GRANT
The University of Arkansas Community Design Center (UACDC) in partnership with Cherokee Village stakeholders have undertaken a cultural landscape study of Cherokee Village. The study describes the relationships that exist among space, natural resources and human activity. The study embraces the enthusiasm seen across the country for recovering a sense of place, plural ways of living, forgotten origin stories of place and nonexploitative relationships to the environment (i.e., ecological stewardship.)
Project History & Background
In 2020, the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) awarded the City of Cherokee Village one of its coveted Our Town grants to undertake cultural mapping in support of a master plan (with a Framework Plan as the first step in that process) to guide future development.
Following an unsuccessful 2018 application for the Our Town Grant, the City of Cherokee Village was selected as one of six US cities to attend a two-day intensive Our Town workshop in Washington, DC, hosted by the NEA and LISC (Local Initiative Support Corporation) in July 2019. Graycen Bigger and Jonathan Rhodes attended as representatives of Cherokee Village. Other participants included: Ulster County, NY; Lexington, KY; Cleveland Heights, OH; Paonia, CO; Dorchester County, MD.
Based on extensive inputs and assistance received during and following the workshop, Cherokee Village’s application was revised and strengthened so the City could reapply in August 2019. In the spring of 2020, the City received notice that it was awarded a $100,000 Our Town Grant from NEA to be matched locally by cash and in-kind contributions.
As required by the NEA, the City of Cherokee Village must be the principal applicant/awardee and a qualified non-profit must be the secondary applicant and the Art Center of North Arkansas (ACNA) served as the secondary applicant.
The NEA awarded $100,000 for a one-to-one match with a total project budget of $200,000: $100,000 from NEA and $100,000 local match (cash and in-kind). Cherokee Village’s $100,000 local contribution came in the form of the following cash and in-kind contributions: $25,000 cash from City of Cherokee Village; $25,000 cash from CV Community Developer/American Land Company; and $50,000 in-kind from volunteer hours and in-kind contributions from local participation, ACNA, CV Historical Society, City of CV, CVSID, OKKPA, etc.
Grant Documents
2021 Pryor Center Lecture
Stephen Luoni, Graycen Colbert Bigger and Jonathan Rhodes presented ‘City in the Woods: John Cooper, Sr., Cherokee Village, Arkansas, and the Founding of the American Retirement Community’ at 6 p.m. Thursday, November 4, 2021, at the David and Barbara Pryor Center for Arkansas Oral and Visual History in the Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences. The Pryor Center Presents lecture series is part of the Pryor Center’s expanded mission of education, research, and outreach.
Awards
2023 LIV Hospitality Design Award — Landscape Design
The UACDC is pleased to announce that the project Greenway Urbanism: Revitalization of Cherokee Village, Arkansas has won a LIV Hospitality Design Award in the Landscape Architecture Design Professional Category. The international LIV Hospitality Design Awards recognize excellence in hospitality architecture, interior design, and guest experience, on a global scale. The LIV award program is sponsored by the Three C Group GmbH in Switzerland.
2023 The Plan Awards
2023 Block, Street & Building Design Competition
Honorable Mention
2023 American Architecture Award
2023 The Plan Awards
Urban Planning Future Finalist