The Common to Receive $15,000 Grant from the National Endowment for the Arts

The Common will receive its fourth grant from the National Endowment for the Arts in 2020. The Art Works grant of $15,000 will be awarded to The Common to help publish diverse writers, expand its readership, and support The Common‘s international portfolios.

In previous years, The Common has published portfolios featuring writers from Puerto Rico to Syria. In spring 2020, Arabic stories from Sudan will be featured, part of the magazine’s annual portfolios of Arabic literature, which bring the best literary fiction from the Arab world to English-language readers. In the fall, The Common, in partnership with the DISQUIET International Literary Program in Lisbon, Portugal, will publish a portfolio from the Lusosphere: Portugal and its colonial and linguistic diaspora. The portfolio seeks to connect readers to writing from and works about the many countries and communities that make up this diverse global diaspora.

“We are thrilled to receive our largest-ever NEA grant as The Common heads into its tenth anniversary year. Our international portfolios, including a serial focus on Arabic literature, has become a cornerstone of what we do and what we contribute to the American literary conversation,” says founder and Editor in Chief Jennifer Acker.

Overall, the National Endowment for the Arts has approved 1,187 grants totaling $27.3 million in the first round of fiscal year 2020 funding to support arts projects in every state in the nation, as well as the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. 

“The arts are at the heart of our communities, connecting people through shared experiences and artistic expression,” said Arts Endowment chairman Mary Anne Carter. “The National Endowment for the Arts is proud to support projects like The Common.”

For more information on projects included in the NEA grant announcement, visit arts.gov/news.