NEW YORK (AP).- Artists and arts organizations nationwide are getting help with creating projects and spaces for performance, exhibition and other purposes in culturally diverse neighborhoods through a 10-year, $100 million grant program announced Monday by the Ford Foundation. The foundation said its Supporting Diverse Art Spaces initiative will revitalize local economies by promoting strong cultural environments, noting that support for the arts is even more vital in the current economic downturn. “There are leading arts and cultural organizations in our communities that are powerful cultural forces but that don’t have permanent homes or adequate spaces where they can create and produce their work,” said foundation President Luis Ubinas. “We want to work with