For Immediate Release: December 18, 2008
Contact: Jeff Morgan
Public Relations
515.281.3858
Jeff.Morgan@iowa.gov
Iowa Arts Council Announces Mini Grant Awards
(DES MOINES, Iowa)—The Iowa Arts Council has awarded $16,067 in the November and December rounds of Mini Grants to organizations and individuals in Coralville, Council Bluffs, Davenport, Decorah, Grinnell, Iowa City, Ottumwa, Pella and Sioux City. IAC received 28 eligible applications with requests totaling more than $40,000.
Mini Grants are awarded each month, and applicants may request up to $1,500 in funding, which they must match.
“It’s always intriguing and exciting to see the wonderful, creative ways in which Iowans are bringing the arts into the lives of their fellow citizens,” said Mary Sundet Jones, Iowa Arts Council administrator. “There are so many more great arts activities occurring than we can possibly support. The good news is that arts are alive and well in Iowa.”
Applications for Mini Grants must be received the first working day of the month before the intended activity begins. More information and application guidelines and rules can be viewed at www.iowaartscouncil.org.
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.
Iowa Arts Council NOVEMBER 2008 Mini Grant Awards
Margaret Stratton, Iowa City
“The Living and the Dead: Resurrecting The Neapolitan Cult of the Skull”
$1,500
Photograph Margaret Stratton publish “The Living and the Dead: Resurrecting the Neapolitan Cult of the Skull,” a hard cover book of 80 plates of her photographs from Naples, Italy. The prestigious Center for American Places at Columbia College, Chicago, and The University of Chicago Press will publish the monograph, under both photography and religion.
Margaret LaBounty, Council Bluffs
Exhibition at World Art Vision: Cancun 2008
$1,500
IAC funding allows painter Margaret LaBounty to participate at World Art Vision: Cancun 2008 where she will join internationally recognized artists Arturo Garc, Bustos and Arturo Estrada and Rina Lazlo, pupil and collaborator of Diego Rivera.
Shawn Womack, Grinnell
Decade Dances
$1,000
Decade Dances is a retrospective of Iowa choreographer Shawn Womack’s work that addresses matters of ageism, women and dance. IAC funding supports performances in January 2009 at Grinnell College, the Mitchellville women’s prison and a Grinnell retirement community. Collaborators are Debora Breuleux, Shellie Cash, Renee McCafferty (dancers), Erin Howell Gritsch (costumes), and Justin Thomas (lighting).
Karen Bourne, Sioux City
World Music Drumming Summer Training
$1,080
Karen Bourne will attend Level II training for World Music Drumming in Oconomowoc, Wis., June 21-26, 2009. She will implement techniques and skills learned in her private piano studio and her public school classroom. She will also share her learning with Sioux City Schools music staff.
Iowa Alliance for Arts Education, Davenport
IAAE Identity Development Program
$1,487
Marketing materials developed with this funding will make IAAE’s resource offerings more accessible to the arts education community including professional development opportunities, issue updates, and coordination among arts organizations.
The Englert Civic Theatre, Iowa City
Live Musicians for “The Nutcracker” Community Collaboration
$1,500
Twenty-eight regional musicians will be hired to play in the orchestra for a fully-staged rendition of “The Nutcracker,” a community collaboration at the Englert Theatre in December 2008. The orchestra will be conducted by Carey Bostian, a member of the IAC Artist Roster.
Greater Ottumwa Vocal Arts Project
GOVAP’s Participation in Paulus’ Oratorio, “To Be Certain of the Dawn”
$1,500
The Greater Ottumwa Vocal Arts Project Children’s Chorus will participate in the Iowa premiere of Paulus’ “To Be Certain of the Dawn” celebrating Jewish history, alongside Iowa Wesleyan College and the Southeast Iowa Symphony in February’s Burlington and Ottumwa concerts. They will collaborate with other groups and perform new repertoire under a different director.
Iowa Arts Council DECEMBER 2008 Mini Grant Awards
Central College Theatre Department, Pella
Eulenspiegel Puppet Theatre Residency
$1,500
Central College will hire Eulenspiegel Puppet Theatre for a 5-day residency. The residency will encompass hands-on workshops in puppet building and manipulation; consultation and planning sessions regarding the use of puppets in actual performance; and two free performances.
Arts a la Carte, Iowa City
Argentine Dance at Arts a la Carte
$1,500
Arts a la Carte will present a series of workshops on Argentine Folklore taught from January through May by Nora Garda. Participants will listen to music, read articles, watch videos and learn folklorico dances as well as their histories and about the people who created them through the rich cultural dance traditions of Argentina.
Sasha Waters Freyer, Iowa City
Land Camera Collective Remake Project
$1,500
The Land Camera Collective Remake Project, under the auspices of Project Director Sasha Waters Freyer, will master, duplicate and promote a near-complete film art project – a remake of a 17-minute-long 1979 experimental film by the renowned filmmaker Owen Land in high definition (HD) video.
ACE (Habeas Corpus), Iowa City
Camera Dance – phase 3
$1,500
In Camera Dance phase 3, ACE artists will upload 14 hours of video dances to the Internet to a waiting audience of Iowa Milonga dancers. Taped in Buenos Aires, Argentina the videos include folkloric dances and tangos.
Craig W. Ede, Decorah
Faces and Footprints of Postville
$500
Craig W. Ede will create two 3’x4’ painted portraits, each of a woman and her children who were affected by the May 12 immigration raid. The idea is to leave behind traces of the people who made a contribution to the Postville community but are now being forced to leave.
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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 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. More information about IAC is available at www.iowaartscouncil.org.