LEAF Festival among National Endowment for the Arts’ 2016 grant recipients

From North Carolina Arts Council

Press release

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) announced that sixteen nonprofit organizations in North Carolina will receive $320,000 from two grant categories for fiscal year 2016.

In total, the NEA plans to support 1,126 projects totaling $27.7 million in this funding round to promote opportunities for people in communities across America to experience the arts and exercise their creativity. The NEA is celebrating its 50th anniversary and during this time has awarded more than $5 billion in grants to recipients in every state and U.S. jurisdiction.

“The arts are part of our everyday lives – no matter who you are or where you live – they have the power to transform individuals, spark economic vibrancy in communities, and transcend the boundaries across diverse sectors of society,” said NEA Chairman Jane Chu. “Supporting projects like those in North Carolina offers more opportunities to engage in the arts every day.”

Below is a list of grants to North Carolina organizations:

North Carolina

[LEAF] Festival, Black Mountain
$10,000
To support Espiritu de Cuba at the LEAF Festival, including performances by artists of Cuban heritage such as Juan de Marcos & the Afro-Cuban All Stars, the Pedrito Martinez Group, Ricardo Lemvo, and Adonis Puentes.

Appalachian State University, Boone
$10,000
To support a community-based public art project that will be administered as a component of the Rosen Outdoor Sculpture Competition and Exhibition, coordinated by the Turchin Center for the Visual Arts. A selected sculptor will work with underserved community groups to design and fabricate a public art project for installation on the university campus.

The Sun Magazine, Chapel Hill
$10,000
To support the digitization of back issues of The Sun Magazine. A monthly magazine of fiction, poetry, essays, interviews, and photography, the publication’s archives span more than 40 years. The goal is to enable readers around the world to access the PDF format.

Charlotte Ballet, Charlotte
$20,000
To support the creation and presentation of a world premiere ballet by resident choreographer Dwight Rhoden. Drawing from his lifelong passion of American jazz music, Rhoden will use live jazz musicians as collaborators in the creation and performance of the ballet. The project will include performances for Charlotte-Mecklenburg students that include question-and-answer sessions with the dancers

Children’s Theatre of Charlotte
$10,000
To support the continued development and production of Journey to Oz. Audiences will fully participate in playwright Christopher Parks’ experiential retelling of the iconic story in American culture, The Wizard of Oz.

McColl Center for Art & Innovation, Charlotte
$20,000
To support residencies serving Latino/Hispanic artists. The residents’ work will explore contemporary Latin-American issues, values, and identity. An artesanos (makers’ fair) will showcase Latino resident artists – printmakers, muralists, painters, and ceramicists, as well as local artisans and musicians who have been identified through the Center and its partners, including the Latin American Coalition, LACA Projects, and City of Charlotte.

American Dance Festival, Durham
$70,000
To support the presentation of dance companies from the United States and abroad, as part of the 2016 American Dance Festival. The festival programming may include commissioned works and world premieres by Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company, Rioult Dance, Pilobolus, Kate Weare Company, John Jasperse Company, Beth Gil, Zoe Juniper, Tao Dance Theatre (China), Lucy Guerin and Gideon Obarzenek (Australia), and Dafi Altbeb (Israel).

Full Frame Documentary Film Festival, Durham
$35,000
To support the 19th Full Frame Documentary Film Festival. The event will showcase works by emerging, established, and international documentarians. The festival will screen new documentaries, retrospectives, and a thematic series presented by a guest artist or curator.

Cape Fear Regional Theatre, Fayetteville
$15,000
To support the creation and production of Downrange: Voices from the Homefront by Mike Wiley, in conjunction with Hidden Voices, an organization that collaborates with underrepresented communities to tell their stories effectively. The theater has commissioned Wiley to create a play that documents the experiences of American military families and explores the impact that deployment has on the families of active duty service members.

Elsewhere, Greensboro
$25,000 Greensboro
To support a site-specific residency program for Southern artists. A committee of arts professionals will nominate artists to receive funds for the residency. An online component will feature artist blogs, interviews, and fellowship projects alongside reflections from a guest curator.

Penland School of Crafts, Penland
$20,000
To support an artist-in-residence program and temporary site-specific installations on the campus of Penland. Artists working in a variety of mediums including papermaking, ceramics, drawing, painting, glass, iron, metal, photography, printmaking, textiles, and woodworking will be invited for one- to six-week-long residencies. Artists also will create temporary installations in response to the woodland campus of Penland.

StreetSigns, Pittsboro
$15,000
To support the development and premiere of You Are Dead. You Are Here., a multidisciplinary theater work written by Christine Evans and directed by Joseph Megel. The play examines the impact and cost of war. Multimedia artist Jared Mezzochi will design projections for the work. The artists also will work with veterans and military health professionals in the development of the work.

Alleghany County Schools, Alleghany JAM, Sparta
$10,000
To support the expansion of Alleghany JAM. The program, which currently offers after-school instruction in traditional music from the region to children in elementary and middle school, will expand classes to include high school students. Instruction for the string bass, mandolin, and mountain dulcimer will be offered for the first time.

Cucalorus Film Festival, Wilmington
$25,000
To support the 22nd Cucalorus Film Festival. The event will include work-in-progress screenings and a curated program of live performances incorporating dance and film. Held in the fall in downtown Wilmington, N.C., the festival is focused on supporting innovative artists and encouraging creative exchange.

University of North Carolina at Wilmington
$10,000
To support the publication of the journal Ecotone, which features writing and art that reimagines place, one of the two planned issues will focus on the theme of urban and rural environments. The journal will be promoted at national conferences, as well as through the website and social media.

Blue Ridge Music Center, Winston-Salem
$15,000
To support the Blue Ridge Music Center Concert Series, an exhibit, and a lecture about the evolution of the banjo, as well as workshops celebrating traditional music and dance of the Appalachian region and Piedmont South. Performances featuring old-time string bands, traditional bluegrass music, gospel music, Piedmont blues, and regional dance forms will take place at various locations around the Blue Ridge Parkway, part of the National Park Service.

For more information about the grants visit www.nea.gov. Click here for a list of the 1,126 awardees sorted by city and state. Click here for a list of Art Works grants by arts discipline or field including artist communities, arts education, dance, folk and traditional arts, local arts agencies, literature, media, museums, music, opera, presenting and multidisciplinary works, theater and musical theater, and visual arts. Challenge America grants are included on this list as well.
Click here for a list of the 237 panelists that collectively reviewed 1,855 applications for funding.

For more information about the North Carolina Arts Council visit www.NCArts.org.

About the North Carolina Arts Council
The North Carolina Arts Council works to make North Carolina The Creative State where a robust arts industry produces a creative economy, vibrant communities, children prepared for the 21st century and lives filled with discovery and learning. The Arts Council accomplishes this in partnership with artists and arts organizations, other organizations that use the arts to make their communities stronger and North Carolinians-young and old-who enjoy and participate in the arts. For more information visit www.ncarts.org.

About the North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources
The N.C. Department of Natural and Cultural Resources (NCDNCR) is the state agency with a vision to be the leader in using the state’s natural and cultural resources to build the social, cultural, educational and economic future of North Carolina. Led by Secretary Susan Kluttz, NCDNCR’s mission is to improve the quality of life in our state by creating opportunities to
experience excellence in the arts, history, libraries and nature in North Carolina by stimulating learning, inspiring creativity, preserving the state’s history, conserving the state’s natural heritage, encouraging recreation and cultural tourism, and promoting economic development.
NCDNCR includes 27 historic sites, seven history museums, two art museums, two science museums, three aquariums and Jennette’s Pier, 39 state parks and recreation areas, the N.C. Zoo, the nation’s first state-supported Symphony Orchestra, the State Library, the State Archives, the N.C. Arts Council, State Preservation Office and the Office of State Archaeology, along with the Division of Land and Water Stewardship. For more information, please call (919) 807-7300 or visit www.ncdcr.gov.