PROVIDENCE — The East Providence Arts Council, in partnership with the City of East Providence and the Steel Yard, received $15,000 in Centennial Community Grants program money to facilitate the creation and installation of a permanent, large-scale sculpture on a vacant city-owned property near the Washington Bridge at the basin of Warren Avenue.

The grant was some of the $500,000 awarded by the Rhode Island Foundation to fund community-building activities in every city and town. The Centennial Community Grants program is just one in a series of activities to mark the Foundation’s 100th anniversary this year.

“Our work would not be possible but for the visionaries who came before us, the donors who generously invest in Rhode Island and the community leaders who convert the resources into action,” said Neil Steinberg, president and CEO of the Foundation.

Forty-three projects received funding. Nonprofit organizations, municipal governments and public agencies are among the recipients. All the work that is being funded is expected to be completed before the end of the year.

“We are celebrating our Centennial by funding projects that will bring life to every one of Rhode Island's remarkable cities and towns. Communities will blossom and grow stronger as this works rolls out,” said Jessica David, the Foundation’s senior vice president of strategy and community investments.

The uses include building bikes lanes, creating neighborhood libraries, designing walking tours, planting community gardens and installing historical markers and monuments. The maximum grant was $15,000.

"The East providence Arts Council is proud to announce we have been chosen as a recipient of a R.I. Foundation Centennial Grant," wrote Arts Council Chairman Rick Lawson. "Over 200 applications were submitted for this very competitive grant and ours was one of 43 selected. We will be using the funds for a public art display in the Watchemocket Square district. This is an area we hope to someday, working with the city, build in to a thriving Arts and Entertainment District."