Center for Great Neighborhoods announces third round of Covington creative grants

The Center for Great Neighborhoods recently announced its third round of Creative Community Grant recipients. A total of $30,000 was awarded to seven Covington projects designed to engage and impact the city through art.
 
The focus this round is on inclusion, highlighting the uniqueness of Covington’s residents and working to make all feel welcome in the community.
 
Braille-ing a New Trail (Northern Kentucky Council of the Blind)
NKCB is partnering with Covington chefs to encourage a more inclusive restaurant experience in the city. A number of restaurants are offering group cooking classes for the blind and visually impaired; in exchange, NKCB will give the restaurants large print and Braille menus. The Braille printer will be purchased with funds from the grant and housed at CGN for use by any Covington restaurant or service provider who’s interested in the feature. Wunderbar, the program’s first participant, will be teaching NKCB members how to make its famous pretzels.
 
Collective Mosaic Mural (Ximena Flores, Anne Marie Herrera, Luis Laya)
The mosaic will depict flowers blossoming into birds and flying as a flock, reflecting the Westside’s diversity, growth, community and transformation. The community is invited to help assemble the mosaic as well as bring items to incorporate into the design.
 
Little Free Art Studio (Annie Brown)
The free-standing weatherproof art studio will be much like the Little Free Library, but for art. The studio will have a variety of art supplies and invite passersby to create something unique.
C. Jacqueline Wood 
The Mini Microcinema Exhibition at The Carnegie (The Mini Microcinema, C. Jacqueline Wood)
During March and April, The Carnegie will host a small pop-up movie theater in its gallery space. Seven weeks of programming will include film screenings, performances and moving image installations by a variety of national, regional and Northern Kentucky artists with diverse backgrounds and POVs. The Mini Microcinema installation is free and open to the public.
 
Raymond Thunder-Sky Spirit Tower (Thunder-Sky Inc.)
Thunder-Sky plans to erect an outdoor sculpture to commemorate the life and legacy of Raymond Thunder-Sky, a Native American artist who had a developmental disability. He traveled the region dressed as a construction worker and clown, drawing construction and demolition sites in Greater Cincinnati. Tom Tsuchiya, a Cincinnati sculptor whose work is on display all over the world, will create the sculpture.
 
Westside Makers: A Community Event (Calcagno Cullen)
The project aims to illuminate makers by hosting a “meet the makers field day,” which will produce the DIY Westside Makers Book. Any Westside maker is invited for an afternoon to set up shop outside, welcoming the community to join in. It will serve as a release for the book, which will feature DIY recipes, designs and instructions as well as stories and portraits of Covington makers.
 
What Makes a Street Pleasant? (Anissa Lewis)
Starting with one conversation, Lewis hopes to engage those who live on and around Pleasant Street in the Eastside neighborhood and find out what Covington means to them. The event will culminate in a large community-based conversation and will conclude in a face-to-face community meal.
 
Creative Community Grants are funded through a multi-year grant from The Kresge Foundation to help implement creative placemaking actitives in Covington, particularly the Westside neighborhood. CGN will continue awarding up to $5,000 per grant to a variety of projects over the next two years, addressing a different issue and theme each round.