La Plume – Keystone College has been awarded a $10,000 Challenge America grant from the National Endowment for the Arts in support of its Keystone Iron Works program.   

Keystone Iron Works brings underserved high school students on campus each June to participate in iron pour workshops at the Keystone art studios. After the workshops, the students experience pouring hot molten iron into molds they created during the Arts on Fire Festival at the Scranton Iron Furnaces in downtown Scranton. Keystone partners with several local arts, educational, and community organizations to coordinate the project.  

“We are extremely grateful to the National Endowment for the Arts for awarding a Challenge America Grant to Keystone College,” said Keystone President Dr. Edward G. Boehm, Jr. Each summer we look forward to helping young people from our area experience the joy and satisfaction of participating in the Keystone Iron Works program and the Arts on Fire Festival in downtown Scranton.”    

Keystone is one of 153 not-for-profit organizations nationwide to receive a Challenge America grant. The grants, which totaled $1.53 million, are awarded primarily to small and mid-sized organizations for projects that extend the reach of the arts to people who would ordinarily not experience those benefits because of geography, ethnicity, economics, or disability.

“The NEA was founded on the principle that the arts belong to all people of the United States,” said NEA Chairman Rocco Landesman. “We’re proud that Challenge America Fast-Track grants bring more opportunities for arts engagement to underserved communities.”