Madison Community Foundation (MCF) and the Madison Design Professional Workgroup revealed the first of 12 special 75th Anniversary Grants: Evolution Madison, at MCF’s sold-out annual banquet Tuesday.  This grant provides funds for a feasibility study to move the Nolen Waterfront project forward. The grant also includes funds to explore dreams about Madison’s future via an art exhibit next spring with the Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts & Letters.

“We’re thrilled to receive this grant from Madison Community Foundation,” said Tim Anderson, architect and urban planner with the Madison Design Professional Workgroup, in a statement. “The workgroup has invested hundreds of hours in pro bono services to advance the concept and now thanks to the community foundation we have the capital to test its feasibility. This project could transform an important stretch of waterfront and make it more welcoming and accessible to the community and visitors alike.”

“Our community is home to so many unique features that are important to our quality of life,” said MCF President Bob Sorge in a statement. “Our Year of Giving will be focused on enhancing the things that make Madison, Madison—and also investing in moving our community forward.”

Madison Community Foundation Vice President of Community Impact announces the Nolen Waterfront grant.
Madison Community Foundation Vice President of Community Impact announces the Nolen Waterfront grant.

The Nolen Waterfront is a transformative vision for creating a nine-acre park along the Lake Monona waterfront between Monona Terrace and Blair Street. The new park is a 1,500′ long and 200′ wide raised deck over John Nolen Drive between Monona Terrace and Blair Street. This vision is offered to the city as a starting point for a collaborative community engagement process to expand Law Park and connect the Downtown to the lakefront. The grant from MCF will be used to conduct a feasibility study for the effort, a key step needed to move the effort to the next level.

To mark its 75th Anniversary, MCF will provide 12 major gifts totaling nearly $1 million to the community during the coming year. The nonprofit recipients of each grant were chosen to reflect many of the Madison area’s most unique natural and cultural assets, including our children and families, history and heritage, learning and education, arts and culture, environment and more.