Smart Growth America’s Outside In project gathers and interprets the stories of migration, belonging, and placemaking among suburban Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) communities across the South in the decades since the 1965 Immigration and Nationality Act. The project shows how these communities have transformed the region’s suburbs by retrofitting strip malls, remaking neighborhoods, and shaping its cultural and physical landscape.

Learn more about the program and apply by Friday, October 16, 2026, at 11:59 p.m. Central Daylight Time.

As part of Outside In, the National Endowment for the Arts is supporting a multidisciplinary arts and culture initiative that will engage suburban AAPI communities in metropolitan Dallas and Memphis. In each location, one artist or collective will be selected to develop a temporary, site-specific work that reflects the cultural and commercial life communities have built in close collaboration with Smart Growth America and the project's regional community partners: the Dallas Asian American Historical Society and Rhodes College's Asian and Asian American Studies program.

Selected artists will develop a temporary, site-specific, multidisciplinary work through community engagement with our regional partners. Examples of potential projects include a temporary installation at a multicultural, suburban shopping plaza; participatory storytelling workshops or conversations; a site-specific cultural performance or activation; or another multidisciplinary work of art that speaks to the place and the people who make it.

Apply here

Project requirements: 

• Close collaboration with your regional community partner. Each region's community partner is gathering local knowledge through oral histories, community engagement workshops, and related activities. The selected artist is expected to work in close, ongoing collaboration with the partner and to draw directly on the stories, histories, and community input the partner gathers. The selected artist should use that material to inform and shape their creative work. Your ability to build on this community-gathered knowledge is central to the project.
• Working within pre-approved activation areas. The areas for temporary public activations have already been reviewed and cleared through the NEA's federal environmental and historic-preservation review (NEPA/NHPA). Some are broader commercial corridors, where there is room to work at different points within the approved area; others are specific approved sites. Selected artists will develop work for one site within these approved locations, which will be shared upon selection.
• Participation in project documentation and reporting. This project is federally funded and includes a reporting requirement. Selected artists agree to participate in SGA's documentation and evaluation, including allowing professional documentation of the work and contributing artist reflections and materials (such as photos, video, or written narrative) that capture the project's community engagement and outcomes.
• Accessibility. As a federally funded project, Outside In must be accessible to people with disabilities, consistent with the NEA's requirements (Section 504 and the ADA). Selected artists will work with SGA to ensure their community engagement and public activation are reasonably accessible; SGA will provide guidance and support.

Eligible applicants: 

• Demonstrate a social practice or community-engaged practice, in any artistic discipline or creative form
• Have local community ties and prior experience in social or community-engaged practice, including direct experience engaging communities in the development of your work
• Have demonstrated knowledge of and connection to AAPI communities in the Dallas or Memphis metropolitan areas, including surrounding suburbs
• Are available between fall/winter 2026 and summer 2027 to conduct community engagement and complete installation or activation activities 

A note on eligibility: This call is open to applicants of any background. All applications receive equal consideration regardless of race, gender, national origin, disability, age, sexual orientation, or other protected characteristics.

Applications are evaluated on artistic quality and strength of portfolio; demonstrated capacity for community-rooted, place-based work; knowledge of and connection to AAPI communities in the relevant region; commitment and ability to work in close collaboration with the regional community partner; proposed approach to the regional community context; alignment with project goals; and ability to execute within the project timeline.

How to apply

You'll be asked to respond to the three questions below, in written or video format (written: 3,000 characters max per question, about 500 words; video: 3 minutes max per question), and to share a portfolio of 3-5 work samples and a brief bio or CV.

1. Describe your creative practice and how it connects to community engagement, cultural production, or place-based work.
2. Describe your knowledge of and connection to AAPI communities in the Dallas or Memphis area and surrounding suburbs, and how you would approach building relationships with those communities through this project.
3. Describe your proposed approach to developing and presenting a temporary, site-specific, multidisciplinary work in your region.

Work samples may include images, video links, or documents, including documentation of community events or process work. We will select on qualifications and approach, and develop the specific work collaboratively with the selected artist after selection—so you don't need a finished design or budget to apply.

Timeline

• Call issued: Wednesday, September 23, 2026
• Application deadline: Friday, October 16, 2026
• Panel review: rolling, with final decisions by late October 2026
• Artists notified: October 30, 2026
• Community engagement and site work: November 2026–March 2027
• Public activations and installations: Spring–Summer 2027

All applicants will be notified of their application status by October 30, 2026, regardless of outcome.

Compensation

Each selected artist or collective will receive $15,000 for their work on the project, which includes community engagement, development, and presentation of the work. Additionally, each artist or collective receives a separate $4,000 production and materials budget for fabrication and installation of the temporary work. Payment will be made in installments tied to project milestones; once approved, payments may take four to six weeks to process.

Support from Smart Growth America

Selected artists work with the SGA project team. SGA offers introductions to and coordination with your regional community partner, guidance and regular check-ins from SGA project staff, professional documentation of your work, and support navigating logistics across the project timeline.

Fill out the form

If you have questions or prefer to submit your responses another way, please email us at outsidein@smartgrowthamerica.org.