COVINGTON, Ky. — Have you ever looked at the side of a building a pictured a mural? How about some green space and benches to fill it?
You now have a chance to make that vision a reality with Covington's new competitive grant program.
"Just some little quirky thing that someone wants to do to make a difference in the community and help create that bold, vibrant, quirky sense of place that we're about in Covington," said Kyle Snyder, the project's manager.
The Quality of Place Grant Program encourages anyone in the city — be it a citizen, group or business — to offer ideas on how to creatively enhance the physical appearance of one of the business districts or nodes, build a sense of place through improvements, new works of public art or public gathering places.
"It could be a small piece of art someplace, it could be seating to activate an area, you know after BLINK we're all engaged with lighting and how lighting on the underside of a bridge or a tree could really make a big difference," Snyder said.
Spearheaded by the city's economic development team, Snyder hopes the project will not only bring creative benefits but also economic ones.
"You know, if you stop in and you buy a coffee and you walk around, you want to be engaged, and we want the city to engage people," he said. "We want people to visit, fall in love with it, move here, start a business here and just kind of help the city grow what it is and what it's going to become."
Project leaders say while demonstrated support from adjacent property owners is not necessary where people's ideas are being proposed, their buy-in will make applications more competitive.
The city has allocated $125,000 for the grant this fiscal year, and applicants can request a grant of $1,000 to $30,000.
The deadline to apply is Nov. 18 at 4 p.m. Find information on how to apply here.
Project leaders hope to introduce the new works by next summer, bringing an emboldened look to "The Cov."
"We are branding ourselves, hopefully, as the bold side of the river," Snyder said. "You cast your net and you get what you get and that's the fun of it."
