Fairfield Cultural Alliance invites public to apply for mini-grants

FAIRFIELD — The Fairfield Cultural Alliance has announced that it is taking applications for its annual round of mini-grants.

These small grants will be awarded to individuals and organizations for creating events or projects that benefit and promote the art and/or culture of Fairfield.

Applications will be judged according to the following criteria:

Art, culture, civic and educational values of the Jefferson County.

The impact of the project on cultural tourism in Jefferson County.

Past grants to your organization.

Grants from the Cultural Trust Fund may be used for project designs programing, and operation.

Preference may be given to events/programs within the state-designated Cultural District.

Shanaz Kreider, a member of the FCA board of directors who is in charge of mini-grant applications, said her organization has remained active during these last couple of “pandemic years,” but it did have to slow down. The FCA had to reduce the number of mini-grants it awarded in 2020 and 2021, and it wasn’t able to hold its annual awards ceremony in-person. She said it’s doubtful the group will hold an awards ceremony this year, too.

“We have a trust fund that is managed by the Greater Jefferson County Foundation,” Kreider said.

Kreider said that, in a normal year, the FCA can afford to give six to eight mini-grants to various groups and individuals, and that it had to reduce that number to three or four the last couple of years.

She said she’s happy to report that the FCA is getting back to normal by printing its annual booklet on a walking tour of Fairfield. It stopped printing that booklet during the pandemic but will resume printing this year. The booklet is 20-odd pages containing information about historic buildings and local businesses.

“We didn’t do it during COVID because a lot of businesses had to close or had limited hours,” Kreider said. “We try to promote different places in town like the museum, or write articles about the flower shop and when it opened. We tell people about Maasdam Barns and how it started.”

Kreider spoke about one program the FCA recently completed was the “Clean Parks Project,” a contest where the FCA invited local artists to design signs to encourage people to pick up after themselves in parks. Ultimately, five artists were selected, and they designed 14 signs that were posted at four city parks in Fairfield: Chautauqua, Howard, Waterworks and O.B. Nelson. The winning artists received a 20-punch pass to the Cambridge Rec Center.

“We noticed that during the spring and summer, people would go to [Waterworks Park] for lunch and swimming, and there was trash and cups all over the place,” Kreider said. “We wanted to encourage people to put their trash in cans, so it saves city employees lots of works cleaning it up. And for the people who visit our town, it’s nice for them to see our parks neat and clean, which encourages them to come back.”

Kreider said FCA is always hungry for new members, since the current board members have served for many years and are ready to pass the baton to the next group of leaders.

“We need new blood and new ideas,” Kreider said.

To learn more about FCA, or to submit an application for one of its mini-grants, visit fairfieldculturaldistrict.org. Applications will be taken through Nov. 20. Kreider can be reached at 641-233-8112 or shanazr@earthlink.net.

Call Andy Hallman at 641-575-0135 or email him at andy.hallman@southeastiowaunion.com