By Rachel Stenger
The city of Muncie has given more than $45,000 in grants to several organizations in an effort to improve the city.
The Community Foundation of Muncie and Delaware County awarded eight grants in its final cycle of the year. The grants were given to nonprofit agencies and awarded in five areas of interest: arts and culture, human services, economic development, education and community betterment.
“I think it’s a nice mix,” Suzanne Kadinger, program officer, said. “Though this was a small grant cycle for us, we hit many different types of organizations. ... [It was] a broad range.”
Muncie Downtown Development Partnership received $10,000 from the Edmund F. and Virginia B. Ball Foundation to support the Muncie Three Trails Music Series. The series will feature four concerts at Canan Commons, a city park that opened in October during the annual ArtsWalk.
The concerts will start in mid-May and continue through September, featuring artists from different genres. Vicki Veach, executive director of Downtown Development, said they are targeting regional and national recording artists, but they do not have any specifics in mind yet.
“It’s also an opportunity for us to encourage people that don’t live in Delaware County — as well as people in Delaware County — to come enjoy our three trails ... as well as our many attractions in the area,” Veach said. “So it’s a package that we’ll promote all together.”
Canan Commons is located near the Horizon Convention Center, which is near Cardinal Greenway and the White River Trail. The Muncie Arts and Culture Trail officially opened earlier in September.
Veach said they will find other events happening in the community on a given weekend and tie in the concert to that as well.
The cost of the concert series is going to total around $75,000, Veach said, so the partnership is looking for other funding from different venues.
Muncie-Delaware Clean and Beautiful received $4,500 from the Fisher Quality of Place Fund. According to a press release from the Community Foundation, the organization will use the money to help fund a spring clean-up event to beautify the street medians around Muncie.
Other organizations that received grants included Ronald McDonald House of Indiana, Middletown Arts Project and Muncie Southside Band and Guard.
