The National Endowment for the Arts is granting $150,000 to the Arts/Earth Center in Freeman, South Dakota. The grant is one of 66, totaling more than $5 million, which have been awarded to 38 states in the past four years. Dr. John Koch is the Project Director for the Center and says this project combines the community’s strengths in agriculture, heritage, and the performing arts to build two facilities.

The grant will allow the Center to evaluate the feasibility of a theater with heat and electricity generated through the greenhouse. Koch says the project will blend several aspects of the community together, but it’s not going to be easy.

There are seven different teams each working on a different part of the feasibility study. Koch says the Center would have done the project anyway, but the grant gives the community an affirmation that their vision is worth of serious consideration.