News
Arts & Cultural Council and Rochester Area Community Foundation Award
Community Arts Grants for 2001
47 Grants Total $112,000
The Arts & Cultural Council for Greater Rochester and Rochester Area Community Foundation today announced the 2001 Community Arts Grants. Grants totaling $112,000 will be made to 47 nonprofit organizations and artists from Monroe and surrounding counties. Community Arts Grants are funded by the New York State Legislature through the New York State Council on the Arts and by the Rochester Area Community Foundation. [Complete list of grants attached]
We are grateful this year to the State Legislature for increasing its appropriation to the State Council on the Arts, and to the Rochester Area Community Foundation for increasing funding for the Rochester Area Community Foundation Community Arts Fund," said the Arts Council's Executive Director, Sarah E. Lentini. "The increase means that Monroe County residents will benefit from more arts programs of exceptional merit."
The Arts Council's Decentralization grants total $86,000 in 2001, an increase over last year's allocation of $82,000. The Community Arts Fund, based at Rochester Area Community Foundation, is distributing $26,000, an increase of $3,500 over last year's allocation.
Community Arts Grants
The grants are extremely competitive. Three groups of peer review panelists evaluated 97 applications. Each arts project is evaluated on criteria that include artistic merit, outreach to under-served urban and rural communities, and responsiveness to community cultural needs.
The 2001 Community Arts Grants are awarded in two general categories:
Decentralization Program of the Arts & Cultural Council and New York State Council on the Arts. $86,000 in two tiers of funding are awarded this year: Project Support for Nonprofit Organizations (35 grants totaling $76,000); and Artist Projects (4 grants totaling $10,000)
Community Arts Fund of the Rochester Area Community Foundation
Funding to strengthen the internal operations of arts organizations in Monroe and contiguous counties; includes funding from Esther Usdane Memorial Fund for Community Theater. Eight (8) non-profit organizations will receive grants totaling $26,000.
The panelists were:
DECENTRALIZATION PANEL: Elizabeth Hallmark, dance; Douglas Dempster, Eastman School of Music, music; Paulette Davis, Project U.N.I.Q?U.E., visual art and education; Rachel Edwards, Photography and community representative; Irv Murph, theater; Freyda Schneider, Rochester Children's Theater, theater; Steven Huff, BOA Editions, literature.
INDIVIDUAL ARTIST PROJECT PANEL: Linda Alhardt, literature/writer; David Shakes, theater/director/actor; and Jack Wolsky, visual art/painter.
ROCHESTER AREA COMMUNITY FOUNDATION PANEL: Joseph Baranowski, Nazareth Arts Center; John Haldoupis, Blackfriars, theater, program and administration; Beth Teall, marketing and development; Delores Jackson Radney, Memorial Art Gallery, program and community outreach; Donna Leonardo, Rochester City Ballet, marketing.
The Arts & Cultural Council for Greater Rochester administers all Community Arts Grants. This includes developing guidelines and evaluation criteria, promoting the availability of funding, counseling prospective applicants, and managing the peer review evaluation process.
The Arts & Cultural Council for Greater Rochester develops, promotes, and strengthens the cultural industry for the benefit of the people of the Rochester region.
The Rochester Area Community Foundation is a permanent, community-based endowment that matches the philanthropic interests of donors with current community needs.
2001 Community Arts Grants
New York State Council on the Arts - Decentralization Program
Project Support (35 grants totalling $76,000)
Action For A Better Community, Inc./ABC-C.O.N.E.C.T.S. - Dance - $3,000
For teens in the CONECTS program to study the Brazilian art of Capoeira with Stefan Collins and Lomax Campbell at Frederick Douglass Middle School. Participants will also study the visual art, culture, and languages of Brazil with Clyde Morgan and Millard Schisler. The teens will perform at an international banquet at the Memorial Art Gallery.
Blackfriars Theatre of Rochester, New York, Inc. - Theater - $2,000
For costumes for nine productions of the musical, "A Little Night Music," based on Ingmar Bergman's movie, "Smiles of a Summer Night," with the score by Stephen Sondheim.
Blackstorytelling League of Rochester, Inc. - Theater - $3,500
For members of the Blackstorytelling League to work with youth from seven community organizations to create and perform stories illustrating the seven cardinal principles of Kwanzaa. The project will include a storytelling event, monthly workshops, and performance at Kwanzaa celebrations in 2001.
Boys & Girls Club of Rochester, Inc. - Visual Art - $2,000
For artist Pepsy Kettavong to engage young people from School #29's after-school program in a ceramic tile project, which will be installed at the school.
Brighton Symphony Orchestra - Music - $1,200
For ten orchestral concerts at accessible sites around Rochester conducted by Dr. John Marcellus, Dr. Michael Ruhling, and Dr. Thomas McGary.
Cool Kids in the Park 2001 sponsored by Brockport Integrated Service Clubs Organization - Multi-arts - $3,000
For an eleven-week series of arts programming for families on the Westside at Sagawa Park, Brockport on Friday evenings in July and August. Audiences will participate in cultural and artistic activities such as Latino music and dancing, origami, cartooning, and Round Dancing with the Little Spirit Dancers.
Dance Rochester! Ltd. - Dance - $2,000
To produce a choreographic performance of original music from local composers and choreographers. Twelve choreographers and ninety dancers will interpret four pieces of music. The 2001 concert will reach out to new audiences using a long range marketing plan developed by a marketing consultant to expand and develop audiences and build community support for dance.
Downstairs Cabaret, Inc. - Theater - $2,000
For the new Perspectives Series and Education Programs, a series of three issues-oriented plays. Funding will help with production, staff, and marketing costs. This educational program will organize community panels, guest artists in classrooms, question and answers sessions after performances, internships and acting lessons.
Feadan Or Pipe Band, Inc. - Music - $1,000
For a series of four Sunday afternoon concerts at Twelve Corners Presbyterian Church, St. Louis Church in Pittsford, Third Presbyterian Church, and Seymour Library in Brockport. Performances will include ensemble and solo piping, drumming, and highland dancing. Performances also include talks and demonstrations.
Town of Gates Recreation Department - Theater - $1,500
For Gates Community Theater to produce three performances of "The Sound of Music" at Roberts Wesleyan College. Staging the production will provide a new opportunity for local residents to showcase their talent, and bring live theater to the Westside. The Roberts Wesleyan College Community Orchestra will provide live music for the performances.
Gateway Music Festival - Music - $2,500
For the 4th Gateway Music Festival, which will bring together approximately 100 African-American musicians from across the United States to perform at the Eastman Theater and other locations in the Rochester area. The 2001 Festival includes a youth component made of groups from outside the area, interested young people in the area, and a classical choral component.
Genesee Center for the Arts & Education - Multi-arts - $4,000
For three Urban Youth Programs serving 130 youths, ages 10-17 with photography and ceramics workshops including: 1) a six-week program at the Right On School Summer Program; 2) a weekly program of seven workshops for fifth graders at Corpus Christi School; and 3) community service internships for high school and college students to learn about photography and ceramics.
Greater Rochester New York/ Antigua & Barbuda Partners of the Americas - Music - $2,500
For Antiguan artists/craftsmen, Vernon Henry and his son, and the members of Urban Steel (a steel band for youths ages 13-18 at John Marshall High School) to construct eight sets of pans and stands. The students and visiting artists will perform at the Lilac Festival and other locations in the community.
Greece Performing Arts Society, Inc. - Multi-arts - $2,000
For programs sponsored by the Greece Performing Arts Society's five music groups including the Choral Society, the Community Orchestra, the Concert Band, the Symphony Orchestra, and Jazz Band.
Lights On! Deaf Theater - Theater - $2,500
For the spring and summer production of "Our Deaf Town" the history of the Rochester School for the Deaf and its Alumni, celebrating the 125th anniversary of the Rochester School for the Deaf.
Millennial Muse sponsored by Amnesty International of Rochester - Literature - $1,600
For Millennial Muse: Poets of the New Century, a non-profit quarterly series of three-person programs profiling Rochester-area poets ages 17-27 at the Memorial Art Gallery. Poets develop their professional skills in performance, and their visibility and stature in the community.
Musica Spei sponsored by St. Anne Church - Music - $2,500
For a fall concert at St. Anne Church that will initiate an annual Viennese festival featuring a variety of early music performing groups, such as Publick Musick, Eastman Capella Antiqua, Cantar e Sonar, Musica Transatlantica, Schola Feminarum, Schola Cantorum, Air de Cour, and Musica Spei.
New Life Presbyterian Church/ The Corner Place Troupers - Multi-arts - $2,500
For the Corner Place Troupers to develop a traveling multidisciplinary production that would be performed at area nursing homes and child care centers.
Park Avenue Repertory Dance Company - Dance - $2,500
To bring choreographer and Western New York native, Jessica Fogol of the University of Michigan to choreograph a work for the company, give workshops, and to share knowledge of the choreographic process. The work will be performed at School of the Arts at Park Avenue Dance's annual concert.
Penfield Symphony Orchestra Music $1,200
For a collaborative concert with Akoma Gospel Choir and the Penfield Symphony to encourage appreciation of gospel and classical music, and to bring together city and suburban audiences.
Present Tense Dance, Inc. - Music - $2,400
To create a concert and workshop series in honor of Women's Awareness Month which will explore issues facing women including violence, motherhood, and community. Following the concert there will be a "talk-back" session for the audience to respond to the work. Three master classes will be offered to girls and women who wish to explore their own issues through movement.
Puerto Rican Youth Development and Resource Center, Inc. - Visual Art - $2,000
For artist Carmelo Ortiz to lead the Cultural Arts Project, a series of ten workshops for twenty-one youths from the CONECTS Program, which meets at Los Flamboyances, ending with an exhibit of their work.
Rochester Bach Festival, Inc. - Music - $1,200
To collaborate with Neighborhood of the Arts to present "A Bit of Baroque," which would be part of a new concert series Neighborhood of the Arts is developing that will take place at Village Gate Square in February 2001. The performance will include the Rochester Bach Festival Chorus, professional instrumentalists on period instruments, and the Palmyra-Macedon Select High School Chamber Choir.
Rochester Community Players/ The Shakespeare Players - Theater - $2,500
For eight free outdoor performances of Shakespeare's "A Comedy of Errors" directed by John Jaegar and produced by the Rochester Community Players Shakespeare Players in July 2001. This will be the Shakespeare Players' fifth season in the park. Funds will support the sound system.
Rochester/Finger Lakes Film & Video Office - Media - $2,000
For Picture Fest International, a new community-based annual international film festival in October, which will celebrate the accomplishments made by women in film and television. Funds will be used to support marketing for the festival.
Saint Peter's and Saint Paul's Parish - Multi-arts - $2,000
To bring cultural events to Rochester's West Main Street area with three performing arts events.
Sojourner Hall for Women, Inc./Sojourner House - Literature - $3,000
For poet Robert Ricks and writer Karen Van Meenan to lead a writing workshop for ten to fifteen youths in conjunction with Writers & Books including a published anthology of work produced and a performance the Annual Dreamseeds event at School of the Arts in May 2001. Four participants will receive scholarships for the summer program at Writers & Books.
South Wedge Planning Committee - Multi-arts - $3,000
For the South Wedge Environmental Enhancement Project to hire landscape artist Dudley Breed Jr. to facilitate the creation of a green space plan for the South Wedge Urban Village. He will draw on the neighborhood's cultural and architectural history with input from neighborhood residents to develop a series of thematic designs.
The Community Place of Greater Rochester/ Eastside Community Center of Rochester, Inc.
- Multi-arts - $3,400
To add two new programs, acting and drama, and modern dance, to the Arts Academy.
The Health Association/MAIN QUEST Treatment Center - Theater - $2,000
For drama consultant Linda Gottwald to do a 12-week improvisational drama program in which participants will create productions promoting a message of hope and change to at-risk youth to be performed in local schools and a community production at the Main Quest Center.
The Health Association/Operation Friendship - Visual Art - $1,500
For Artist Mary Beth Fitzsimmons to work with participants to create a wall mural that will be exhibited at Operation Friendship, a community-based program. Participants will also make visits to local cultural organizations and artists' studios.
The Lutheran Church of the Incarnate Word/ "Second Sundays…Plus" Music Series - Music - $1,000
For the "Second Sundays…Plus" Music Series to hold a free concert of Johann Sebastian Bach's "Passion According to St. John" in a historically-informed style performed on period instruments under the direction of James E. Bobb in consultation with lutenist Paul O'dette.
The Rochester West Indian Festival Organization - Multi-arts - $1,500
For the Carifest parade and festival (2nd weekend in August) expansion, which will include three workshops: 1) costume designing led by Arnold Hughes, a costume designer from Toronto for participants to learn the art of costume designing in preparation for the parade, 2) steel pan making demonstrations by musician Alfred St. John; and 3) Calypso dancing sessions for the community to learn the history and art form of calypso dancing, led by local dance choreographer Camille Bell.
Trinity Emmanuel Presbyterian Church/TEPC - Literature - $1,000
For "From Savannah to Rochester: From Shackles to Freedom; From the First Railroad to the Underground Railroad" a one day event including an exhibition and presentation by master carver and storyteller Arthur Peter Dilbert, Sr., and a speech by Reverend Frederick Douglass Jefferson titled "From Savannah to Rochester: From Shackles to Freedom; From the First Railroad to the Underground Railroad." The event will be held in October, National Art and Humanities Month.
Wilson Commencement Park - Visual Art - $2,500
For Elaine Feehan, fiber artist and educator to work with 20 children ages 8 -12 after school for six 2-hour sessions on woodcutting and printmaking techniques that will result in an exhibition with oral and visual presentations of their work.
New York State Council on the Arts - Decentralization Program
Artist Projects (4 grants totalling $10,000)
Jappie King Black - Visual Art - $2,500
For a temporary public sculpture and garden using native materials at the Seymour Library in Brockport. She will work on the sculpture at the site where she will interact with the community. The Brockport Garden Club, local gardeners and the community will be invited to help collect materials, assist with the planting, site preparation, and maintenance of the garden.
Elizabeth Clark - Dance - $2,500
For new choreography developed for her exploration of movement, science, physics and anatomy that will introduce scientific concepts of movement to children, ages 7-10, which will be performed at the Rochester Museum and Science Center in conjunction with RMSC's new exhibit, "Artistry in Motion. "
Calvin Hubbard - Visual Art - $2,500
For Family Sculpture (symbolic of home and family) placed in a community garden made by the Pride House I staff and A-100 Homework Club that will be developed at the corner of Brown Street and Jefferson Avenue. Neighborhood United's Beautification Committee will maintain the site, and seek additional funds to enhance the Family sculpture with a plaque that salutes Matthew Brown Jr., an entrpreneur and developer, that Brown Street was named after.
Thomas Warfield - Dance - $2,500
For new choreography created in a workshop environment where non-dancers from diverse groups can come together expressing their feelings and thoughts about life's experience, which will be performed for an audience at School of the Arts in conjunction with Peace Week, a cultural festival celebrating peace.
Rochester Area Community Foundation - Community Arts Fund
(8 grants totalling $26,000)
African Urban Cultural Organization - Poetry/Theater - $4,000
For marketing and promotion of the production "Where You at Lord" to raise funds for youth programs to expand services.
Friends of Bristol Valley Playhouse - Theater - $4,909
To increase staff to help improve marketing, fundraising, ticket sales, corporate contributions, and grant seeking as part of Bristol Valley Playhouse's long-term growth plan to revitalize its major fundraiser: the Naples Arts and Music Festival.
The Colleen Hendrick Dance Theater/ Hendrick Dance Project - Dance - $3,665
To work with Christopher Communications to design and implement a public relations/marketing campaign to develop audiences. The project will design and produce press packets to assist in developing earned and unearned income, a video of Hendrick Dance Project repertory, and an ad campaign for local performances of the Hendrick Dance Project and the Youth Project.
Genesee-Orleans Regional Arts Council - Multidisciplinary - $3,562
For a series of sessions with a professional planning consultant to develop a long-range strategic plan and first year actions to improve management and to strengthen other areas of operation.
Pyramid Arts Center - Visual Art - $3,200
To hire a grantwriter to complete three grant proposal applications as part of Pyramid's strategic business plan. This will enable Pyramid to achieve its budget objective of increasing income to expand programming in a new space, and to increase funding eligibility.
Shipping Dock Theatre - Theater - $2,500*
To help with a capital fund drive to renovate its new building by hiring a marketing director who will implement the fundraising campaign. Funded by the Esther Usdane Memorial Fund
Wayne County Council for the Arts - Multidisciplinary - $3,800
To develop a web site that will make cultural and artistic information and the resource directory available to artists, residents, and tourists.
Wayne County Multicultural Arts Project, Inc. - Dance/Music - $364
To increase its dance repertoire for increased youth participation in youth groups. The youth work will be performed to fulfill its goal to bridge divisions, encourage learning, and build audiences.
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