calendar and the America 250 web pages, Keri said.
