Montgomery,
Ala. – At its June quarterly meeting in Montgomery, the Alabama State Council
on the Arts (ASCA) awarded fifteen (15) fellowship grants including one arts
administration fellowship totaling $75,000, and eight (8) Arts and Cultural
Facilities grants totaling $168,000 for a grand total of $243,000. Fellowships
are awarded to individual artists and recognize artistic excellence,
professional commitment and maturity and contribute to the further development
of the artist and the advancement of his or her professional career. Arts and
cultural facilities grants are awarded for planning, design or construction of
an arts space. All projects must involve top professionals with demonstrated
expertise in urban and/or community-planning, architecture, landscape design or
historic preservation. This round of grants will support activity taking place
between October 1, 2018 and September 30, 2019.
The arts and
cultural facilities grant program provides support to organizations large and
small in an effort to enhance spaces for arts creation and presentation. In all
cases where a grant is awarded, evidence of community support is a key element.
Al Head, Executive Director of the Council said, “Since the inception of the
program for cultural facilities, the Council has provided support for important
projects in communities representing a wide range of the state. This year’s
support includes the communities of Huntsville, Guntersville, Birmingham,
Athens, Mobile and York. All of these facility oriented projects reflect
important initiatives that enhance spaces where arts programming will impact
the community and surrounding area.”
Fellowships
are grants awarded to outstanding individual artists from Alabama who create
important works of art and make valuable contributions to the entire state.
Joel T. Daves IV, Chairman of the Council emphasized, “Our state is fortunate
to have so many artists from every artistic discipline producing works of the
highest caliber.”
Fellowships
are given to individuals working in arts administration, dance, design,
media/photography, music, literature, theatre, visual arts and crafts. These
awards recognize artistic excellence as well as professional commitment and
maturity. Recipients may use funds to set aside time to create art, improve
their skills, or to do what is most advantageous to enhance their artistic
careers.
These grants
are in response to applications submitted under a March 1, 2018 deadline and
are awarded for the 2019 fiscal year beginning October 1, 2018 and extending
through September 30, 2019.
Joel T. Daves
IV of Mobile chairs the 15-member Council which makes final decisions on all
grants awarded. The next deadline for the submission of fellowship and arts and
cultural facilities applications is March 1, 2019. For more information, visit www.arts.alabama.gov.
County
|
Grantee
|
City
|
Description
|
Discipline
|
Grant
|
Blount
|
Tina Mozelle Braziel
|
Remlap
|
Literary Arts Fellowship
|
Literary Arts
|
$5,000.00
|
Coffee
|
Roberta Lynn Ledbetter
|
Enterprise
|
Media / Photography Fellowship
|
Visual Arts
|
$5,000.00
|
Etowah
|
Bo McGuire
|
Gadsden
|
Media / Photography Fellowship
|
Visual Arts
|
$5,000.00
|
Jefferson
|
Alabama Jazz Hall of Fame
|
Birmingham
|
Carver Theatre Renovation
|
Design Arts
|
$60,000.00
|
Jefferson
|
Douglas Pierre Baulos
|
Irondale
|
Visual Arts Fellowship
|
Visual Arts
|
$5,000.00
|
Jefferson
|
Belinda George-Peoples
|
Birmingham
|
Music Fellowship
|
Performing Arts
|
$5,000.00
|
Jefferson
|
Catherine Rye Gilmore
|
Birmingham
|
Arts Administration Fellowship
|
Community Arts
|
$5,000.00
|
Jefferson
|
Dolores Hydock
|
Irondale
|
Theatre Fellowship
|
Performing Arts
|
$5,000.00
|
Jefferson
|
Ashley M. Jones
|
Birmingham
|
Literary Arts Fellowship
|
Literary Arts
|
$5,000.00
|
Jefferson
|
Red Mountain Theatre Company
|
Birmingham
|
RMTC Arts Collaboratory
|
Design Arts
|
$20,000.00
|
Jefferson
|
Jamorris Rivers
|
Birmingham
|
Dance Fellowship
|
Performing Arts
|
$5,000.00
|
Jefferson
|
Lillis Taylor
|
Birmingham
|
Craft Fellowship
|
Visual Arts
|
$5,000.00
|
Lee
|
Wei Wang
|
Auburn
|
Graphic Design Fellowship
|
Design Arts
|
$5,000.00
|
Lee
|
Courtney Windham
|
Auburn
|
Graphic Design Fellowship
|
Design Arts
|
$5,000.00
|
Limestone
|
Athens-Limestone Public Library Found
|
Athens
|
Performance Pavilion for ALPLF
|
Design Arts
|
$10,000.00
|
Madison
|
Fantasy Playhouse Children's Theater
|
Huntsville
|
New Home for Fantasy Playhouse
|
Design Arts
|
$27,000.00
|
Madison
|
The Arts Council, Inc. dba Arts Huntsville
|
Huntsville
|
Moon Performing Arts Center Reno
|
Design Arts
|
$30,000.00
|
Marshall
|
Marshall Co Retired Senior Vol Program
|
Guntersville
|
Appalachia Folk Art Gathering
|
Design Arts
|
$10,000.00
|
Mobile
|
Azalea City Center for the Arts
|
Mobile
|
Performing Arts Center
|
Design Arts
|
$5,000.00
|
Mobile
|
Rene Culler
|
Mobile
|
Craft Fellowship
|
Visual Arts
|
$5,000.00
|
Shelby
|
Scott Meyer
|
Montevallo
|
Visual Arts Fellowship
|
Visual Arts
|
$5,000.00
|
Sumter
|
Coleman Center for the Arts
|
York
|
Coleman Center Planning Grant
|
Design Arts
|
$6,000.00
|
Tuscaloosa
|
Osiris J. Molina
|
Northport
|
Music Fellowship
|
Performing Arts
|
$5,000.00
|
|
|
|
|
Grand Total
|
$243,000.00
|
ARTS &
CULTURAL FACILITIES GRANTS
Alabama Jazz
Hall of Fame in Birmingham was awarded $60,000 in an art & cultural
facilities grant funding the renovation of the Carver Theatre. This renovated
space in downtown Birmingham’s theatre district will help to foster, encourage,
educate and cultivate an appreciation of the medium of jazz music as a
legitimate, original and distinctive art form indigenous to America.
Arts
Huntsville in Huntsville was awarded $30,000 in an art & cultural
facilities grant for The Moon Performing Arts Center renovation. This planned
space is an adaptive re-use project and the campus also includes a library and
a theatre. The current director has experience in renovating a theatre. This
space will serve 15,000 children and impact the entire region through
performances, camps, gatherings and recreation.
Athens-Limestone Public Library Foundation in Athens was awarded $10,000
in an art & cultural facilities grant for a performance pavilion. This
planned space will enhance the facilities, its collections and programs of the
library and community.
Azalea City
Center for the Arts in Mobile was awarded $5,000 in an art & cultural
facilities grant for the design phase of a performing arts center. This
organization and this proposed performing arts center will provide educational
programs to all students regardless of race, disability, background, or ability
in the performance of music, drama, and dance.
Coleman
Center for the Arts in York was awarded $6,000 in an art & cultural
facilities grant for a design plan for the center. The Coleman Center for the
Arts fosters positive social change, answers civic needs, builds local pride
and uses creativity for community problem solving. The center nurtures and
facilitates partnerships between artists and community. Their mission is to
integrate contemporary art into education, civic life, and community
development throughout our region.
Fantasy
Playhouse Children’s Theatre in Huntsville was awarded $27,000 in an art &
cultural facilities grant for a new home for the Fantasy Playhouse. This
non-profit is serving a 3rd generation of Alabamians as a gateway to theatre
arts and arts education. This new home is vital for the production of live
children’s theatre and having it serve as an academy for young theatre artists.
The Fantasy Playhouse partners with schools to provide after-school theatre
classes and theatre arts access to underserved communities.
Marshall
County Retired and Senior Volunteer Program in Guntersville were awarded
$10,000 in an art & cultural facilities grant for the construction of the
Southern Appalachia Folk Art Gathering Place. This space will serve and impact
the community in a positive way. The new facility will serve its Lifelong
Learning Academy and provide new opportunities each season to keep the mind
active. The new space will offer activities such as crafting, history, music,
and much more.
Red Mountain
Theatre Collaboratory in Birmingham was awarded $20,000 in an art &
cultural facilities grant for construction of a theatre. This new space will
collectively put activities under one roof. The Red Mountain Theatre’s mission
is to create powerful theatre experiences that enrich, educate and engage
audiences – nurturing the human spirit, fostering valuable life skills and
cultivating a deeper sense of community.
FELLOWSHIPS
Douglas Pierre
Baulos of Irondale was awarded a visual arts fellowship in the amount of
$5,000. Baulos uses local found materials for his work that makes a strong and
significant connection to Alabama. He has helped to cultivate the artistic
community in Alabama and provide opportunities for emerging artists in
Birmingham, and throughout the state. His work is held in numerous permanent
collections.
Tina Mozelle
Braziel of Remlap was awarded a literary arts fellowship in the amount of
$5,000. Tina Mozelle Brazil is the director of University of Alabama
Birmingham’s Ada Long Creative Writing Workshop. In 2017, she won the
Philip Levine Prize for Poetry for her Book Known by Salt (forthcoming from
Anhinga Press). Her poetry is rooted in Alabama and is notable for its
compassion, clarity and beauty.
Rene Culler
of Mobile was awarded a craft fellowship in the amount of $5,000. Culler’s work
often reflects the plants of Alabama’s delta and its natural resources. Her
work in glass can be found in the permanent collections of museums such as the
American Museum of Art, the Smithsonian, the Corning Museum of Glass, the
Mobile Museum of Art, the National Museum of Glass; Spain, the Glass Furnace,
Istanbul and Namseoul University, South Korea.
Culler
founded the Glass Program at the University of South Alabama in Mobile. She was
its program coordinator from 2010-2017.
Belinda
George-Peoples of Birmingham was awarded a music fellowship in the amount of
$5,000. George-Peoples is an accomplished musician with a highly credible
performance history and level of professional attainment. Her work as a vocal
stylist demonstrates excellence in the quality of tone, technique, diction,
intonation and interpretation.
Catherine Rye
Gilmore of Birmingham was awarded an arts administrative fellowship in the
amount of $5,000. Gilmore is a seasoned arts administrator with more than 40
years of experience. Her career in arts administration started as managing
director of the Alabama Ballet and as the first executive director of
Birmingham Broadway series. She has been the executive director of the
Metropolitan Arts Council since 2001 and serves as President and CEO of the
Virginia Samford Theatre.
Dolores
Hydock of Irondale was awarded a theatre fellowship in the amount of $5,000.
Hydock is an accomplished storyteller. Her performances are lively and engaging
and demonstrate her range as an actress in the roles she creates. Hydock
demonstrates dynamic vocal control over the written word, and a studied
versatility in movement and expression as an actor.
Ashley M.
Jones of Birmingham was awarded a literary arts fellowship in the amount of
$5,000. Birmingham poet Ashley M. Jones is on the creative writing faculty
at the Alabama School of Fine Arts. Her first book Magic City Gospel won the
Silver Medal in Poetry from the Independent Publishers Book Awards in 2017.
Her work has been praised for its freshness, power and innovation.
Roberta Lynn
Ledbetter of Enterprise was awarded a media/photography fellowship in the
amount of $5,000. Ledbetter served as teacher in the state for many years but
is now focusing on her own artistic endeavors. Her work demonstrates that she
is engaged with her portrait subjects and invested in this particular body of
work. Her audio components add complexity and immediacy because it brings
actual voices of the subjects in a way that strengthens the portraits and
provides the viewer with a more complex understanding.
Bo McGuire of
Gadsden was awarded a media/photography fellowship in the amount of $5,000. His
work as a screenwriter and filmmaker demonstrates complex character
development. His complicated interplay between the narrative and documentary
shows international potential.
Scott Meyer
of Montevallo was awarded a visual arts fellowship in the amount of $5,000.
Meyer’s sculptural work has an international reach. His sculpture work reflects
comfort with the materials he uses and that he bold and willing to take chances
and experiment. Meyer’s service to the state is strong, both at Montevallo, as
well as to the larger Alabama artistic community.
Osiris J.
Molina of Northport was awarded a music fellowship in the amount of $5,000.
Molina demonstrates a command of the clarinet in technique appropriate for the
both the instrument and for the styles of music. His performances showcase his
mastery of a wide range of complex rhythms that are executed with proper intonation
and sensitivity towards phrasing.
Jamorris
Rivers of Birmingham was awarded a dance fellowship in the amount of
$5,000. Rivers choreography demonstrates a high level of artistry and he
creates performances that arouse a strong response within the viewer. His work
shows inventive movement and the exploration of that movement through thematic
materials. His creative voice is shown in the layers of his choreographic
texture.
Lillis Taylor
of Birmingham was awarded a craft fellowship in the amount of
$5,000. Taylor is an accomplished quilter with a high level of community
involvement through her community-based quilting activities. This fellowship
will expand her artistic accomplishments and allow continuing influence on cultivating
other artists in the Birmingham area.
Wei Wang of
Auburn was awarded a graphic design fellowship in the amount of
$5,000. His purpose as an app designer is to track eye movement for
user-centered design research. Wang is a full-time graphic design professor at
Auburn University and is pursuing a PhD in Design Sciences. This fellowship
will allow further research to fully incorporate eye tracking into the
interactive design process.
Wang has
designed websites and worked as design consultant for many clients in the
United States and overseas, including Coca-Cola, Volkswagen, McDonald's, Bank
of Tennessee, DesignAlabama, NASA, FAA (Federal Aviation Administration), and
AAF (American Architectural Foundation).
His design
work has been published in Global Corporate Identity 2 and he is also the
recipient of many major interactive design awards, including a Gold Addy Award
and Best of Show: Interactive from the Montgomery Advertising Federation, the
2005, 2007, 2008 Horizon International Interactive Design Award, 2007 Summit
International Creative Awards, 38th Annual UCDA Design Award and the most
recent, 2008 Interactive Media Award (IMA).
Courtney
Windham of Auburn was awarded a graphic design fellowship in the amount of
$5,000. Windham teaches courses in Interactive Media, Kinetic Typography,
Package Design, and Branding. Prior to teaching at Auburn, she was a
designer in Atlanta, Georgia where she specialized in corporate identity
and branding, marketing, web design and information design. Courtney holds a
Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Illustration from Rhode Island School of Design
and a Master of Fine Arts from Savannah College of Art and Design. Her work has
been published in Print Magazine, HOW Magazine, Creative Quarterly Journal,
LogoLounge Vol 9, Graphis Design Annual, & GDUSA Magazine.
The Alabama
State Council on the Arts is the official state arts agency of Alabama. The
staff of the Council, directed by Al Head, administers the grants programs and
provides financial assistance in arts planning and programming. The Council
receives its support through an annual appropriation from the Alabama
Legislature and funding from the National Endowment for the Arts, a federal
agency.
For more
information, please contact Barbara Reed at 334-242-4076, ext. 223 or visit our
website: www.arts.alabama.gov.