Montgomery,
Ala. – At its June quarterly meeting in Montgomery, the Alabama State Council
on the Arts (ASCA) awarded seventeen (17) fellowship grants including one arts
administration fellowship totaling $85,000, and five (5) Arts and Cultural
Facilities grants totaling $168,000 for a grand total of $253,000. 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, 2019
and September 30, 2020.
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. Dr. Elliot Knight, Executive Director of the Council
said, “This important program continues to provide support for
adaptive re-use projects in communities across the state. This year’s support
includes the communities of Tuscumbia, Bessemer, Andalusia, Florence, and
Atmore. 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, 2019 deadline and
are awarded for the 2020 fiscal year beginning October 1, 2019 and extending
through September 30, 2020.
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, 2020. For more information, visit www.arts.alabama.gov.
County
|
Grantee
|
City
|
Description
|
Discipline
|
Grant
|
Calhoun
|
Lynnette K. Hesser
|
Wellington
|
Craft Fellowship
|
Visual Arts
|
$5,000.00
|
Colbert
|
Tennessee Valley Art Assoc.
|
Tuscumbia
|
The Ritz Campus, Design
|
Design Arts
|
$35,000.00
|
Covington
|
Andalusia Ballet Association
|
Andalusia
|
Renovation of Church St. School
|
Design Arts
|
$65,000.00
|
DeKalb
|
Mark Leputa
|
Fort Payne
|
Craft Fellowship
|
Visual Arts
|
$5,000.00
|
Escambia
|
Pride of Atmore
|
Atmore
|
Recording Studio Project, Design
|
Design Arts
|
$12,000.00
|
Jefferson
|
Timothy Huffman III
|
Birmingham
|
Music Fellowship
|
Performing Arts
|
$5,000.00
|
|
Therese Laeger
|
Birmingham
|
Dance/Choreography Fellowship
|
Performing Arts
|
$5,000.00
|
|
Kwoya F. Maples
|
Vestavia Hills
|
Literary Arts Fellowship
|
Literary Arts
|
$5,000.00
|
|
Cary Norton
|
Birmingham
|
Gay Burke Photography Fellowship
|
Visual Arts
|
$5,000.00
|
|
Celeste Amparo Pfau
|
Birmingham
|
Visual Arts Fellowship
|
Visual Arts
|
$5,000.00
|
|
Amy Pleasant
|
Birmingham
|
Visual Arts Fellowship
|
Visual Arts
|
$5,000.00
|
|
Kim Scott
|
Birmingham
|
Music Fellowship
|
Performing Arts
|
$5,000.00
|
|
The Holland Project
|
Bessemer
|
Lincoln Theatre Restoration, Design
|
Design Arts
|
$21,000.00
|
|
Alicia Johnson Williams
|
Bessemer
|
Theatre Fellowship
|
Performing Arts
|
$5,000.00
|
Lauderdale
|
Florence Arts & Museums
|
Florence
|
Southall House Renovation
|
Design Arts
|
$35,000.00
|
Lee
|
Ken Autrey
|
Auburn
|
Literary Arts Fellowship
|
Literary Arts
|
$5,000.00
|
|
Kelly Vornauf Bryant
|
Auburn
|
Design Fellowship
|
Design Arts
|
$5,000.00
|
Montgomery
|
Lindsay Renea Benton
|
Montgomery
|
Dance/Choreography Fellowship
|
Performing Arts
|
$5,000.00
|
|
Michelle Browder
|
Montgomery
|
Design Fellowship
|
Design Arts
|
$5,000.00
|
|
Sydney Foster
|
Montgomery
|
Media/Photography Fellowship
|
Visual Arts
|
$5,000.00
|
|
Chintia Kirana
|
Montgomery
|
Visual Arts Fellowship
|
Visual Arts
|
$5,000.00
|
Shelby
|
Emily (Emma) Bolden
|
Pelham
|
Literary Arts Fellowship
|
Literary Arts
|
$5,000.00
|
|
|
|
|
|
$253,000.00
|
ARTS & CULTURAL
FACILITIES GRANTS
Andalusia
Ballet Association in Andalusia was awarded $65,000 in an arts & cultural
facilities grant for the renovation for the Church Street School. This planned
space is an adaptive re-use project and will allow the Ballet to expand its
programming.
Florence Arts & Museums in Florence was awarded $35,000 in an arts & cultural
facilities grant for a design plan for the Southall House Renovation. This
space will support cultural arts development, local history, arts and
humanities and educational programming in the Shoals area.
The Holland Project in Bessemer was
awarded $21,000 in an arts & cultural facilities grant for the design phase of
the Lincoln Theatre. The design will plan for a proposed performing arts center
in one of the last remaining historic theatres in the Marvel City and will
celebrate diverse cultures with special emphasis on African-American cultural
heritage.
Pride of Atmore in Atmore was awarded
$12,000 in an arts & cultural facilities grant for a recording studio
project. This planned space will be used for music instruction, individual and
group recordings and songwriting workshops.
Tennessee
Valley Art Association in Tuscumbia was
awarded $35,000 in an arts & cultural facilities grant for the design phase
of the Ritz Campus. Once completed the Campus will conduct planned programs,
demonstrations, and exhibitions and provide art education opportunities for the
community.
FELLOWSHIP GRANTS
Ken Autrey of Auburn was awarded a literary arts fellowship in
the amount of $5,000. He is a poet and retired
Emeritus Professor of English from Francis Marion University in South Carolina.
Autry boasts a long list of published
work, including four chapbooks. Since
returning home to Auburn, he has promoted the literary arts by conducting
public poetry workshops, teaching poetry classes at Auburn University’s Osher
Lifelong Learning Institute and helping coordinate the acclaimed Third Thursday
Poetry Series at the Jule Collins Smith Museum.
Lindsay Renea Benton of Montgomery was awarded a dance fellowship in the
amount of $5,000. Her work shows a great movement vocabulary and is
produced with skillful compositions. Benton’s visual elements of costuming and
lighting choices enhance the overall dynamic and design of her choreography.
Emily (Emma) Suzanne Bolden of Pelhan Emily (Emma) Suzanne Bolden of Pelham was
awarded a literary arts fellowship in the amount of $5,000. She has published three, full-length poetry
collections, including House is an Enigma,
winner of the 2017 Cowles Poetry Book Prize and published by Southeast Missouri
State University Press in 2018. The title poem from that collection was
selected for inclusion in The Best
American Poetry 2015. Bolden was
awarded a 2017 Creative Writing Fellowship in Poetry from the National
Endowment for the Arts.
Michelle Browder of Montgomery was awarded a design fellowship in the
amount of $5,000. Her painted shoe project is hailed as being creative and
impactful. Browder will continue her community involvement and working with
at-risk children. She plans to use her fellowship to expand her own design
work.
Kelly Vornauf Bryant of Auburn was awarded a design fellowship in the
amount of $5,000. Bryant utilizes deconstructed typography in her design
with good elements of surprise for the viewer. She plans to use her fellowship
to advance her career and creative voice in the field of design. Kelly
previously won a design fellowship from the Alabama State Council on the Arts
in 2010.
Sydney
Foster of
Montgomery was awarded
a media/photography fellowship in the amount of $5,000. Foster’s work show
maturity and understanding of exposure and color. Already highly accomplished,
Foster has photographed individuals such as Dave Matthews and Tarana Burke
founder of the “me too movement.” She has worked with agencies such as the
Dragonfly Agency LA, LA Models, and St. Claire Modeling Agency. Her accreditation
includes Creme of Nature, Screen Shot Magazine, Conformity Magazine, Repp
Magazine,7Hues Homme Magazine, Dashboard US and Stadium ATL.
Lynnette K.
Hesser of
Wellington was awarded a craft fellowship in the amount of $5,000. Hesser's
work captures the essence of flowers, fungi, and other natural elements which
are hand carved to shape in each clay piece. The intricacy and subtle
simplicity of her delicate patterns provide for a realistic, three-dimensional
creation. Her observation of nature allows her to expand upon her imagination
for the total final form. She often uses white stoneware and porcelain firing
with one glaze or multiple glazes.
Timothy
Huffman III of
Birmingham was awarded a music fellowship in the amount of $5,000. Huffman’s
work is skillful and demonstrates a wide range of complex rhythms reflective of
a percussionist. His transcriptions reflect originally in his arrangements.
Huffman plans to use his fellowship to create professional recordings and to
seek workshops and coaching opportunities at the national level.
Chintia
Kirana of
Montgomery was awarded
a visual arts fellowship in the amount of $5,000. She is a
multidisciplinary artist and art activist with work exhibited in 8
countries and on 4 continents. Kirana’s recent 3D work and lightbox
installations are viewed as intentional and meticulously executed.
Therese
Laeger of Birmingham was awarded a music fellowship in the amount of
$5,000. Laeger demonstrates dedagogical skills in her exploration of large
artistic musical concepts. Her broad view of music is strong and shows immense
potential for career advancement.
Mark Leputa of Ft. Payne was awarded craft fellowship in the
amount of $5,000. Leputa’s work involves planned manipulations of glass. After
he heats and molds glass to the shape he desires, it is allowed to cool.
Afterwards he carves that same glass and adds different textures and layers to
give it dimension and depth.
Kwoya F.
Maples of Vestavia Hills was
awarded a literary arts fellowship in the amount of $5,000. Her debut collection of poetry, titled Mend, was published in 2018 by
University of Kentucky Press and was a finalist for the Association of Writers
and Writing Program’s Donald Hall prize for Poetry in 2017. Her chapbook Something of Yours was published by Finishing Line Press in
2010. A graduate Cave Canem Fellow,
Maples teaches creative writing at the Alabama School of Fine Arts in
Birmingham.
Cary Norton of Birmingham
was awarded the Gay Burke photography fellowship in the amount of $5,000.
Norton’s use of tintype shows great skill as he works with this difficult
medium. Norton plans to use his fellowship documenting lost heritage sites; a subject
he has covered in the past and yet wishes to expand upon.
Celeste
Amparp Pfau of
Birmingham was awarded
a visual arts fellowship in the amount of $5,000. Pfau’s work is inspired
from natural elements such as hand-picked flowers, foliage, seeds and roots.
Her botanical monoprints, whether printed on paper or printed to be wearable
art comes to life on a manually operated etching press. The aim of her
work is to be a bridge connecting people to the natural world and to each
other.
Amy Pleasant
of
Birmingham was awarded a visual arts fellowship in the amount of $5,000. A
prolific artist, Pleasant’s work includes painting, drawing, and ceramic
sculpture. Her aim is to explore the theme of the body and language through
repetition. Using a limited palette and with a minimal array of line, she
illustrates universal motions and behaviors.
Kim Scott of Birmingham was awarded a
music fellowship in the amount of $5,000. Proficient in many genres of music,
Scott has produced a significant body of work. Her work is expressive, with
clarity of tone, good sound projection and shows a flawless technique. Scott
has an upcoming collaboration with No. 1 Billboard charting
composers/keyboardists Jonathan Fritzen and James Lloyd.
Alicia Johnson Williams of
Bessemer was awarded a theatre fellowship in the amount of $5,000. Williams’
work shows the development of conflict between characters through drafted
dialogue in both her full length work, and in the excerpts of her works. Her
exploration of topics are original, and have a unique voice which is primarily
developed for young performers.
The Alabama State Council on the Arts is the
official state arts agency of Alabama. The staff of the Council, directed by
Dr. Elliot Knight, 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 334-242-5153 or
visit our website: www.arts.alabama.gov.