Connecticut Congressional Delegation Announces 11 Grants From The National Endowment For The Arts
(Hartford, CT) - The Connecticut Congressional Delegation today announced 11 grants from the National Endowment for the Arts to support the arts and creativity in communities across the state. The competitive grants were among 1,118 awarded nationwide and were selected from a pool of 3,455 applicants.
“From music education and public art to provocative theater and international festivals, these grants will help enrich and enliven communities across Connecticut. Whether it is in the classroom, on the street, or in our parks, museums and theaters, the arts play a vital role in shaping our understanding of who we are as a community. Connecticut is a better place because of the outstanding talent, commitment and creativity of our artists. We look forward to continuing to support and advance their work, as well as opportunities to inspire and foster our next generation of artists, thinkers and dreamers,” the delegation stated.
A full list of grantees is listed below.
|
Organization Name |
Grant Amount |
City |
Project Description |
|
Litchfield Performing Arts, Inc. |
$ 20,000 |
Litchfield |
Residential and day students of different ages and skill levels will participate in the multi-week program held at the Canterbury School in New Milford, Connecticut. While the focus is on collaborative and improvisational music-making and performance, the core curriculum may include combo coaching, music theory, composition, as well as electives such as ear training and sight reading. All students are expected to participate in jam sessions, weekly concerts, and perform at the festival. Instructors include as many as 40 internationally renowned musicians such as Don Braden, Vincent Gardner, Charli Persip, Claudio Roditi, |
|
HartBeat Ensemble |
$ 10,000 |
Hartford |
The play will depict the American political climate of the late 1950s and early 1960s through the lens of two significant artists of the time - James Baldwin and Lorraine Hansberry. Following their careers as artists, their call to social activism, and the challenges of balancing an artistic career with politics, Baldwin and Hansberry's lives provide a look at a rich period of political and social upheaval that resonates 50 years later. The play will be directed by Brian Jennings. |
|
Eugene O'Neill Memorial Theater Center, Inc. |
$ 55,000 |
Waterford |
The project will include the creation and development of new plays and musical theater works by emerging and mid-career artists. Approximately 1,600 manuscripts will be received through an open submission process that will culminate in the selection of seven to ten plays and two to four musicals. The scripts will receive a rehearsal period and staged readings that will be open to the public. |
|
Connecticut College |
$ 10,000 |
New London |
The college will present diverse productions in contemporary and classical dance and music for audiences from southeastern Connecticut and southwest Rhode Island. Artists will include jazz violinist Regina Carter and Doug Varone and Dancers. |
|
I-Park Foundation, Inc. |
$ 10,000 |
East Haddam |
The residencies and symposium will focus on site-specific, temporary art. The public symposium will be presented on the I-Park campus and will serve artists working in various creative disciplines, the academic community, and the general public. During the residency and exhibition, filmmakers will document the art in progress as well as the finished works. |
|
New Haven International Festival of Arts & Ideas, Inc. |
$ 65,000 |
New Haven |
Featured projects will include "From Bach to Bebop," by Imani Winds with Jeff Scott (New York) and poetry by A.B. Spellman (Washington, D.C.), and "Eve" from singer-songwriter Angelique Kidjo (Benin) with guest African artists. The festival also will present "Song of the Jasmine" by Ragamala Dance (Minneapolis) and jazz saxophonist/composer Rudresh Mahanthappa (New York), and the Mark Morris Dance Group's (Brooklyn) "Acis and Galatea.". |
|
Wesleyan University |
$ 20,000 |
Middletown |
Artists may include Chicago's Lucky Plush, Seattle's Zoe/Juniper, and Chicago- and New York-based Darrell Jones. Engagement programs will be tailored to each artist to embed his or her work across the campus. The series also will include a commissioned work by Austin-based Allison Orr, who will work with Wesleyan's College of the Environment and the Middletown community to draw attention to environmental sustainability through the creation of a site-specific community-based work. The performances and residency activities will happen on campus and in the surrounding community. |
|
Wesleyan University |
$ 25,000 |
Middletown |
Poets to be published include Honoree Jeffers, Rae Armantrout, Heather Christle, Jean Day, Marta del Pozo Ortea, and Evie Shockley. The books will be available in both print and digital formats, and accompanied by online readers for teachers, students, and general readers. |
|
Yale University |
$ 40,000 |
New Haven |
Commissioned by Yale Rep, the play follows a quartet of characters whose lives become entangled after a fateful blind date between a young woman finishing cancer treatments and an Internet celebrity who is about to sell his identity to a corporation. The play will be directed by Jackson Gay. Callaghan will be in residence at the theater through the rehearsal process, and will collaborate with Gay and the dramaturgical staff on the ongoing refinement of the text. |
|
Connecticut Players Foundation, Inc. |
$ 10,000 |
New Haven |
Long Wharf Theatre will feature fully produced mini-runs of plays by emerging and established playwrights such as "Forever," written and performed by Dael Orlandersmith, and "Rodney King," a one-man show by Roger Guenveur Smith. Additional festival programming such as staged readings of works-in-progress, post-show conversations, and communitywide conversations will be hosted by the New Haven Free Public Library. |
|
Silvermine Guild of Artists, Inc. |
$ 25,000 |
New Canaan |
Events will include performances by musicians Caladh Nua (Ireland), multidisciplinary animation and performance artist Miwa Matreyek (United States), and a new co-commissioned work from collaborators Bridgman/Packer Dance (United States) and filmmaker Peter Bobrow (United States). Silvermine also will present Arts Fest, a free, outdoor festival of music, dance, and the visual arts, featuring hip-hop and percussion troupe Street Beat(United States). |