SPOTLIGHT
SGAAC Awards Grants and Scholarship
Nearly $11,500 in Creative Community Grants have been awarded by the Spring Green Area Arts Coalition to eight arts and cultural programs for 2012. Grants were awarded based on benefit to the community, artistic merit, the potential for artistic development, number of individuals benefiting from the project, and the ability to meet financial matching requirements. Reviewing the applications were Deniece Carver, John Hess, Katie McGrath and Dundee McNair. The process was led by Terry Kerr, current chair of the grants committee, and Barbara Morford, advisor to the peer review panel. Organizations receiving funds this year are:
Wyoming Valley School Arts Center: The Creative Community Grant will underwrite the cost of 16 workshops and two special events--a season opening event in the Spring and a Harvest Festival in the Fall. Workshops include Broadway Beat, a musical theater camp with Jennifer Snow; Trickster Jack, a story-writing workshop for youth with Reid Gilbert; World Drumming workshop with Monica Kmak; and Wednesday Nights Arts Gatherings. Grant funds allow the Arts Center to offer programs to the public at little or no cost.
River Valley High School: In celebration of the 50th anniversary of the founding of River Valley High School and the River Valley School District, a production of Thornton Wilder’s Our Town will be produced by Nick Ehlinger and Lisa Scofield. Grant funds will help underwrite the costs of performance and production at the Gard Theater.
River Valley High School Choir Department: Funds will support music purchase, dance and acting coaches, costumes and production costs. A POPS concert will be performed for the general public.
Artsbridge: This is a multigenerational project, directed by Nancy Giffey, which brings together urban and rural students, adults, and seniors to create visual arts inspired by music, poetry and movement. Urban students from the Bayview Center in Madison come to the Wyoming Valley School to meet and work with Spring Green students. The grant helps fund the costs of the workshops. The art created in workshops will be on exhibit in the community and at Ethnic Fest in Madison.
Documentary film: Funds will underwrite the costs of production of a 30-minute documentary, No Brainer: True Confessions of a Cancer Mutant. Produced by Dave Erickson and based on his real life experience, the film will star Jim Ridge and be available for film festivals, Wisconsin public television, and on DVD.
Rural Musicians Forum: Funds will support the performance by chorus and orchestra of Carl Orff’s Carmina Burana. Conducted by Effi Casey, the first concert will be part of the Rural Musicians Forum’s summer concert series at Taliesin and a second concert, the venue to be determined.
Spring Green Literary Festival: The grant helps underwrite the costs of Suspense in Spring Green, a weekend that celebrates the art of mystery writing.
In 2010, the Arts Coalition created a new grant that promotes an individual’s artistic project or creative development. Recipient of this year’s Artistic Development Grant is local artist Jean Marc Richel for his multimedia project titled Celestials. The artwork, inspired by found patterns in area roadways and parking lots, will be on exhibit at Second Star Studio and postings online.
Finally, a $200 scholarship was awarded to River Valley High School senior, Brady Schaaf, to pursue a career in musical theater and dance at Columbia College in Chicago.
The Creative Community Grants are made possible by a $5,000 grant from the Wisconsin Arts Board that is matched by the Arts Coalition with funds raised in the community through Art Out of the Closet, a recycled art auction, and Match Game, an annual celebrity game show. In addition, corporate gifts from Cardinal Glass, M&I Bank and the Peoples Community Bank plus donations from area businesses and individuals were combined to match the grant. The Arts Coalition is one of 16 statewide groups responsible for distributing state funds to local arts programs.
