Mesa Arts Center, 1 E. Main St., in partnership with ASU’s Herberger Institute for Design and the Arts has been approved for a $40,000 Grants for Arts Projects Award from the National Endowment for the Arts to support the Spark Youth Media Festival.

The project is among 1,125 projects across America totaling more than $26.6 million that were selected during this second round of Grants for Arts Projects fiscal year 2022 funding, according to a release

“We are so excited about the support from the NEA for this important project. We look forward to working with our colleagues at ASU and visiting artists to collaborate with and support youth as they explore new media, share their creative voices and build relationships within a supportive community of peers and mentors,” Cindy Orenstein, Mesa Arts Center executive director, said in the release.

“The National Endowment for the Arts is proud to support arts and cultural organizations throughout the nation with these grants, including Mesa Arts Center, providing opportunities for all of us to live artful lives,” said NEA Chair Maria Rosario Jackson. “The arts contribute to our individual well-being, the well-being of our communities, and to our local economies. The arts are also crucial to helping us make sense of our circumstances from different perspectives as we emerge from the pandemic and plan for a shared new normal informed by our examined experience.”

Mesa Arts Center in partnership with ASU’s Herberger Institute for Design and the Arts will present a new media festival celebrating diverse, and especially marginalized, youth voices. The Spark Youth Media Festival will debut March 9-11, 2023, on the adjacent campuses of MAC and the new ASU at Mesa City Center, home of the Sidney Poitier New American Film School. It will share the creative voices of youth in the age range of high school, community college and university through film/video, augmented/virtual/extended reality and games and interactive art, and provide master classes and public workshops.

“This award will be invaluable for continuing to deepen and expand our partnerships with Mesa Arts Center, and the resulting festival will help to energize the youth of the entire region to take part in telling new stories and creating new worlds in digital media,” said Jake Pinholster, Founding Director of the Media and Immersive experience (MIX) Center at ASU.

Go to mesaartscenter.com and herbergerinstitute.asu.edu.