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(Boston, MA) The New England Foundation for the Arts (NEFA) announces $90,499 in funding for New England-based arts organizations through its Arts Jobs/Public Artist Fee Support program.
Public Artist Fee Support is the third and final round of grants made from Arts Jobs, NEFA’s Recovery Act funding program, which provided federal funding through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act to New England-based organizations. These special, one-time grants to nonprofit arts organizations are intended to help maintain or restore arts jobs critical to their missions.
“We know that artists and the organizations that work with them will continue to play an important role in economic recovery,” said NEFA executive director Rebecca Blunk, "and we are extremely gratified to have supported projects like these through our grantmaking programs with funding through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.”
The first and second rounds of Arts Jobs grants – Performing Artist Fee Support and Presenter Salary Support – were awarded in summer 2009. Performing Arts Fee Support provided grants to New England arts presenters for artist fees for previously planned engagements that would have been cancelled or reduced due to the economic downturn. Presenter Salary Support offered grants to New England arts presenters for full or partial salary support for positions that are critical to an organization's artistic mission and that were in jeopardy of reduction or elimination due to the economic downturn. More detail on these recipients can be viewed at: www.nefa.org/news/nefa_announces_recovery_grants.
Grant Recipients for Public Artist Fee Support
Awards were made to community-based nonprofit organizations in New England for artist and/or contractual fees related to the implementation of a planned public art project that would have been significantly delayed or cancelled due to the economic downturn.
Grant recipient: Burlington City Arts (Burlington, VT)
Artist: Eric Bass (Putney, VT)
Amount: $10,000
Project Title: Winter Dreams
Eric Bass completed his collaboration with Burlington City Arts to produce Winter Dreams. A performance parade with over 1,000 dancers, actors, and musicians, Winter Dreams drew from extensive solicitation of community dreams, visions, and ideas for the future, and concluded the City’s celebration of the 400th anniversary of French explorer Samuel de Champlain’s expedition as the first European to make contact in the region. The event was staged on New Year’s Eve in conjunction with First Night Burlington.
Grant Recipient: Community Health Resources (Windsor, CT)
Artist: Karen Rossi (Meriden, CT)
Amount: $8,000
Project Title: Community Health Resources Outdoor Sculpture
Support to Community Health Resources will allow artist Karen Rossi to continue working with adolescent girls from Brook House, a Level II Therapeutic Group Home, to develop a stainless steel public art sculpture for the new CHR clinic plaza in Enfield, CT.
Grant Recipient: Dorchester Arts Collaborative (Dorchester, MA)
Artist: Joseph Wheelwright (Dorchester, MA)
Amount: $10,000
Project Title: Sleeping Moon
The Sleeping Moon sculpture by Joseph Wheelwright will be a focal point for the new MBTA Ashmont Station Renovation Project. A grant to Dorchester Arts Collaborative will supplement lower than anticipated corporate contributions to allow the project to maintain its original scale and prominence on the Ashmont Plaza.
Grant Recipient: Fitchburg State College Foundation (Fitchburg, MA)
Artist: Gillian Christy Preston (Providence, RI)
Amount: $10,000
Project Title: Art on Water Street Bridge
Permanent sculpture on the Water Street Bridge will create a gateway to the city’s downtown, a welcoming icon for visitors and a symbol of Fitchburg’s ongoing revitalization. The grant will ensure that the steel sculpture can be built with the artist’s and community’s original intention of artwork on both sides of the bridge.
Grant Recipient: Hasbro Children's Hospital (Providence, RI)
Artists: Aimee Heru (East Greenwich, RI), Nancy Gaucher-Thomas (East Greenwich, RI), Michelle Chisholm Leavitt (Saunderstown, RI), Kenneth Speiser (Providence, RI), and Merle Mainelli Poulton (Lincoln, RI)
Amount: $10,000
Project Title: Pediatric Diagnostic Imaging Center (PDIC) art work
The five artist team, Public Art Works, will transform the new Pediatric Diagnostic Imaging Center at Hasbro Children’s Hospital with colorful ceiling tiles, mobiles and painted murals. The work will provide patients and their families with an enhanced atmosphere that distracts from the unpleasant procedures that occur in the center.
Grant Recipient: Lowell Parks & Conservation Trust (Lowell, MA)
Artist: Wopo Holup (Lyons, CO and New York, NY)
Amount: $8,802
Project Title: Concord River Greenway
Support to Concord River Greenway will enable the Lowell Parks & Conservation Trust to complete a critical gateway public art piece of stacked granite and river birds at the entrance to the trail. In addition, the grant supports the artist’s design development in the third and final stage of the trail’s development.
Grant Recipient: Providence Art Windows (Providence, RI)
Artists: various
Amount: $10,000
Project Title: Providence Art Windows (PAW)
Providence Art Windows supports artist installations in 10 empty storefronts in downtown on a quarterly basis. The grant will help provide for installation costs, including artist stipends.
Grant Recipient: Railroad Street Youth Project (Great Barrington, MA)
Artists Howie Sneider (Providence, RI) and Will Machin (Richmond, VA)
Amount: $7,470
Project Title: Elevated Youth Art Gallery and Skate Cafe
Support to this youth-driven public art project continues the relationship between the artists and youth. The grant supports the creation of an elevated gallery for youth art work as well as seating and tables that will be installed to support RSYP programs.
Grant Recipient: Roslindale Village Main Street (Roslindale, MA)
Artist: George Greenamyer (Marshfield, MA)
Amount: $6,177
Project Title: Traffic
The kinetic sculpture, Traffic, will be installed in a busy traffic island on the northern edge of Roslindale Village. Support to the project will help Roslindale Village Main Street meet the rising cost of materials so the project can be realized.
Grant Recipient: Terra Moto Inc. (Portland, ME)
Artist: Marty Pottenger, Daniel Minter and Elizabeth Jabar of (Portland, ME)
Amount: $10,000
Project Title: Public Works and Ties that Bind
Terra Moto and the City of Portland received support for Art at Work (AAW), an initiative that seeks to improve municipal government through strategic arts projects. This support will enhance two AAW programs, Public Works with Public Services, and Ties that Bind with Health and Human Services, so they may be completed close to their original scope.
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