PNC Financial Services Group doesn’t operate any banks in Duval County, but this morning it made a deposit of up to $510,000 to support arts and culture.
“Our goal is to get children who aren’t typically exposed to art hooked on it,” said Cressman Bronson, PNC regional president for Florida East.
The company operates a mortgage service and call center near Gate Parkway that employs 500 people, he said.
The PNC Arts Alive! Program is seeking, beginning Wednesday, grant requests starting at $10,000 from arts organizations that promote visual and performing arts, public programming and creative use of technology.
The grants will be made over three years in Duval, Broward and Palm Beach counties.
“These grants will be very important. The arts are not in all parts of Duval County,” said Tony Allegretti, executive director of the Cultural Council of Greater Jacksonville.
The council will convene a panel to evaluate the grant applications in partnership with the PNC Foundation.
The program is designed to support smaller arts organizations in the county, which often struggle to secure funding, said PNC spokeswoman Zoraya Suarez.
Rena Coughlin, executive director of the Nonprofit Center of Northeast Florida, said more than 60 percent of the nonprofits in the area have annual budgets of less than $500,000 and they lack development resources needed to compete for large grants.
“Small organizations have the toughest time getting funding. It’s particularly tough when it comes to government grants,” she said.
Since it began in 2009, PNC Foundation, through Arts Alive, has awarded $13 million in grants to cultural organizations in Philadelphia, St. Louis and Columbus, Ohio.
Examples of grants include new exhibitions and festivals, pop-up theaters, mobile arts vans and family arts programs.
Bronson said priority will be given to applications that impact the most children in the community, specifically in underserved neighborhoods.
“We challenge the arts organizations in the region to get creative,” he said.
The application deadline is July 15. Grants will be awarded in October.
For more details, visit pncartsalive.com.
(904) 356-2466