Iowa Arts News, March 2010

“Iowa Roots” is back on Iowa Public Radio! The series features stories, music and talk with traditional artists from a variety of ethnic, geographic, occupational and religious groups found in Iowa. A collaboration between the Iowa Arts Council’s Folklife Program and Iowa Public Radio, Iowa Roots airs statewide Saturdays at 7:54 p.m. after “Vinyl Café” and Sundays at 5:30 p.m. during the “Best of IPR Talk” segment on Iowa Public Radio stations WSUI, WOI-AM, KTPR (Fort Dodge), KWOI (Carroll) and KOWI (Lamoni).
           
For previously aired Iowa Roots programs plus transcripts and cultural background information on those interviewed, visit Iowa Roots on the Iowa Arts Council’s Web site. The new segments will be added in the coming months. In the meantime, listeners can hear recently aired segments at Iowa Roots on IPR.  

For more information about Iowa Roots contact Riki Saltzman at riki.saltzman@iowa.gov or (515) 242-6195.  

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Cultural Trust Sustainability Challenge Grant Deadline May 20

The Department of Cultural Affairs has announced a May deadline for Iowa non-profit cultural, arts and history organizations to submit applications for Iowa Cultural Trust Sustainability Challenge Grants.

Applications must be received by 4:30 p.m. Thursday, May 20, 2010, in the office of the Iowa Cultural Trust, 600 E. Locust Street, Des Moines, Iowa 50319. This is not a postmark deadline. The grants are funded through the Iowa Cultural Trust, created by the Iowa Legislature in 2002 to help bring financial stability to non-profit cultural, arts and history organizations across the state.

Organizations awarded Sustainability Challenge Grants must raise a minimum of $3 in new endowment funds for every $1 of grant funds awarded. Organizations with an operating budget up to $150,000 may request up to $20,000. Organizations with an operating budget over $150,000 may request up to $35,000. The requested grant amount should be appropriate to the needs and the fundraising capacity of the institution.

Sustainability Challenge Grant funds will be paid to grantees after they demonstrate that they have achieved a three-to-one cash match, but no later than two years beyond the date of the award. All matching pledges and gifts must be new during the challenge grant period, and must be received and deposited into the endowment fund during the two-year grant period.

The Cultural Trust legislation calls for up to $1 million to be appropriated to the Cultural Trust annually through 2015 via the Iowa Values Fund. Grants are distributed from interest earned on principal.

Additional information about the Iowa Cultural Trust Sustainability Challenge Grant program, eligibility requirements, rules and regulations is available at www.culturalaffairs.org or by calling DCA at (515) 281-5111.

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DCA Awards More Than $33,000 in Cultural Trust Stability Grants

The Department of Cultural Affairs has awarded $33,621 to 14 Iowa cultural organizations in its first round of Cultural Stability Grants.

The grants are funded through the Iowa Cultural Trust, created by the Iowa Legislature in 2002 to help bring financial stability to non-profit cultural, arts and history organizations across the state.

“Iowa’s cultural organizations generate millions of dollars in economic activity, but they are often undercapitalized and really struggle at times to make ends meet,” DCA Director Cyndi Pederson said. “When the Legislature created the Iowa Cultural Trust, the intent was to support long-term financial stability and sustainability in those organizations.”

Applicants could request up to $2,500, but no more than 50 percent of the total cost, for projects that will measurably improve non-profit cultural organizations’ ability to be financially stable and sustainable. All requests must show a dollar-for-dollar cash match.

Visit www.iowaculturalaffairs.org to view the list of Cultural Trust Stability Grant awards.  

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IAC marks Youth Art Month in March

The winning entries in a statewide art competition involving Iowa students will be on display in March at the State Historical Building in Des Moines as part of Youth Art Month in Iowa.

Sponsored for the 20th year by Art Educators of Iowa with support from the Iowa Arts Council, the competition showcases works by Iowa students in grades K-12. The State Historical Building will feature 130 of the entries while 15 “best of show” entries will be displayed in the office of Governor Chet Culver.

The State Historical Building is at 600 E. Locust Street in Des Moines. Hours are 9 a.m.-4:30 p.m. Monday-Saturday and noon-4:30 p.m. Sunday. Admission is free and open to the public.

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Theatre Cedar Rapids Returns to Bigger, Better Space Downtown

By Diana Nollen of the Cedar Rapids Gazette (Feb. 21, 2010)

Theatre Cedar Rapids is ready to pay it forward.

The first gem in the Corridor’s performing-arts crown jewels will reopen Friday with a sold-out gala celebration 20 months after floodwaters filled the Iowa Theatre Building’s basement and covered the TCR stage and the first seven rows of seats.

Plans to reopen the Paramount Theatre in downtown Cedar Rapids and to relocate Hancher Auditorium in Iowa City are in the works, but still several years away.

A $7.8 million building project has restored and renovated the Iowa Theatre in ways Theatre Cedar Rapids staff and volunteers had only dreamed of, building on the Next Act capital campaign launched shortly before the floodwaters hit. Read more…

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Iowa Community Cultural Grant Applications Due May 3

The Iowa Department of Cultural Affairs is seeking applications for its Iowa Community Cultural Grant program. Applications must be received by 4:30 p.m. May 3 in the DCA Administrative Offices, 600 E. Locust, Des Moines. This is not a postmark deadline.
ICCG grants are for Iowa communities and organizations seeking funding for fiscal year 2010 (July 1, 2010 – June 30, 2011). Guidelines and application forms for this grant program are posted at www.culturalaffairs.org.

The ICCG program provides matching grants to support organizations and projects that provide employment for Iowans while enhancing Iowa’s artistic, cultural and historical resources. Projects include but are not limited to museum exhibits, historic restoration and archaeology projects; folklife and other festivals; public art or ethnic heritage projects; and performing arts events and companies.

Local governments and their subsidiaries, tribal councils, and nonprofit, tax-exempt organizations are eligible for cash-match awards that range from $1,000 to $25,000 to fund salary support for new, enhanced or contracted positions. All application, guidelines and criteria as well as a listing of previous year awardees are available at www.culturalaffairs.org (click on “funding”).

For more information, contact Riki Saltzman at Riki.Saltzman@iowa.gov or (515) 242-6195.

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Dubuque Art Center Earns Large Grant for New Program

Congratulations to the Dubuque Art Center for receiving a State Farm Youth Advisory Board grant worth $80,000.

The money benefits DAC’s Speaking Out, a service learning program for high school students. Students will identify a community issue that interests them, then have an adult mentor who is an expert on the issue help them explore it. Students will work with Loras College English and media students to create videos to help raise awareness and propose solutions. The videos will air on the public access site and the art center’s Web site as well as other relevant sites.

“For a young organization to be recognized like this is truly an honor and speaks volumes to the positive impact of the Dubuque Arts Center, said Tom Culbertson, DAC Board President.

The DAC was one of only two organizations in Iowa selected to receive the State Farm Youth Advisory Board grant. The other is a program in Mason City titled “Bag it Better,” a campaign to raise awareness about the environmental impact of paper and plastic bags.

“We feel very fortunate to have received this award because it is extremely competitive and selects only the highest quality programs from around the country,” said Jordan DeGree, DAC Director.

Speaking Out will begin recruiting students this month, with the project underway by July 2010.

-portions of this article were contributed by Sandye Voight with the Dubuque Telegraph-Herald.

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Art in State Buildings Program FY09 Annual Report

The Iowa Arts Council has completed its annual report for the Art in State Buildings Program. Copies of the report were submitted to the governor and legislature.

The report summarizes the total expenditures of Iowa’s state agencies, departments and the Board of Regents for FY09. The expenditures were submitted by the participating departments, agencies and the Board of Regents.

A total of $1,221,000 was spent in Fiscal Year 2009 to integrate fine art into new, remodeled or renovated state building construction projects. This PowerPoint presentation highlights some of the projects completed or in-process during FY09.

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How a Local Arts Council Director Lives the Arts in Iowa

The Orange City Arts Council named Janine Calsbeek its executive director in early 2009. A graduate of Northwestern College with a bachelor’s in English, Calsbeek has been active in the arts as a children’s art teacher for the city of Orange City, the arts council, the public library and Northwest Iowa home educators. She has been a volunteer for numerous organizations, including the arts council board, and has worked as an assistant office manager for Bethesda Christian Counseling and a host family coordinator for international students at Northwestern College. Here, Calsbeek tells us how she lives the arts in Iowa:

Who is your favorite Iowa artist?
I love Marilynne Robinson and her novel, Gilead. But I also love lots of lesser-known artists from my area (NW Iowa) – actor Bob Hubbard, textile artist Joanne Alberda, the Northwestern College A Cappella Choir.

Are you an artist yourself?
Well, I’m a photographer. And I like to write – I’ve written some poetry and essays. And I like to experiment with papermaking and all sorts of mini art projects (which I often make into greeting cards). I’ve taught art to kids... and playing around is the most fun. My family members are all musicians; I’m their fan club.

What inspires you the most about living in Iowa?
The sky. We have a beautiful huge sky here. Also being able to walk everywhere, and reflect/cogitate.

What’s just outside your window?
Just outside my window? A trampoline, buried in the ground, the tarp still on it even though it’s winter. (What were we thinking?) It’s covered with lots of white stuff. A big back yard with busy squirrels – even this winter – squirrels which peeve our Westie, Misha, to no end.

What did you do last Friday night?
Friday night - I went to Dordt College to see the Prairie Grass Film Challenge finalists. This is a cool contest - amateur filmmakers are given a genre, prop, character and a line to put in their film - and 48 hours to complete it. The top six were all unique. One featured a detective trying to find out who made the cookies - in B & W and color. Another one: finger puppets singing about their town and the antics of “Mr. Evil Business Man.” Really fun to see these - especially since the Orange City Arts Council is hoping to do its own film fest featuring original films this summer. 

Tell us about an unexpected arts experience.
Amazing local artists like the young fiddler in town; the Taize service with guitar, violin, recorder, cello, voice, and a beautiful vocal descant.

What’s your favorite part of working for the Orange City Arts Council?
The possibilities. I think of ideas, the board thinks of ideas, or community members think of ideas... and they happen!

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Former Iowa Poet Laureate Dies at 80

Robert Dana, 80, the writer who revived the North American Review in the 1960s and went on to serve as Iowa’s Poet Laureate from 2004 through 2008, Robert Dana, died Saturday, February 6, 2010, at Mercy Hospice in Iowa City. A memorial service will take place at a later time.

Robert Patrick (“RP”) Dana was born June 2, 1929, in Boston. Orphaned at age seven, he was a foster child in the Francis (“Pop”) Kearney home in Haydenville, Mass., through high school. After serving in the South Pacific at the end of World War II, he attended college on the GI Bill, and moved to Iowa after a year at Holyoke Junior (now Community) College. He received his B.A. from Drake University in Des Moines, where he studied with poet E.L. Mayo and worked at the sports desk of the Des Moines Register.

Click here to read Dana’s complete obituary.

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IAC Out & About

March 4-5: Riki Saltzman to Waterloo, Iowa City, and Quad Cities for various meetings, and site evaluation of Ballet Quad Cities production of “The Ugly Duckling”
March 6: Dawn Martinez Oropeza, Mary Sundet Jones, Cyndi Pederson, Riki Saltzman, and Sarah Ekstrand at Poetry Out Loud state championship competition, State Historical Building, Des Moines
March 7: Dawn Martinez Oropeza participates in Youth Art Month and Scholastic Art Awards ceremonies, State Historical Building, Des Moines
March 8: Bruce Williams to Mitchellville for Art in State Buildings consultation with Iowa Department of Corrections
March 9: Riki Saltzman to Pella for presentation to Arts Management class at Central College
March 10-12: Cyndi Pederson to Minneapolis to chair Arts Midwest grant review panel for the NEA’s Shakespeare in American Communities program
March 15: Bruce Williams to Mitchellville for Art in State Buildings artist interviews for Iowa Department of Corrections project
March 17-19: Dawn Martinez Oropeza to Little Rock, Ark., for Arkansas Arts Council grant review panel
March 19: Bruce Williams to Cedar Rapids for Cultural Leadership Partners site visit at Legion Arts
March 23: Dawn Martinez Oropeza and Sarah Ekstrand to Iowa City for presentation to Advanced Arts Management class at University of Iowa
March 25-26: Cyndi Pederson to Minneapolis for Arts Midwest board finance committee meeting (she chairs this committee)
March 26: Riki Saltzman to Waterloo for Bosnian symposium at Waterloo Center for the Arts

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ARTicles…of Note

Across the Country, Mixed Feelings on Film Production Tax Credits, Variety (Jan. 25, 2010): “Film production tax credits partially refund state taxes to filmmakers, luring them to areas in need of economic growth. Some have gone badly wrong, while almost identical programs have sparked urban renewal and generated good, much-needed jobs.”

Ovation TV and Arts Education, PR Newswire, (Jan. 27, 2010): Ovation TV has collaborated with Cable in the Classroom to create an arts education curriculum which can be accessed through the Cable in the Classroom portal.