NORWICH – Endowed with a 20 percent increase from the New York State Council on the Arts, the Chenango Arts Council aims to provide more funding this year to area individuals and organizations to take on a variety of community-centric arts projects.

Last week, the CAC announced a 20 percent increase in funding from the NYS Council on the Arts for the 2016 Broome, Chenango and Otsego Decentralization (DEC) grant program.

When lumped in with an additional $10,000 donation from the Stewart W. and Willma C. Hoyt Foundation of Binghamton to support DEC projects in Broome County, the increase in state funds provides the Chenango Arts Council with a total $129,280 to disburse.

The DEC grant program administered by the Chenango Arts Council gives awards up to $5,000 each to individuals and non-profit organizations in Broome, Chenango and Otsego counties that partner with eligible non-profit entities for cultural initiatives, including community arts (CA) projects and arts education (AE) projects.

CA grants offer support for arts and cultural projects to community-based non-profit organizations, groups, collectives or artists. Individual artists can apply for a community-based project in partnership with a non-profit organization.

The Arts Council says CA support enables emerging artists and organizations to “grow professionally and to enhance the cultural vibrancy in communities and neighborhoods where they live and operate.”