Trillium Project to Receive $50,000 Our Town Grant from the National Endowment for the Arts

Portsmouth, Ohio —Trillium Project has been approved for a $50,000 Our Town award from the
National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) to support Second Glance. This is one of 68 grants
nationwide, totaling $5 million, that the NEA has approved in the Our Town category. These
creative placemaking grants support projects that integrate arts, culture, and design activities into
local efforts to strengthen and engage communities, center equity, advance artful lives, and lay
the groundwork for long-term systems change.
“Projects like Second Glance exemplify the creativity and care with which communities are
telling their stories, creating connection, and responding to challenges and opportunities in their
communities—all through the arts,” said NEA Chair Maria Rosario Jackson, PhD. “So many
aspects of our communities such as cultural vitality, health and wellbeing, infrastructure, and the
economy are advanced and improved through investments in art and design, and the National
Endowment for the Arts is committed to ensuring people across the country benefit.”
“Our community deserves a second glance,” says Amanda Lewis, Executive Director for
Trillium Project. “Through our project, residents will start to see their community through a new
lens. We’re paying attention to neglected and distressed parts of the city, and improving them
through art and art opportunities. We’re providing paid working opportunities for local and
marginalized artists, who will get to do what they love where they live.”
Second Glance is a two-year collaborative art-making project to engage and empower the
Portsmouth, Ohio community and revitalize neglected and distressed areas by installing
community-created artwork, such as asphalt art – including crosswalks and sidewalks –
community photography, storefront art, overpass and underpass murals, and popup installations
in unexpected places.
“Our vision for this project is to create vibrant, beautiful spaces reflective of the energy,
diversity, and tenacity of Portsmouth and its residents,” Lewis says.
For more information about Second Glance, visit the Trillium Project website at