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Montgomery, Ala. – At its June meeting in Montgomery, the Alabama State Council on the Arts (ASCA) awarded fourteen fellowship grants including one arts administration fellowship totaling $70,000, and five Arts and Cultural Facilities grants totaling $102,000, for a grand total of $172,000. Fellowship grants are awarded to individual artists and are based on merit of work, career achievement, professional development and service to the state. 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, 2015 and September 30, 2016.
The cultural facilities grants 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, “In the past ten years since the inception of the program for cultural facilities, the Council has provided support for diverse projects in communities from all parts of the state. This year’s support includes the communities of Mentone, Montgomery, Selma, Northport and Troy. All of these facility oriented projects represent important initiatives to enhance spaces where arts programming will involve all of the community.”
Fellowships are grants awarded to outstanding individual artists from Alabama who create important works of art and make valuable contributions to the entire state. Vaughan Morrissette, Chairman of the Council emphasized, “Our state is fortunate to have so many artists from every artistic discipline producing works of the highest quality.”
Fellowships are given to individual artists working in arts administration, crafts, dance, design, media/photography, music, literature, theatre, and visual arts. 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, 2015 deadline and are awarded for the 2016 fiscal year beginning October 1, 2015 and extending through September 30, 2016. Vaughan Morrissette 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, 2016. For more information, visit www.arts.alabama.gov
ARTS & CULTURAL FACILITY GRANTS
Cloverdale Playhouse in Montgomery was awarded an Arts & Cultural Facilities grant in the amount of $9,000 for construction of an Outdoor Stage in the Courtyard. This new outdoor space will be used for performances, receptions and small concerts. This new space will expand opportunities when the main stage is unavailable for use.
Kentuck Museum in Northport was awarded a $50,000 Arts & Cultural Facilities grant for construction and renovation of the Kentuck Museum building. The updated facility will provide opportunities to explore art and the artists who create it. It will empower artists by providing affordable studio space, shops to offer exposure to their work and income. Plans also include engaging the community through a clay co-op, workshops, lectures and exhibitions.
Mentone Area Preservation Society in Fort Payne was awarded an $18,000 Arts & Cultural Facilities grant for Architectural Design of the Mentone Arts & Cultural Arts Center. The facility will provide residents and visitors opportunities for cultural enrichment through exhibitions, performance arts, and cultural programs. It will serve as a resource center for information on area artists, arts education and cultural events.
The Troy-Pike Cultural Arts Center in Troy was awarded a $15,000 Arts & Cultural Facilities grant for renovations to its facility to provide classrooms for furthering arts enrichment and learning. The additional space will allow for the cultural enhancement through the education and exposure to the arts.
Selma-Dallas County Historic Preservation in Selma was awarded a $10,000 Arts & Cultural Facilities grant for a comprehensive design plan to repurpose the Tremont School and revitalize the community through preservation and rehabilitation of the built environment. Preserving the school that has architectural or cultural significance will help to attract businesses to the community and attract tourism to the area with this new cultural arts and performance space.
FELLOWSHIPS
Cal Breed was awarded a Fellowship in Crafts in the amount of $5,000. Breed’s glass sculpture shows a mastery of techniques and materials. His newest work demonstrates an evolution of his career, and creative experimentation to explore the limits of glass.
Clayton V. Colvin was awarded a Fellowship in Visual Arts the amount of $5,000. Colvin’s paintings are described as fresh and sophisticated with a clearly expressed vision. His work shows layering and depth achieved with masterful handling of paint. He is gaining national attention for his strong body of work and extensive exhibition record.
Jesseca Cornelson was awarded a Fellowship in Literary Arts in the amount of $5,000. Dr. Cornelson is an assistant professor of English at Alabama State University. Her poems, which have been published in national and regional literary journals, are compelling, articulate and memorable in their phrasing and impact. The intertwining of the historic and the personal creates a sense of humanity and presence in what she writes. She links themes of history, race and class in original and intriguing ways to form a cohesive collection of poems. The fellowship will assist her in completing her first book manuscript.
Nick Corrao was awarded a Fellowship in Media Arts in the amount of $5,000. Corrao has a deep understanding of the film industry as demonstrated by his work on numerous film projects around the country, as well as the film series Alabama Art Seen. Alabama Art Seen episodes are interview-driven, first-person narratives in which the subjects tell their own stories. As an instructor in the University of Alabama’s department of telecommunication and film, he provides students with real-world experience, while the series itself brings attention to art in Alabama.
Natalie Chanin is being awarded a Design Fellowship in the amount of $5,000. Chanin is nationally recognized for her unique designs in fashion and often repurposes materials and clothing. Much of her work includes hand-cutting, stitching and even dyeing fabrics to create contemporary designs steeped in Southern traditions.
Robert Finkel was awarded a Design Fellowship in the amount of $5,000. Finkel’s work is engaging and community-focused with a high quality level. Although he has only been in Alabama four years, he has made many connections with artists and is using his design skills to help promote craft artists and arts organizations around the state.
Keetje Kuipers was awarded a Fellowship in Literary Arts in the amount of $5,000. Kuipers is an assistant professor of English at Auburn University’s Creative Writing Program where she has organized a number of public poetry projects and readings including: #BlackPoetsSpeak Out, the Poetry Month Reading Series, Aubie’s Poem-of-the-Day, and the Third Thursday Poetry Series at the Jule Collins Smith Museum. Her work is technically strong and polished. Her poems are engaging from the very first lines, transporting readers from imagery to insight “in a graceful and gorgeous way.” She has an active list of publications, including two poetry collections, The Keys to the Jail and Beautiful in the Mouth. The fellowship will assist her with costs of a joint residency with an artist where they plan to complete a chapbook of poems and watercolors.
Jessye McDowell was awarded a Fellowship in Media Arts the amount of $5,000. McDowell is an artist and educator whose digitally-created and installation work focuses on the intersections of intimate experience and digital life. She is a member of Auburn University faculty where she serves as gallery coordinator, as well as an instructor of the digital art foundations class.
Robert Muse was awarded a Music Fellowship in the amount of $5,000. Muse incorporates Celtic traditions in the background of his music. His work is creative, versatile and lyrically inventive as a guitar player. His compositions evoke mystery, passion and pathos accordingly. His recordings produce the same atmosphere of a live performance.
Edward Bruce Phillips was awarded a Fellowship in Visual Arts in the amount of $5,000. Phillips’ work plays with layers and architectural perspective and incorporates photographs he has taken. He has an active exhibition schedule in addition to his duties as an art professor at Tuskegee University. He plans to use his fellowship to set aside time to produce a new body of work to exhibit in the coming years.
Peter Prinz was awarded an Arts Administration Fellowship in the amount of $5,000. Prinz is the CEO and Co-founder of Space One Eleven in Birmingham. His organization provides a sanctuary for students to learn and communicate as artists, as well as provide a place for artists to show their work. Prinz will use the funds to attend conferences, seminars and workshops to learn more about Change Capital and how to apply the methodology and resources to strengthen the financial and organization health of his organization. Change Capital in the Arts is a current discussion among the Non-Profit Finance Fund and national funders.
Ralph Christopher Rich was awarded a Fellowship in Theatre in the amount of $5,000. His collections of stage designs are enhanced by the dramatic atmosphere created with his lighting effects. As a design artist, he consistently executes high quality cutting edge designs in the academic setting. He intends to further his career by setting aside time to research current trends and develop more tech savvy methods of theatre technical production.
Robert Taylor was awarded a Fellowship in Crafts in the amount of $5,000. Taylor is a Master Roycroft Artisan. He is one of only 5 Master Coppersmiths in the country to hold the honor of that title. He uses traditional techniques such as repose', chisel and chase work, hammer texture and riveting which gives a very distinct look to his work.
Laura Usiskin was awarded a Fellowship in Music in the amount of $5,000. Her work is a good mixture in the study of expressive use of vibrato and lyric melody. Her repertoire is challenging, yet executed with the ease of a polished and seasoned musician. Usiskin demonstrates the vibrancy of the cello tone and further embellishes it with beautiful physical gestures.
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.
For more information, visit http://arts.alabama.gov
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