Grant awarded to help foster art in East Austin

A nonprofit that helps underprivileged youth gain access to art and other creative outlets received a $75,000 grant for future projects.

Creative Action was selected by the National Endowment for the Arts as its Our Town award winner for its work in the Chestnut neighborhood. The money will help fund teen group Color Squad to create a mural on the nonprofit's headquarters, which is under construction.

"Those are teenagers who partner with us. They're learning these skills of being professional artists and the skills of community-building and building relationships that work to create artwork that reflects the neighborhood," said Karen LaShelle, Creative Action executive and artistic director.

The mural, to be unveiled next June, will be based on neighborhood input. Grant funding will also help fund Creative Action programming, which serves 120 participants a week.

"We do a variety of programming with in-school, after-school and community-based programs where we're working with youth, and we're using the arts to engage them to learn through and create art about social issues," LaShelle said.

Fifty percent of class participants may enroll for free or a reduced cost. The Creative Action headquarters is missing $300,000, or the last 10 percent, of funding needed to complete project construction. The building is located off 17th Street.