Arts

An Old Concept, A New Need

Scottsbluff • Arts, Community Vitality, Culture, Economic Development, Media Arts

 Drive-ins typically conjure up nostalgic images of days gone by; of first dates and family outings to the movies in the car. When the Midwest Theater in Scottsbluff closed its doors temporarily due to COVID-19, Executive Director Billy Estes immediately missed the interaction of the theater. It wasn’t long before Estes had the creative idea to implement a drive-in theater, and the SkyView Drive-In Theater was born.   Improvising a screen on a box truck in […]

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Nebraska Cultural Endowment Grants $300,000 in Additional Funding

Nebraska • Access, Arts, Community Vitality, Culture, Economic Development, Humanities, Statewide

Special fund distribution to help sustain Nebraska arts and cultural programs The Board of the Nebraska Cultural Endowment announced the distribution of $300,000 in grant funding to support Nebraska’s cultural infrastructure. The special distribution is in addition to NCE’s normal annual distribution, most recently $460,000 in April 2020. “The decision to make this unprecedented distribution […]

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Telling an Endless Story

Nebraska • Access, Arts, Community Vitality, Culture, Education, Government, Humanities, Statewide

How does one tell an endless story in a way that captivates imagination while providing concrete examples? This was the challenge faced by the Nebraska Cultural Endowment when we revisited our creative strategy. A creative strategy uses images and text to share a message with an audience. For many years, the Endowment’s creative strategy focused […]

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Not Your Typical License Plate

Nebraska • Arts, Culture, Economic Development, Government, Statewide, Visual Arts

The Nebraska Arts Council is currently seeking designs for the new “Support the Arts” license plate. Nebraska Legislative Bill 942, introduced by Senator Megan Hunt, was passed on July 31. This bill allows Nebraska Arts Council to create a new specialty license plate that will provide funding for the newly defined Creative Districts in Nebraska. […]

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Nebraska State Poet Matt Mason – Finding Creative Ways to Serve

Nebraska • Access, Arts, Community Vitality, Education, Fine Arts, Government, Humanities, Statewide

When Matt Mason was named Nebraska State Poet in January 2019, he couldn’t have imagined how the landscape of that position would change in 2020. Mason, serving a five-year term, had been traveling and giving presentations, readings, and leading workshops and many other venues in rural and urban communities across the state prior to the […]

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Over $1.1M Awarded to Nebraska Organizations

Nebraska • Access, Arts, Culture, Government, Humanities, Statewide

Five Nebraska organizations received CARES Act grants directly from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH), and six Nebraska organizations received CARES Act grants directly from the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA). These grants, totaling $1,107,206 were awarded separately and in addition to those recently awarded and announced by our partners, the Nebraska Arts […]

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Willa Cather’s Legacy Transformed a Community

Red Cloud, Nebraska • Arts, Community Vitality, Culture, History, Humanities

If Willa Cather were to visit Red Cloud today, she would still feel right at home. Since the founding of Willa Cather Foundation in 1955, the community has embraced the legacy of the literary icon in ways that keep both her work and the community relevant and vibrant. Red Cloud has become home to the […]

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Humanities Nebraska and Nebraska Arts Council CARES Act Grants Announced

Nebraska • Access, Arts, Community Vitality, Culture, Economic Development, Education, Government, Humanities, Statewide

Humanities Nebraska and Nebraska Arts Council have made distributions of CARES Act dollars to Nebraska nonprofit cultural organizations. Funding has been provided by the National Endowment for Humanities and National Endowment for the Arts as part of  the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act economic stabilization plan.  These grants will give financial relief […]

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Driving Students to the Arts

Nebraska • Access, Arts, Education, Statewide

School Bus for the Arts is one of the Nebraska Arts Council’s most popular offerings and is supported by the Nebraska Cultural Endowment.   This program creates widespread access to arts education by defraying some of the costs for pre-Kindergarten through 12th grade students to attend professional arts events throughout the state.  The juniors and seniors at Central Valley High School in Greeley, NE recently visited the Orpheum in Omaha to see the hit Broadway musical, Hamilton. Nicki Underwood, Central […]

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Bob Nefsky Shows Passion for Sustaining Arts, Humanities

Nebraska • Arts, Culture, Donor Story, Government, Humanities

“The Arts and Humanities are one of the principal things that reflect the era and generations in which we live,” said Bob Nefsky, a Lincoln attorney and a founder of the Nebraska Cultural Endowment. “The one thing that will survive us is the arts, culture, and humanities.” Bob first became involved with the arts and […]

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