Eureka Springs artist John Rankine has received the Mid-America Arts Alliance Artists 360 Creative Impact Award, the M-AAA announced in a news release Tuesday, Oct. 15.
“The Creative Impact Award provides one exceptional artist based in Northwest Arkansas with unrestricted funds of $25,000 and professional development opportunities, including retreats that facilitate network building,” the M-AAA news release says.
The Creative Impact Award is the largest of 31 grants announced by the M-AAA, which total $300,000.
From its inception in 2018, Artists 360 has awarded $1.3 million to seven cohorts of 157 artists in Northwest Arkansas and the River Valley, according to the news release. The Walton Family Foundation provided $300,000 in funds for Artists 360 grant awards this year, up from $234,000 in 2023.
“We are thrilled to broaden the scope of the Artists 360 program with the generous increased funding from the Walton Family Foundation,” Diane Scott, director of artist services at Mid-AAA, said in the news release. “Artists 360’s shift to practice-based funding provides recipients with the flexibility to invest in their creative practice, ultimately strengthening the arts ecosystem in the region. The combination of artist funding, professional development, and peer network development has made a significant impact not just on the Artists 360 grantees, but to artists across the region.”
Candidates for the awards are selected through both nominations and formal applications. Rankine was also an Artists 360 project grant recipient in 2018 for his photographic essay, Men With Earrings.
“At almost 70 years of age, I have been creating artwork for many years, and also encouraging other artists through friendship and the curatorial process,” Rankine said in the news release. “I can’t begin to express the validation this award has given me— to be recognized by a jury of peers for my life’s work and for the impact they believe I’ve made on our city’s community of artists.”
For more information about M-AAA’s Artists 360 program, visit artists360.art.
