For Immediate Release: May 2, 2008
Contact: Jeff Morgan
Public Relations
515.281.3858
Jeff.Morgan@iowa.gov
IAC awards 26 Major grants totaling $194,600
(DES MOINES, Iowa)—The Iowa Arts Council has awarded 26 major arts and organizational grants totaling $194,600 to individuals and organizations serving Iowans across the state.
IAC, a division of the Iowa Department of Cultural Affairs, received 78 Major Grant requests totaling nearly $668,000 this spring to fund projects developed by individual artists, arts organizations, community groups and schools working to bring excellence in the arts to Iowans.
The program emphasizes artistic excellence, service to Iowans, and solid project planning and implementation. Applicants may request up to $10,000 in matching funds but no more than 50 percent of the project’s total expenses.
IAC received 78 eligible Major grant applications April 1, 2008, for the first round of FY2009 funding. Applicants requested a total of $667,837 for Arts projects. Twenty-six projects were selected for funding, with grant awards totaling $194,600.
Each Major grant application could receive a possible total score of 44 points during the review process. Although a score of 33 or above would be considered fundable, the amount of available funding did not allow for grants scoring below 41.5, leaving many worthwhile projects unfunded.
More information about IAC’s Major grant program is available at www.iowaartscouncil.org.
The following projects were awarded IAC Major grant funding this spring:
(City)
(Name of Recipient)
(Title of Project)
(Grant Amount)
(Description)
Amana
Amana Arts Guild
Amana Folk Arts Video Project
$6,400
The Amana Arts Guild will use IAC funds to produce Amana Folk Arts and Traditions Volume II, a DVD documenting folk arts and cultural traditions of the historic Amana Colonies not covered in Volume I, “Remaining Faithful,” which was completed in 1998.
Cedar Rapids
African American Museum of Iowa
Connected to Africa: Haitian Art in Iowa
$7,100
The African American Museum of Iowa plans an exhibit emphasizing African traditions in Haitian art. Artifacts for this exhibit will be borrowed from the Waterloo Center for the Arts and the Figge Art Museum. IAC grant funding supports the CCBdance Project, a Chicago dance troupe specializing in Haitian dance, in a performance at the exhibit opening.
Cedar Rapids
John Paul Schafer
Mural for Independence Public Library
$8,500
John Paul Schafer will use IAC grant funds to create a 9-by-24-foot, mixed-media painting for the main entrance of the new Independence, Iowa, Public Library facility, which is currently under construction. This mural will be painted on a series of single canvases that, by design, will fit together to complete the overall image.
Cedar Rapids
Legion Arts
Iowa World Music Festival
$8,500
IAC grant funds will help Legion Arts produce the first Iowa World Music Festival In September 2008. Lasting 10 to 12 days and featuring professional musicians from up to 12 countries, the project will involve concerts, workshops, panels, exhibits and receptions at a variety of venues in the Cedar Rapids area. Legion Arts expects this to become an annual event.
Coralville
Michael S. Cash
The Dragon with the Three Golden Feathers
$6,000
Cash will complete the first phase of a feature length animation. Eric Forsythe (University of Iowa Theatre Arts), William LaRue Jones (University of Iowa Orchestra Director), Monica Leo (Eulenspiegel Puppet Theatre), Kate Carol (Kate Carol and Company Dance), and William Cash will lend their talents to the project.
Council Bluffs
Boys and Girls Clubs of the Midlands
Embellished Art Mural to celebrate “Community”
$4,300
IAC grant funding will support a project under the artistic direction of Bob Wilson and Beth Davis of Wilson Custom Tile. Tiles will be created by students at Thomas Jefferson, Roosevelt and Wilson schools to create a mural in the new site of the Boys and Girls Clubs of the Midlands in the Lakin Human Services Complex in Council Bluffs... celebrating the theme of “Community.”
Council Bluffs
City of Council Bluffs
First Night Council Bluffs
$8,500
First Night is a non-alcoholic community event that celebrates the New Year through the Arts. IAC grant funding supports this multi-cultural event filled with all types of art: music, dance, song, performance, visual and more. Professional artists offer multiple performances at several venues in our historic downtown, culminating in a midnight finale.
Decorah
Brooke Joyce
Waves of Stone: Music by Brooke Joyce
$6,500
Joyce will create a professional CD of original compositions inspired by Iowa to be released on the Innova label, featuring musicians from the Decorah area including the Murasaki Duo, Unison Piano Duo, Spencer Martin, Andrew Whitfield and Carol Hester.
Des Moines
John Domini
Cooking the Octopus: Discovering Naples, My Father, and Myself
$8,500
Domini will use IAC grant funding to finish a memoir, “Cooking the Octopus: Discovering Naples, My Father, and Myself.” The narrative explores, as a means of recovery from his mid-life tragedies, his family’s roots in an ancient, troubled seaport, long-kept secrets of the last world war and the pain of immigration.
Des Moines
pARTners Unlimited
Arts for New Audiences
$8,500
With IAC grant funding, pARTners Unlimited will serve high-risk youth at statewide sites in a team arts experience. Professional artists with specialized training will guide the teams as they create Art Cars, transforming running automobiles into visual and performance art. The Art Cars will later be showcased in local celebrations and parades as well as statewide events.
Des Moines
Robert John Ford,
SIX-ON-SIX, The Musical
$8,500
SIX-ON-SIX is a musical comedy that celebrates one of Iowa’s most cherished traditions – six-on-six girls’ basketball. Ford will use IAC funding to help pay more than 50 Iowa theatre artists who will present eight performances of the play to Iowa audiences February 26-March 8, 2009.
Des Moines
Salisbury House Foundation
Shakespeare on the Lawn and Midsummer Day Camps/Workshops
$8,500
IAC grant funding will support a professional outdoor production of a Shakespeare play directed by Lorenzo Sandoval that employs more than 30 actors/artists playing to more than 1,500 audience members over six summer evenings. Actors facilitate related day camps/workshops for underserved youth, introducing an art form that for some is new and may expand future audiences for live performance.
Des Moines
The Sparks Fly Upward Foundation
The Sparks Fly Upward
$8,500
This IAC grant support to The Sparks Fly Upward Foundation will allow it to bring the musical drama/opera, “The Sparks Fly Upward” to Des Moines, Iowa at Hoyt Sherman Place for the world premiere on November 8, 2008 – the 70th anniversary of Kristallnacht. This is a story that follows three German families – two Jewish and one Christian – in Berlin through the Holocaust.
Indianola
Des Moines Metro Opera, Inc.
OPERA Iowa Touring Educational Troupe
$8,500
Opera Iowa will use IAC grant funds to present 350 classroom workshops and more than 70 performances of Rossini’s “La Cenerentola”(Cinderella) and the world premiere performances of Michael Patterson’s “A Dream Fulfilled: The Saga of George Washington Carver.” Artistic Director Robert L. Larsen and Artistic Administrator Michael Egel will oversee this project.
Indianola
Simpson College
Simpson College Young Writers Conference
$6,000
IAC grant funding supports The Simpson College Young Writers Conference as they celebrate the art of writing for Iowa middle school students and language arts teachers through a presentation by Poetry Alive! and sessions presented by IAC-rostered artists: songwriter Dave Moore, playwright Cynthia Mercati, poetry/author Lorraine Duggin, author/photographer Robert Campagna, as well as additional Iowa artists.
Iowa City
Leighton Pierce
Agency of Time
$8,500
Leighton Pierce will use IAC grant funding to create this three-tiered project, “Agency of Time,” a video and sound installation, a single channel experimental video and a book of photographs. Installations scheduled for Sheldon Art Museum in Lincoln, Neb., and at Coe College in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.
Iowa City
Riverside Theatre
Coffe and Hope
$8,500
Riverside Theatre will use IAC funding to support the public premiere of “Coffee and Hope,” a new play by Ron Clark, co-founder of the Iowa City-based professional theatre. The play is based on interviews with men from across the country – including Iowa – who have served as caregivers for a loved one with breast cancer.
Lamoni
Graceland University
Hubbard Street 2-Modern Dance Experience for South Central Iowa
$7,800
Graceland University will use grant funding to bring the Hubbard Street 2 Dance Group to South Central Iowa for three days of performances and workshops. This outstanding Midwest dance group will bring modern dance to a large audience and involve children in movement workshops and youth in master classes.
Mt. Vernon
Stan Crocker
Light & Found
$8,500
Artist Stan Crocker will use IAC grant funding to sculpt new art work. Using light, color, intensity, focus and shadow that are ever changing, his art leads the viewer to new perceptions of found elements and their relationships. Abandoned farm machinery, broken trees, truck parts, scrap metal, shattered windshields, fan blades, window screen and bottles are molded into monolithic sculptures of light and found element.
Omaha
Omaha Symphony Association
Omaha Symphony’s 2008-2009 Education Programs
$8,500
The Omaha Symphony offers comprehensive educational programming to pre-kindergarten through high school-aged students throughout southwest Iowa. They are dedicated to maintaining accessible musical opportunities for every classroom and will use IAC funding to help creating innovative programming that serves as an accessible, adaptable and core resource for educators and youth.
Ottumwa
Matthew Clay
Epic Tale
$3,900
Clay will use grant funds to help produce “Epic Tale,” a concept album that is a collection of modern pop-rock songs with a mix of musical styles and influences. This rock opera will be packaged on CD along with a mini-comic book and will be supported by a uniquely designed Web site and on-line presence.
Pella
Gabriel Espinosa
Garibel Espinosa CD
$8,500
After 40 years in the music business as a performer and educator, Gabriel Espinosa will record original music and produce a CD with some of the best jazz musicians of today.
Rock Island
Quad City Arts
Quad City Arts’ Visiting Artist Series 2008-2009 season
$8,500
Quad City Arts will use IAC grant funding for their Visiting Artist Series. During their 35th anniversary, they will present approximately 200 educational programs to broaden student and adult understanding of the performing arts. The artists are world-renowned musicians, dancers and actors. Free or low-cost public concerts will provide additional community access to these artists.
Sioux City
Sioux City Symphony Orchestra
Sioux City Symphony's Christmas Spectacular featuring Brule’
$8,500
IAC grant funding supports the Sioux City Symphony in their collaboration with the Native American music group, Brule’. This will be the first collaboration of a symphony orchestra and an award-winning Native American music group. IAC funding will finance the creation of the orchestral charts, production and performances of Brule with the SCSO.
Sioux City
Tarahouse Meditation Center
Sand Mandala construction at Eppley Art Gallery
$2,600
IAC grant funding will help support Tarahouse Meditation Center to bring seven monks from Gaden Shartse (Tibetan) Monastery in India to construct an elaborate, two-dimensional sand mandala over four days. The public will be able to watch the entire process. Upon completion, the mandala will sit for viewing one day and then be destroyed on the sixth day. At the ending ceremony, participants will be able to take some of the sand home with them to commemorate the experience.
Spencer
Spencer Area Concert Association
A World of Music with Todd Green
$8,000
In each of six project communities, multi-instrumentalist Todd Green’s public performance will feature original music inspired by many different cultures around the world on more than 30 acoustic string, flute and percussion instruments. In conjunction, there will be “show-and-tell-type” demonstrations of the instruments for K-12 students and underserved adults.
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The Iowa Arts Council is a division of the Iowa Department of Cultural Affairs and works to enrich the quality of life for Iowans through support of the arts. 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.