The city of Birmingham received a $100,000 Our Town grant from the National Endowment for the Arts to establish a world-class arts tech hub at Sloss Furnaces National Historic Landmark.

The funds will allow the city to develop a masterplan for a new arts and technology complex at Sloss, according to the National Endowment for the Arts. The plan will address underutilized space and facilities at the Sloss Furnaces site and build workforce capacity in Birmingham through site-specific planning and design and arts and technology workforce development plans.

National Endowment for the Arts Chairwoman Jane Chu announced $1 million in grants to 10 Alabama organizations on Thursday during a visit to Sloss Furnaces.

This announcement also includes a partnership agreement with the Alabama State Council on the Arts of $765,200 to support the arts in Alabama. Last fall, the NEA also announced six grants totaling $120,000 in Alabama as part of the first round of fiscal year 2017 grant making.

According to the city of Birmingham, Spark Sloss, an artist-in-residence program in metal arts, robotics and industrial design, will be created thanks to the grant.

Birmingham is partnering with Space One Eleven, to engage artists and the local creative community during the planning process.

Sloss Furnaces includes 44 existing buildings and an 1881 iron ore blast furnace on a 15-acre site near downtown Birmingham. It was listed as a National Historic Landmark in 1981.

Pilot programs will be created in the second year of the grant.

The mayor's office will also establish a Friends of Spark group consisting of arts academics corporate partner across many disciplinary interests.

The other Alabama National Endowment of the Arts grant recipients are:

Auburn University -- $25,000 -- To support the Alabama Prison Arts and Education Project. In collaboration with the Alabama Department of Corrections, the university will provide visual arts workshops taught by emerging and established artists for incarcerated men and women in multiple facilities around the state. The workshops, based on college-level curriculum, will include courses in the fundamentals of drawing, watercolor, mural arts, and block-cut printing. A touring exhibition will be presented, accompanied by an anthology of student produced creative works.

Alabama Folklife Association, Inc. in Birmingham - $30,000 -- To support One State, Many Traditions, Our Story: A Bicentennial Cultural Initiative. In preparation for Alabama's bicentennial celebration, folklorists will conduct archival research and fieldwork about the state's musical traditions and quilting heritage. Tradition bearers will be identified and documented, and previously unknown material will be preserved. The results of this research will be incorporated into bicentennial exhibits and curriculum guides for classroom use.

Sloss Furnaces Foundation, Inc. in Birmingham -- $15,000 -- To support the summer youth apprenticeship program. High school students will build artistic, vocational, and social skills through apprenticeships while learning the processes used to create cast iron and fabricated steel sculpture with professional artists. Student artwork will be displayed in an exhibition at the Sloss Furnaces Gallery and at ArtWalk, an annual art festival in downtown Birmingham.

Space One Eleven, Inc. in Birmingham -- $25,000 -- To support an exhibition series featuring work by women artists. Plans for the project include two exhibitions, each of which will be complemented by related programming including artist residencies, storefront installations, and panel discussions intended for the general public, university students, and faculty. The first exhibition will be a group show anchored by residency artist Rosa Naday Garmendia. The second exhibition will showcase emerging and lesser-known artists. Exhibiting artists, curators and art historians will explore topics such as attitudes toward feminist art among women of different generations; the role of artists as agents of change; and the representation of women in the contemporary art world.

Marshall County Retired Senior Volunteer Program in Guntersville -- $10,000 -- To support Melodies and Musings - Our Appalachian Legacy. Artists will instruct senior citizens in playing the dulcimer in a multi-day workshop. The instructional program will conclude with a concert of traditional music featuring the instructors and students. The project will promote health and well-being, including positive psychological and physiological benefits for the older adults involved.

Alabama Youth Ballet Theatre, Inc. in Huntsville -- $10,000 -- To support Dance Connection. Students are nominated to participate in the annual performing arts program which reduces economic barriers to arts access. The program provides free or reduced-cost clothing, equipment, nutrition, and professional instruction during an intensive summer dance program that ends with a public performance. Eligible students are provided full-year tuition scholarships to the Alabama Youth Ballet School, which offers additional performance opportunities.

Mobile Symphony, Inc. -- $10,000 -- To support Mobile Symphony Orchestra's Young People's Concerts. Programming will feature an adaptation of Sergei Prokofiev's "Peter and the Wolf" with Music Director Scott Speck. Tailoring the classic tale to the Alabama Gulf Coast, the wolf may be a native Alabama animal such as an alligator. Educational study guides and programs will be presented in elementary schools in Mobile and Baldwin Counties. The concerts will be presented during the school day for more than 3,000 elementary schoolchildren.

Alabama State Council on the Arts - $765,200 - to support state and regional activities.

University of Alabama -- $25,000 -- To support PhotoVoices: Cultivating Community, Creating Change in Hobson City, Alabama. The project will engage experts to teach photography and creative writing skills to youth in the community to create a historic narrative of the town. The University of Alabama will partner with Hobson City on this program. The goal is to stimulate and cultivate community pride in shared history for this town of about 800 residents, most of whom are living below the poverty line.