For Immediate Release: May 5, 2006
Contact: Jeff Morgan
Public Relations
515.281.3858
Jeff.Morgan@iowa.gov
Iowa Arts Council Awards $153,500 in Major Arts and Organizational Grants
(DES MOINES, Iowa)—The Iowa Arts Council announced today it has awarded 28 Major arts and organizational grants totaling $153,500 to individuals and programs that serve Iowans across the state.
IAC received 78 Major grant applications requesting $687,472 this spring, an increase over last fall’s 48 applications requesting $362,299. IAC Major grants are designed to provide financial assistance for projects developed by individual artists, arts organizations, schools and other community groups working to bring excellence in the arts to all Iowans. The program emphasizes artistic excellence, service to Iowans, and solid project planning and implementation. Applicants may request up to $10,000 but no more than 50 percent of the project’s total expenses.
“The fact that the Iowa Arts Council is able to support the important work of independent artists and those who work in cultural and educational organizations is as rewarding to us as it is to them,” said Anita Walker, director of the Iowa Department of Cultural Affairs, which oversees the Iowa Arts Council. “Through these grants, we are taking steps to make sure these individuals and organizations can reach out and share the best of what the arts can offer to audiences across the state.
“The increase in the number of applications we received is encouraging because it reflects the passion Iowans have for the arts,” Walker said. “The choices we made in identifying the 28 projects were very difficult. We want to support the arts in Iowa more broadly because they impact economic development and make our communities great places to live, work and play. We are, however, forced to work within the limits of the resources available to us.”
The Iowa Arts Council is a division of the Iowa Department of Cultural Affairs and works to enrich the quality of life and learning in Iowa communities by encouraging excellence in the arts through leadership, grants and technical assistance. Funding for the Iowa Arts Council and its programs is provided by the State of Iowa and the National Endowment for the Arts. Please visit www.iowaartscouncil.org for more information.
The following projects were awarded IAC Major grant funding:
(Community)
(Organization)
(Project)
(Amount Funded)
(Project Description)
Ames
Ames Town & Gown Chamber Music Association
QuinTango
$5,000
Ames Town & Gown Chamber Music Association will present QuinTango, a string quintet and two tango dancers, in concert at the Ames City Auditorium on Saturday, October 28, at 7:30 p.m., and an outreach event for Perry K-6 students on Friday, October 27, at 10 a.m. at the Perry school gymnasium.
Cedar Rapids
Cedar Rapids Opera Theatre
“Elixir of Love” and Young Artist Production of “Jack and
the Beanstalk”
$4,200
Performances of “Elixir of Love” (Jan. 12, 14, 2007) and Young Artist Production of “Jack and the Beanstalk” (up to 10 performances in Cedar Rapids Community Schools and the Iowa Children’s Museum during the week of Jan. 8).
Clear Lake
Clear Lake Arts Council
Architectural History of Clear Lake Through the Eyes of Teens and Adults
$1,800
A school and community residency with architectural historian Molly Naumann is scheduled, with the first week focusing on a group of self-selected community adults who commit to research local architecture and develop a public tour over subsequent months. The second week will target middle school students with a multi-disciplinary approach.
Coralville
I Can Read
Dancing I Can Read Songs
$4,500
This innovative project creates segments of children’s dance for performance and video. Artist Leslie Nolte of Nolte Dance Academy teams with LaDonna Wicklund, creator of I Can Read! Songs, and video artist Lane Wyrick to integrate the cross-cultural, universal language of music and dance into beginning reading instruction.
Davenport
Mississippi Valley Blues Society
Blues in the Schools Continuing Educational Residency Program
$6,800
The Mississippi Valley Blues Society hosts five artists-in-residencies during the 2006-2007 season. The program calls for four week-long residencies and one month-long residency. Musicians include Dave Moore, Kevin Burt, Alabama Blues Project, Hal Reed and Bill Bell.
Des Moines
Greater Des Moines Music Coalition
“Gross Domestic Product 2”
$5,600
“Gross Domestic Product 2” will be held in Downtown Des Moines in participating venues and feature many Iowa bands and musicians. The event is a continuation of an ongoing DMMC Festival series, which has successfully produced a prototype event on March 31, 2006, entitled “Gross Domestic Product.” This event will follow the same template, but serve different genres of music and audiences.
Des Moines
Iowa Natural Heritage Foundation
Des Moines River Greenbelt – Landmark Trail Bridge
$5,600
The intent of this project is to commission an artist during the early stages of design and engineering of a half-mile long trail bridge over the Des Moines River in Boone County. The bridge has the potential to become a landmark for Iowa.
Des Moines
Larassa Kabel
The Thrilling Tweens
$8,600
The Thrilling Tweens is the creation of a new and significant body of work consisting of eight photo-realistic oil paintings exploring female adolescence, transformation and gender identity. The work will be shown at the Karolyn Sherwood Gallery in Des Moines October 19-November 16, 2006.
Des Moines
Metro Arts Alliance of Greater Des Moines
Metro Arts Education On Location
$8,100
Metro Arts Education On Location combines three of Metro Arts’ successful arts education programs – school year, after-school and summer – into a single, unified outreach program. Throughout the year, Iowa artists will present affordable performances and hands-on activities for children, families and seniors at a variety of locations around central Iowa.
Des Moines
Salisbury House Foundation
Shakespeare on the Lawn Next Steps: Expansion of Community Services
$5,600
Summer 2006 is the third season of “Shakespeare on the Lawn” at Salisbury House and Gardens, and involves a full production of A Mid-Summer Night's Dream, expansion of performances with additional family night and Sunday matinee, more discounted/free admissions, and a free Shakespeare day camp for disadvantaged kids called “A Mid-Summer's DayDream.”
Dubuque
Dubuque Museum of Art Dubuque
Voices from the Warehouse District 2 (Voices 2)
$4,500
During 2005 the Dubuque Museum of Art (working with 10 artists, from Iowa, Wisconsin and Illinois) mounted a highly experimental and wildly successful pilot exhibition at a warehouse in Dubuque’s downtown. Emboldened by its popularity, the Museum seeks IAC funding for an enhanced 2006 exhibition sequel that becomes biannual thereafter.
Fairfield
Michael Peter Cain
Creating New Sculptures in India and Iowa for Exhibition in Iowa
$5,200
This project is to create in India and Iowa a new body of work that takes a significant new direction. Cain will make 20 innovative sculptures in collaboration with traditional hammered sheet metal artisans in India in 2006-2007 and finish these works in Iowa in 2006-2008. As he has regularly done for 30 years, Cain will exhibit the work in distinguished Iowa art venues after the grant period.
Fort Dodge
Madai Taylor
Mono Solo
$3,800
This project combines youth classes and an exhibition of pictures by Madai to introduce students to collage as a fine art medium. Using materials from daily life, students will be encouraged to create individual works of art. The project includes a catalog showing some of the artwork in the exhibition.
Indianola
Des Moines Metro Opera, Inc.
2007 OPERA Iowa Statewide Educational Tour
$8,100
An 8-member cast and crew will present 350 classroom workshops and more than 90 performances of Donizetti’s Don Pasquale Giannini’s Beauty and the Beast during a 13-week educational tour. Artistic Director Robert L. Larsen will direct. (Repertory will be finalized this fall)
Iowa City
Carla Wilson
Black American Gothic: Planting Urban Roots in Iowa
$8,100
Black people in Iowa? “Black American Gothic” documents the exodus of Black people from the inner-city, a national demographic trend that impacts Iowa dramatically. Over the course of one year our project will track four black subjects from Chicago as they migrate west to the college town of Iowa City.
Iowa City
Kahraman Near East Dance Ensemble, Inc.
Cairo in the Cornfields
$2,500
Kahraman Near East Dance Ensemble, Inc. is hosting Mahmoud Reda, the pioneer of folkloric dance in Egypt, July 27-30. Reda will offer a pedagogy seminar for dance teachers, two workshops for dancers, and a discussion about his choreographic and film work for the general public.
Iowa City
Leighton Pierce
Scheduled Departure: 4 channel video, 8 channel audio installation
$5,000
Scheduled Departure is a sculptural video and sound installation to be presented at Cornell College in January of 2007 consisting of four video projections and two white projection monoliths. This is an immersive video environment that is designed to shift perception of time and space.
Iowa City
Summer of the Arts
Summer of the Arts’ Iowa Filmmakers Showcase
$5,600
Summer of Arts is seeking showcase filmmakers for its summer programming at the Iowa City Jazz Festival, Iowa Arts Festival and Saturday Night Free Movie Series. A volunteer committee will consist of members of numerous film and digital groups collaborating to curate a showcase of Iowa Filmmakers in a closed tent at IAF and open screenings at both ICJF and SNFMS.
Iowa City
The University of Iowa
Mariachi Los Camperos de Nati Cano
$5,500
Hancher Auditorium will present “Mariachi Los Camperos de Nati Cano” on Sunday, December 10 at 4 p.m. followed by a holiday party highlighting local Mexican performing artists. We will work with schools, churches and community organizations to identify local Mexican artists, provide transportation and distribute free tickets to Mexican artists and families.
Johnston
Iowa Public Television
Iowa State Fair Documentary
$5,200
Film interviews with longtime Fair participants (Duffy Lyon, Connie Boesen, 84-year old Zagnoli concessionaires, etc.) for historical background on our 3-hour documentary to be presented by IPTV. Funding supplements a Humanities Iowa grant for this stage of production.
Marion
Red Cedar Chamber Music
To Chocen with Love, A Celebration of Iowa's Czech Heritage
$7,200
To Chocen With Love celebrates Iowa’s Czech heritage through a musical celebration consisting of five educational activities for seniors and kids plus two chamber music concerts May 7-June 2, 2007. The project will hire IAC-rostered artists Jan Boland, John Dowdall and Michael Kimber along with east-coast violist, David Miller.
Mount Vernon
Iowa Cultural Corridor Alliance
National Performance Network 2006 Annual Meeting
$3,500
Iowa Cultural Corridor Alliance (ICCA) requests support to co-host, with Legion Arts, the National Performance Network’s 2006 Annual Meeting in Cedar Rapids, November 8-12. ICCA will facilitate the involvement of local artists, presenters, interns, volunteers and audiences in this national forum for peer communication among artists and presenters.
Oskaloosa
Iowa State University Extension – Mahaska County
Arts Experience Youth Day Camp
$4,000
Arts Experience day camp will introduce youth to six different art media. Guest artists will lead activities and a community service project involving their art. Artists include Dr. Jacqueline Thompson (music), John Jannenga (drawing), Concetta Morales (Character Counts), Dennis Adams (sculpture), Alan Kinsey (ceramics) and Connie Larson Miller (fiber/weaving).
Perry
Dallas County Conservation Board
Prairie Awakening – A Journey Into Indigenous Learning
$6,100
Native Americans from four states and Canada participate with drums, singers and dancers from indigenous tribes including Lakota, Dakota (Sioux), Winnebago, Dine (Navajo) and Anishnaube. Jerome Kills Small-Singer/Storyteller, Dallas Chief Eagle-Hoop Dancer and Bryan Akipa-Flute Recording Artist provide storytelling, music and dance for all ages.
Rock Island
Quad City Arts
Quad City Arts’ Visiting Artist Series 2006-07
$9,000
The 2006-2007 Visiting Artist Series will present approximately 250 educational programs to broaden student and adult understanding of the performing arts. The artists are world-renowned musicians, dancers and performers. Free or low-cost public concerts will provide additional community access to these artists.
Rock Island
WVIK 90.3 FM, Augustana Public Radio
WVIK Local Arts Programs
$5,600
WVIK serves the community as a broadcast forum for the arts by creating, presenting and sustaining local arts programming. The hallmarks of WVIK’s local programming include long-running shows hosted by well-respected artists and radio talent, including Bruce Carter (visual arts), Ronald Tweet, Faye Clow, Jan Keessen (literary arts), and Don Wooten.
Sioux City
Art Center Association of Sioux City
Great Place Public Art Master Plan
$7,000
The purpose of the project is to create a public art master plan for Sioux City, specifically focused on the area designated as an Iowa Great Place in 2005. The project will feature a consultant hired to work with a task force to develop and adopt the plan.
Waverly
Waverly-Shell Rock Elementary Music
Cultures and Folk Dances from Around the World
$1,800
This project is designed to give our students the opportunity to experience
various cultures and their histories through folk dance. The residency will
include guest artist Sanna Longden working with the students and their families
throughout the school days and hosting evening family events.