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Fairmount Park Conservancy gets $3 million grant

The Fairmount Park Conservancy has been awarded a $3 million grant to involve local artists and arts organizations in its ongoing work to support the city's municipal park system, the organization announced Monday.

The Fairmount Park Conservancy has been awarded a $3 million grant to involve local artists and arts organizations in its ongoing work to support the city's municipal park system, the organization announced Monday.

The award - given by ArtPlace America, a public-private philanthropy - was one of six similar grants issued this week to regional organizations across the country, including gifts to groups in fields as varied as public housing, health care, and youth development.

The goal for each award, ArtPlace executive director Jamie Bennett said in a statement, is to encourage what the philanthropy calls "creative placemaking" - that is, the inclusion of art and cultural projects in community development and renovation plans.

The Fairmount Park Conservancy outlined no specific plans for the money in a statement announcing the grant award Monday.

But the organization has scheduled an Oct. 22 community forum to discuss possible uses.

ArtPlace America, a collaboration of national and regional foundations, banks and federal agencies, has given $67 million to support public art projects nationwide since its founding in 2011. In July, the philanthropy awarded $415,000 to the Mural Arts Program to support its work in Southwest Philadelphia. - Jeremy Roebuck