ArtSake

The Joan Mitchell Foundation provides emergency support to artists working in the mediums of painting, sculpture, and/or drawing after natural or man-made disasters that have affected a community, such as the Spring 2011 tornadoes, Hurricane Irene, and the Texas wildfires. Artists who have suffered losses due to catastrophic situations of this nature can apply to the foundation for funding. Contact info@joanmitchellfoundation.org for additional information. (Please note: While they also acknowledge the tremendous need for support following personal emergencies, the Joan Mitchell Foundation is currently unable to provide this type of emergency funding.)

Image credit: Joan Mitchell, Minnesota, 1980, Oil on Canvas, 102 x 244 inches, © Estate of Joan Mitchell

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“Now wag your tail, and aw, get it, get it, get it.” Lieber and Stoller’s Hound Dog as sung by Big Mama Thorton

Artist Fellowships Yes indeed, the Massachusetts Cultural Council (MCC) is now accepting applications for Artist Fellowships in Drawing (including Printmaking), Painting, and Traditional Arts. Fellowships are $7,500. Finalist awards are $500.
Deadline: October 7, 2011 (that’s months and months away in dog years).

More Artist Funding The MCC’s Local Cultural Council Program guidelines and applications are now available. Learn more about this program and workshops coming to a town near you.
Deadline: October 15, 2011

Performing Artists Guidelines are now available for the 2012 USArtists International (USAI) program. USAI provides support for American dance, music, and theater ensembles and solo artists who have been invited to perform at significant international festivals or engagements that represent extraordinary career opportunities anywhere outside the United States and its territories. Read more. Questions: saran@midatlanticarts.org.
Deadline: September 6, 2011

Call to Artists FPAC Gallery in Boston is seeking proposals for 8-week group shows of two or more artists for the 2011/12 season. Proposals are open to all media and shows will be selected by guest juror Randi Hopkins, Independent curator, co-founder of Boston’s Allston Skirt Gallery.
Deadline: September 10, 2011

Call to Artists Submissions in any media are now being accepted for The Global Perspective: Understanding the Past, Looking to the Future, an exhibition at the Gallery at Worcester State University. Jurors include Kristina Durocher, Anne Laprade-Seuthe, and Lexi Lee Sullivan. Learn more.
Deadline: September 16, 2011

Free Arts Marketing Seminar The Cambridge Arts Council & ArtsBoston are co-sponsoring Breaking the Fifth Wall: Rethinking Arts Marketing for the 21st Century on September 20, 2011 at 9am. Cambridge Arts Council, 344 Broadway, 2nd fl., Conference Room, Cambridge, MA. Registration required.

Free Dance Classes The Dance Complex Fall Open House offers 20-minute sample classes taught by members of The Dance Complex faculty. September 11, 2011 from 1-5pm at 536 Mass. Ave., Cambridge, MA

Image credit: Drawing of bloodhound from from Webster’s New International Dictionary of the English Language, 1911, G & C Miriam Co. Springfield, MA.

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If you know a professional craft artist who suffered damage because of hurricane Irene, please let them know about the Craft Emergency Relief Fund (CERF). CERF provides support through grants, loans, and other assistance. Questions: info@craftemergency.org or 802-229-2306.

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We’re excited to announce that the Massachusetts Cultural Council 2012 Artist Fellowships guidelines are now available. The Artist Fellowships are unrestricted, anonymously judged, competitive grants in recognition of artistic excellence.

There are two deadlines per fiscal year, divided by discipline, and applications are now being accepted in Drawing, Painting, and Traditional Arts. Deadline: October 7, 2011.

Beginning December 15, 2011, MCC will accept applications in Choreography, Fiction/Creative Nonfiction, and Poetry. Deadline: January 30, 2012.

Who should apply? Generative Massachusetts artists who meet eligibility requirements (see guidelines) are encouraged to apply. Read our tips on applying for an MCC Artist Fellowship.

We know artists work in ways that are not always easily categorized. If you have any questions where your work might best fit in the program, don’t hesitate to ask us.

Read full program guidelines, eligibility requirements, and application instructions.

Image: Luke O’Sullivan, SUITCASE (100,000 DOLLARS) (2009), screenprint on wood, 18x13x11 in.

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Cause I try, and I try, and I try, and I try…
Happy Birthday Mick. Over and out.

Call to Artists The Artist’s Studio and Gallery at Patriot Place in Foxboro is currently accepting applications for artists to exhibit there. The gallery has featured the work of more than 40 up-and-coming local artists. It is run by six permanent artists who are members of the Foxboro Art Association, a non-profit organization dedicated to the promotion of the arts and artists. Each weekend the gallery features the work of three new artists and encourages live painting while the gallery is open. If interested, visit their blog or email foxboroart@gmail.com for more info. BTW – are you ready for some football? ArtSake is! Go Tommy and the boys!
Deadline: Ongoing

Free Artist Workshop How to Live Within Your Means is a free workshop for artists of all disciplines about personal finance co-sponsored by Artmorpheus and the Boston Home Center in partnership with the Boston Center for the Arts. Contact beer@artmorpheus.org. Pre-registration is required.
Event Date: August 1, 2011

African American Artists The William H. Johnson Foundation for the Arts is now accepting applications for their 2011 William H. Johnson Prize. The annual award of $25,000 seeks to encourage African American artists early in their careers. Early-career African American artists who work in painting, photography, sculpture, printmaking, installation, and/or new genres are eligible to apply. Learn more.
Deadline: August 15, 2011

Playwrights The Yale Drama Series is seeking original, unpublished, full-length plays written in English. (No translations, musicals, or children’s plays.) The winner will receive the David C. Horn Prize of $10,000, publication of the manuscript by Yale University Press, and a staged reading at Yale Rep. Learn more. Contact: yaledramaseries@yale.edu.
Deadline: August 15, 2011

Performance Works The Fort Point Theatre Channel seeks plays, poetry, music, film, dance, and other performance works for HUMOR US: An Evening of the Sanguine, the Choleric, the Melancholic, & the Phlegmatic. Collaborative or cross-genre work is encouraged. Excerpts of longer pieces are welcome. Learn more.
Deadline: Wednesday, August 31, 2011

Call for Exhibition Proposals The Fort Point Arts Community Gallery is currently accepting proposals for two or more person shows for their upcoming exhibition 2011/2012 Season. Each exhibition runs approximately 8 weeks. This year’s guest juror will be Randi Hopkins, Independent curator, co-founder and former co-director of Boston’s Allston Skirt Gallery, and currently is the Associate Curator at Boston’s Institute of Contemporary Art. Read more.
Deadline: September 10, 2011

Call to Artists Submissions are now being accepted for the Boston Museum of Fine Arts Community Arts Initiative Artist Project. The Artist Project is a collaboration between the MFA, SMFA, and eight after-school community organizations in the Boston area. The artist and the children create a collaborative work of art inspired by the Museum’s encyclopedic collection. The completed project is exhibited in the Community and SMFA Gallery in the Linde Family Wing at the MFA. Read more. Contact: Francisco Mendez-Diez, Manager of Community Arts, at 617.369.3641.
Deadline: January 13, 2012

Image credit: Drawing of microphone from clker.com

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Set off some dazzling fireworks (naturally, I mean safely and legally) – it’s time to celebrate July’s news and notes from past MCC fellows/finalists.

Shakedown, an exhibition at DODGE Gallery in NYC, includes work by Taylor Davis (Sculpture/Installation Fellow ’99), Sheila Gallagher (Drawing Finalist ’10), and Laurel Sparks (Painting Fellow ’04). The show also features Massachusetts artists Robert de Saint Phalle, Jane Fox Hipple, and Douglas Weathersby, among others.

Rebecca Doughty (Painting Finalist ’10), Eric Gottesman (Photography Fellow ’09), Frances Hamilton (Drawing Fellow ’98), and Dawn Southworth (Drawing/Printmaking/Artist Books Finalist ’04) are all exhibiting work in Picture Books, featuring art in all media that pictures, or, references a book within the composition, or, is a book of some kind. The show runs at Clark Gallery in Lincoln through August 6, 2011.

Chuck Holtzman (Drawing Fellow ’06), Joel Janowitz (Painting Fellow ’08) and Harold Reddicliffe (Painting Fellow ’10) join Mary Armstrong, Carol Gove, Conley Harris, and Anne Lilly for an exhibition at Victoria Munroe Fine Art in Boston. The show of drawings, paintings, and sculpture runs through August 20, 2011.

Camilo Ramirez (Photography Fellow ’09) and Irina Rozovsky (Photography Finalist ’09) are exhibiting in a dual show of their recent photography, called Details at a Distance. The show runs at Fountain Studios in Brooklyn, NY, July 9-30, 2011, with an opening reception July 9, 7-10 PM.

An installation of the work of Karen Aqua (Film & Video Fellow ’11), called Animal, Vegetable, Mineral, will be on exhibit at the Brickbottom Gallery in Somerville, through July 10, 2011. The exhibition features pastel drawings, sounds, and video from Karen’s final film, Taxonomy, which was completed one month before her untimely passing on May 30, 2011. There will be a memorial tribute to Karen’s life and work on July 10, 2011, 2 PM, at the Center for Arts at the Armory in Somerville.

Sweetgrass, a film by Ilisa Barbash and Lucien Castaing-Taylor (Film & Video Fellows ’11), will be broadcast on PBS as part of the POV series starting July 5, 2011.

Congratulations to Michele Caniato (Music Composition Fellow ’07) for receiving a Fulbright award. He will be in Helsinki, Finland for four months starting in September, hosted by Metropolia University and will be composing, conducting, and lecturing.

On her blog, Cheryl Clark (Poetry Finalist ’10) added an audio recording of her reading from the Commonwealth Reading Series this past March 2011.

Patrick Donnelly (Poetry Fellow ’08) has a great interview on the Mass Poetry Festival blog, where he discusses opportunities available at The Frost Place, a poetry education center where he is Director of the Advanced Seminar.

Janet Echelman (Crafts & Sculpture/Installation Fellow ’09) was recently interviewed by CNN!

Samantha Fields (Sculpture/Installation Fellow ’11) has a solo show, Ecstasy and Common Sense, at NK Gallery in Boston. The show will run July 6-29, 2011, with an opening reception July 8, 6-8 PM.

Laura Harrington‘s (Playwriting Fellow ’05, ’97) novel Alice Bliss is a People Pick, receiving four out of four stars in the July 4th issue of People Magazine. Laura will join JoeAnn Hart for a reading on Wednesday, July 6, 2011, 7:30 PM, at Gloucester Writer’s Center (call for start time). Laura will also have a joint reading with fellow debut author Rebecca Makkai at the Boston Public Library (Tues, July 12, 2011, 6 PM). And, she’ll have a talk, Q&A, and signing at Stellina’s Restaurant in Watertown, on Wednesday, July 13, 6-7:30 PM.

Gregory Hischak‘s (Playwriting Finalist ’11) new full-length play Volcanic in Origin had its world premiere at the Source Festival in Washington D.C. and runs through July 3, 2011. Read an essay about the play by its dramaturg LaRonika Thomas.

Congratulations to Rania Matar (Photography Fellow ’11, ’07), whose A Girl and Her Room series is featured in a same-titled exhibition at The Mosaic Rooms in London, UK (through July 23, 2011). Also, Umbrage Editions will print a book of photos from the A Girl and Her Room series, scheduled for release Spring 2012. Rania’s exceptional work has recently been awarded the Legacy Award by Debra Klomp Ching in conjunction with the 17th Juried Exhibition at the Griffin Museum of Photography (through August 29); First Place at the Off the Wall Exhibit at the Danforth Museum of Art (through August 7, 2011); First Prize at The Julia M. Cameron Awards: Category Portrait, People and Figure; and Winner in the PDN Magazine Photo Annual 2011 in the Personal Category (featured in the June 2011 edition). Rania’s work is included in a number of group shows: University of Maine Museum of Art Photo National 2011 Exhibition (through September 24, 2011); Photographic Resource Center Exposure 2011 Exhibit (opening reception: July 21, 6:30PM, exhibit through August 21); Beirut Exhibition Center, Rebirth: Lebanon 21st Century Contemporary Art (through July 24, 2011).

Rachel Mello (Painting Finalist ’10) has a solo show of works from her Cities and Shadows Series at Soapbox Gallery in Brooklyn, NY, July 8 through July 20, 2011. There will be an opening reception on Saturday, July 9 5-7 PM. Rachel’s monoprint School of Pliers in Peril is featured in Crest Hardware Art Show in Brooklyn, NY, a show that features art inspired by and/or involving hardware. The show runs through July 30. Also, Rachel’s work was recently featured in Multiple/Unique at the Washington Street Art Center in Somerville.

Congratulations to Nathalie Miebach (Sculpture/Installation Fellow ’09), who received a TED Global Fellowship! As part of the Fellowship, she’ll participate in the TED Global Conference, which will be held in Edinburgh (UK), July 11-15, 2011.

Caleb Neelon (Sculpture/Installation Fellow ’07) was one of the innovative thinkers invited to speak at the June 2011 TEDxBoston! Read a recent interview with Caleb on the Converse blog.

Liz Nofziger (Sculpture/Installation Fellow ’05) is among the artists in Shifting Terrain: Landscape Video at the Currier Museum of Art in Manchester, NH. The exhibition runs July 2-September 18, 2011, with an opening reception July 7, 5:30-7:30 PM.

Masha Obolensky‘s (Playwriting Finalist ’11) ten-minute Girls Play has been selected to participate in The Samuel French Off-Off Broadway Short Play Festival. The festival, now in its 36th year, takes place at The Lion Theatre on Theatre Row in NYC on July 19-24. Read an interview with the playwright on the Festival’s blog.

Monica Raymond‘s (Playwriting Finalist ’07, Poetry Finalist ’08) story Ludd and the Perkadoodles was a runner up for the contestoria contest at HERE ARTS CENTER. Read it online.

Alison Safford (Sculpture/Installation Fellow ’03) just completed a solo show at Gallery 303 at the New England Institute of Art.

Katy Schneider (Painting Fellow ’00) is featured in Inside/Out, a dual show with David Gloman of expressive landscapes and interiors, at studio21south in North Adams, through July 10, 2011.

Congratulations to Tracy Heather Strain and Randall MacLowry (Film & Video Fellows ’07), whose Lorraine Hansberry Documentary Project won a $30,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Arts!

Naoe Suzuki (Drawing Fellow ’06) is collaborating with the theatre company Dramahound Productions for a fascinating multi-media installation. Mi Tigre, My Lover at the Open Source Gallery in Brooklyn, NY features a play based on Naoe’s paintings, which are inspired by early 20th century female tiger trainer Mabel Stark. The paintings serve as the backdrop for a play by Anne Phelan. The play runs June 25-July 9, 2011, at 306 17th Street, between 5th and 6th Ave, South Slope, Brooklyn.

Rachel Perry Welty‘s (Sculpture/Installation Fellow ’09, Drawing Fellow ’04) Rachel Perry Welty 24/7 at the DeCordova Sculpture Park and Musueum was very favorably reviewed in Art in America Magazine.

Nine Houses: nine matted archival pigment prints by Maxine Yalovitz-Blankenship (Drawing Fellow ’83, Painting Finalist ’82, ’83), has just been published by Tahawus Press. The prints are in a clothbound boxed folio, limited to an edition of fifty, and are accompanied by text and poetry, written in response to the images, by Alan Lightman, Maxine Kumin, Florence Ladd, John Baeder, Elizabeth McKim, and her fellow Guggenheim Fellows: Morris Halle, Philip Levine, Ann Patchett, and Richard Wendorf.

Kevin Young (Poetry Fellow ’10) will present an afternoon of poetry at The Mount, the historic home of Edith Wharton in Lenox, MA. The reading, presented in partnership with the Amy Clampitt Fund, is on July 9, 2011, at 4 PM. Tickets are $12 and are available online.

Evan Ziporyn (Music Composition Fellow ’11) will present in The Music of Evan Ziporyn on Thursday, July 7, 2011, 8 PM, at the Shalin Liu Performance Center as part of the Rockport Music Festival. The composer will perform along with musicians including “friends from Bang on a Can.” Speaking of: from July 13 through July 31, the tenth annual Bang on a Can Summer Music Festival takes place at MASS MoCA in North Adams. Evan Ziporyn, who has been actively involved in the festival since its inception, will pariticpate in the Festival, which is dedicated to programming today’s most innovative new music and includes public performances, recitals, and lectures, plus workshops for participants in everything from Balinese music to improvisation, master classes, music business seminars, and more.

Past Fellows Notes
June 2011
May 2011
Apr. 2011
Mar. 2011
Feb. 2011
Jan. 2011

Are you a past fellow or finalist with an event, honor, or other bit of news you’d like to share? Tell us about it.

Images: production photo from Masha Obolensky’s GIRLS PLAY, featuring scenic design by Caitlin Fergus; Samantha Fields, Detail of SHE SPEAKS FOLLY IN A THOUSAND HOLY WAYS; Liz Nofziger, PORE; Evan Ziporyn, photo by Kevin Yatarola.

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We just announced our most recent Artist Fellowships (more on that program below), and, with awards on the brain, we thought we’d take the opportunity to revisit a post we first created in 2008. It’s a look at funding opportunities for artists in Massachusetts (though there may be an opportunity or two in here for those of you who live out-of-state).

So here, artist funding-seekers, is the post, its split ends snipped, its lapels straightened, its chocolate-stained cheeks cleaned by a licked thumb: updated, improved, and re-posted.

Direct Funding for Artists
When Massachusetts artists contact us (us meaning Kelly and Dan at the Massachusetts Cultural Council) to ask about grant support for individual artists, our first response is, of course, to strongly encourage they investigate our Artist Fellowships Program. It’s a competitive, anonymously judged program to recognize artistic excellence in Choreography, Crafts, Drawing, Fiction/Creative Nonfiction, Film & Video, Music Composition, Painting, Photography, Playwriting, Poetry, Sculpture/Installation, and Traditional Arts. The program currently offers unrestricted individual fellowships of $7,500 and finalist awards of $500, to categories that alternate each year, and two deadlines in any given year. (Always a good idea to sign up for the MCC’s Artist News e-newsletter to receive the upcoming deadlines, and to check current guidelines to see what the current grant amount is, as this can fluctuate based on our agency’s legislatively-allotted funding.)

So, if you’re a generative artist who lives and works in Massachusetts, check out MCC’s Artist Fellowships. However, we thought it might be useful to list some of the other grant opportunities we share with artists looking for funding for their ongoing work.

Not every grant opportunity listed here will be right for every artist. Before applying, you need to decide whether that particular grant is a good fit and thus worth taking time and energy away from your work. Also, this is by no means a comprehensive list, so feel free to let us know about other funding opportunities for individual Massachusetts artists.

Other MCC Programs for Artists
Local Cultural Council Grants
Another MCC program that includes support for individual artists is the Local Cultural Council Program. Massachusetts has 351 cities and towns that support community cultural activity through Local Cultural Councils (LCCs). LCCs award smaller grants (typically averaging $200-$500) for projects that benefit a specific Massachusetts community. Most LCCs accept applications from individual artists (and in fact, several LCCs – Somerville Arts Council, Worcester Cultural Commission, and Cultural Council of Northern Berkshire – offer individual fellowships similar to MCC’s Artist Fellowships, as well).

When applying for an LCC project grant, you must explain how your project will benefit that particular community and engage its residents. Funding criteria and priorities vary from town to town, so the best way to see if your project is right for a particular community is to contact that LCC (here are a list of LCC contacts). The deadline is generally mid-October.

Traditional Arts Apprenticeships
If you’re a master artist of a traditional art form, and you’re looking to pass on your knowledge, our Traditional Arts Apprenticeships program offers funding for exceptional master artist/apprentice teams.

STARS Residencies
Grants in the STARS Residencies go to MA schools to fund residencies for artists, scientists, and scholars. The program provides $500-$5,000 to support creative learning residencies of three days or more. Check out the recently funded schools – with much of that funding going to compensate artists.

Non-MCC Programs
A number of other groups offer funding for Massachusetts artists:

Berkshire Taconic Community Foundation Artist’s Resource Trust
These grants, ranging from $1,500 to $10,000, are for New England visual artists who demonstrate a financial need. Painting, sculpture, printmaking, photography, or mixed media artists who have lived in New England for at least two years at time of application are eligible. As of this writing, the guidelines call for (among other things) up to ten images of the artist’s work, a one-page letter describing what the artist plans to accomplish with the grant, and some IRS forms (per the “financial need” criteria). Received-by deadline is August 1.

Artadia
Founded in response to the decline of NEA funding for individual artists, Artadia offers unrestricted grants to visual artists in specific communities. In 2007, Boston was added as one of those communities, and 17 local visual artists/collaborating groups have received awards, ranging from $1,500 to $15,000, to date.

The Provincetown Art Association and Museum’s Lillian Orlowsky and Wiliam Freed Foundation Grant
Grants are offered to American painters aged 45 or older who demonstrate financial need. The fund honors its namesakes, in particular Lillian Orlowsky, who sought to provide financial support to mature artists due to her passionate commitment to art. The goal of the grant is to promote public awareness and a commitment to American art, as well as encouraging interest in artists who lack adequate recognition. Grants range from $5,000 to $30,000. Generally, there will be three or four grants awarded annually. Applicants need to fill out an application, send 10 images on CD, and complete financial disclosure form. In 2011, applications need to be postmarked or hand-delivered by August 15, 2011. Read a Studio Views with past winner Morgan Russell.

LEF Foundation
Founded in 1985, the LEF Foundation has played a key role part in fostering and promoting contemporary art in New England. Currently, LEF’s funding is focused on supporting independent documentary film through its Moving Image Fund. New England documentary filmmakers applying for LEF grants will need to find a nonprofit organization to act as fiscal sponsor (Filmmakers Collaborative, Independent Center for Documentaries, Documentary Educational Resource all offer this service, as does the New York-based organization Fractured Atlas). Currently, LEF accepts proposals for pre-production, production, and post-production funding. More information is available online. Numerous prominent Massachusetts filmmakers have received recent LEF funding including Ilisa Barbash and Lucien Castaing-Taylor (Film & Video Fellows ’11), Jane Gillooly (Film & Video Fellow ’07), and Jeff Silva (Film & Video Finalist ’09).

Mass Humanities
Mass Humanities offers pre- and post-production and distribution grants to film projects that support humanities themes (check out Executive Director David Tebaldi’s post on The Public Humanist blog about what makes a good humanities film). Similar to the LEF application process, individuals will need a fiscal sponsor to apply. As with other programs, the best way to see whether this funding is right for your project and to learn more specifics is to contact the organization.

The Awesome Foundation
To win one of the The Awesome Foundation‘s $1,000 grants, you’d be well advised to do awesome work, since that’s their only funding criteria. The foundation, which was launched in Boston and also has chapters in LA, New York City, San Francisco, and throughout the world, gives no-strings-attached grants to “crazy brilliant” projects (such as a Cotton Candy Cannon, vibrant DIY basketball nets to invigorate neighborhood courts, or a Big Hammock in the Rose Kennedy Greenway).

Iguana Music Fund
Club Passim in Cambridge fosters a vibrant and exciting music community not only as a music venue but also as a funder. The Iguana Music Fund offers seed grants to aspiring local musical artists. The fund awards grants between $500 and $2,000 to individual artists with a New England residence or affiliation to support recording, publicity, instrument repair/purchase, special projects, or other activities related to career or creative growth. The 2011 application deadline will be October 15, 2011. ArtSake favorite Kristin Andreassen is one of the past winners. Read a Boston Globe article about the award.

By nomination only
Why mention grants that are by nomination only? Well, I was thinking this might save you the trouble of hearing about these grants, thinking, “Hey, maybe I should apply,” only to find unsolicited applications are not accepted. Or, maybe you’ll be nominated, in which case, yippee!

Foster Prize: the James and Audrey Foster Prize, awarded by The Institute of Contemporary Arts, is a $25,000 biennial award for nominated Boston-area artists. Though there’s only one big winner, all finalists are featured in an ICA exhibition.

Brother Thomas Fellowship: this nomination-only award offers $15,000 unrestricted grants to Boston-area working artists of all disciplines. The award is administered by The Boston Foundation and sustained by sales of world-renowned porcelain ceramics by Brother Thomas Bezanson, a Benedictine monk. See an ArtSake post on the inaugural winners.

St. Botolph Foundation Grants: the foundation offers awards of $2,500 for emerging New England artists, plus an award for a distinguished artist. See the past emerging artist grant and distinguished artist award recipients.

Tanne Foundation: created in 1998 by an artist, the Tanne Foundation gives awards (administered by the Boston-based GMA Foundations) that “recognize outstanding achievement and are an expression of gratitude to artists for their passion and commitment to their work.” Award levels vary depending on the foundation’s assets. The foundation’s trustees nominate artists, then convene to decide on individual artist awards. Past recipients include THINK AGAIN (David Attyah and S.A. Bachman), kanarinka, and Joanne Rice.

Further research on arts grants

artSource
The School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston offers an index of arts-related employment opportunities, internships, civic engagement partnerships, grants, residencies, exhibitions, competitions, public art commissions, artist workspaces, and related community resources called artSource.

NYFA Source
NYFA Source is a searchable database of national grant opportunities, sponsored by the New York Foundation for the Arts. Don’t be alarmed that the site is hosted by a New York organization; the database includes opportunities from throughout the country. You can set your own search criteria, which is useful for filtering out those that don’t apply.

Mira’s List
Whereas artSource and NYFA Source are the stately institutions of grants databases, think of Mira’s List as the Mom & Pop shop. It’s a terrific blog run by generous and industrious Massachusetts artist/writer Mira Bartok, listing useful grants deadlines and info for artists of all disciplines. Also highly recommended is Mira’s Primer on Grants and Residencies, a great resource for grant-seekers at any stage.

The Artist’s Guide to Grant Writing
This book takes a pragmatic, step-by-step approach to finding funding as an individual artist. Read our interview with author Gigi Rosenberg.

In conclusion…

Of course, we wish there were more funding sources, and more funding from those sources. If we hear of new opportunities, we’ll add them here. And if you’re interested in seeing MCC’s funding for individual artists continue and grow, find out more about advocacy opportunities on our Advocacy Action Center.

Images: Elizabeth Alexander, KEEPING UP APPEARANCES NO. 2 (2009), mixed media installation, variable dimensions; Caleb Cole (past Artadia awardee), THE LAST PAGE (2008), Archival Inkjet Print, 20×30 in; still from NIGHT SIDE (2008) by Rebecca Meyers (past Foster Prize Finalist).

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The Massachusetts Cultural Council is honored to announce the 2011 MCC Artist Fellowship awards in Crafts, Film & Video, and Photography. Twenty artists will receive fellowships of $7500 and another 19 will receive $500 finalist awards. See a complete list of this year’s fellows and finalists.

The awards are anonymously judged, based solely on the artistic quality and creative ability of the work submitted. Applications were open to all eligible Massachusetts artists. A total number of 619 eligible applications were received; 152 in Crafts, 128 in Film & Video, and 339 in Photography.

The Crafts panelists were Michael Giaquinto (Cape Cod Museum of Art Exhibitions Curator), Robbie Heidinger (Crafts Fellow ’09), and Perry Price (Fuller Crafts Museum Assistant Curator of Exhibitions and Collections).

The Film & Video panelists were Claire Andrade-Watkins (Film & Video Fellow ’09), Carter Long (Museum of Fine Arts Boston Katharine Stone White Curator of Film & Video), and Jake Mahaffy (filmmaker), with David Dinnell (Ann Arbor Film Festival Program Director), Rebecca Meyers (ArtsEmerson Director of Film Programs), Marlo Poras (filmmaker), and Jonathan Schwartz (filmmaker) serving as first-round readers.

The Photography panelists were Vaughn Sills (Photography Fellow ’09), George Slade (Photographic Resource Center Program Manager/Curator), and Paula Tognarelli (Griffin Museum of Photography Executive Director).

Earlier this year, we announced awards in Music Composition, Playwriting, and Sculpture/Installation.

Read profiles of the fellows/finalists on Gallery@MCC.

Images: Stephen DiRado, CARA, AQUINNAH, MA (2009), from the series BEACH PEOPLE, Silver gelatin contact photograph, 9.5×7.5 in; Carrie Gustafson, PALE PRIMROSE (2008), hand blown glass – sandblasted and wheel cut, 7.5×8 in; Still from FWD: UPDATE ON MY LIFE by Nicky Tavares (28 minutes, Video, 2010); Toni Pepe, THE GESTURE OF TRADITION, INSTALLMENT 2 (2010), Archival Inkjet, 30×40 in; Still from TWIST OF FATE by Karen Aqua (8:40 minutes, 35mm, 2009); Mariko Kusumoto, RYOUNKAKU (2007), board game, metalworks, 27x9x1-1/2 in, photo by Dean Powell.

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It’s been a while since we’ve rounded up some links of interest to the Massachusetts arts community. Friends, there is much to share, so click to your hearts content on the following stuff.

I love the premise behind the California-based Sustainable Arts Foundation: help artists and writers who also happen to be parents to create their work. “Too often,” says the org, “creative impulses are set aside to meet the wonderful, but pressing, demands of raising a family. The foundation’s goal is to encourage parents to continue pursuing their creative passion, and to rekindle it in those who may have let it slide.” Until May 20, they’re accepting applications for $6000 grants to support artists/parents!

Closer to home, Playwrights’ Commons, an organization formed by dramaturg Ilana Brownstein, has developed a number of programs to serve the unmet needs of local playwrights. Commons is currently accepting applications for its Freedom Art Theatre Retreat, which will give emerging Boston-area playwrights the chance to be matched with designers and dramaturgs for an intensive, play-blossoming retreat in a remote, New England setting, this August. The organization also has intriguing plans for its Donut Hole Lab, which will aim to support playwrights “who are no longer young or new enough to be considered by producing theatres as emerging, and yet who are also not yet considered established…” More details to come.

On May 21 and 22, a conference in Cambridge called Play-jurisms will explore the complex thicket of copyright, appropriation, ethics, and creativity. All events are free, including discussions with intellectual property lawyers and artists, performances, and a film screening. The conference, organized by David Taber and Tim Devin, and will be held at the Democracy Center near Harvard Sq.

The Emerging America Festival, a partnership between The American Repertory Theater (A.R.T.), Huntington Theatre Company, and the Institute of Contemporary Art/Boston to present “groundbreaking performance by American artists,” starts tonight and continues this weekend. Along with new theatre by local dramatists like Jay Scheib (recent Guggenheim awardee) and Ryan Landry, the festival has commissioned a fascinating library of podcast plays by artists like Kirsten Greenidge, John Kuntz, and recent MCC Fellow Rosanna Yamagiwa Alfaro.

Congratulations to Boston-area playwright Lydia Diamond for winning the Wimberly Award from the Huntington Theatre Company for her play Stick Fly! She also recently received an IRNE (Independent Reviewers of New England) Award for “Best New Play from a Large Theatre Company” Watch the YouTube clip at the top of the post to see her gracious response.

Boston-area novelist Jane Roper frequently gets asked, “Is your novel fictional?” So, like, is it?

Still kneeling on a bed of uncooked macaroni to punish yourself for not making Salamander literary magazine’s Fiction Contest submission deadline? Well, kneel no more! The deadline has been extended until May 31. Jim Shepard is judging. Contest guidelines.

But George, the Man with the Yellow Hat told you not to get into any trouble! And yet Harvard Square’s iconic Curious George children’s bookstore is in trouble. Actually, it’s no laughing matter; without help, they may have to shut their doors. The store was launched with the help of the late Curious George co-creator (and Cambridge resident) Margaret Rey.

Recently, we discussed the many artist open studios taking place around Massachusetts this Spring. This weekend, there are open studios events in Newton, Dedham, Boston (the SoWa Art Walk), and central Cambridge.

And finally, a few updates on some past MCC Fellows: while Jamie Cat Callan (Fiction/Creative Nonfiction Fellow ’10) is entertainingly interviewed over at Grub Daily, Joan Wickersham (Fiction/Creative Nonfiction Fellow ’08) prepares to join authors Elizabeth Searle, Andre Dubus III, and Elyssa East for a live, power-packed Four Stories reading on May 23, in Cambridge (all proceeds will be donated to children orphaned in the recent earthquake disaster in Japan). Meanwhile, Jeff Zimbalist‘s (Film & Video Fellow ’05) latest film Bollywood: The Greatest Love Story Ever Told (a documentary co-directed with Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra), is about to premiere at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival! Watch a trailer.

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Congratulations to all Massachusetts artists and scholars who received 2011 Guggenheim Fellowships!

We note in particular past MCC Fellows Janet Echelman (Crafts and Sculpture/Installation ’09) and David Fiuczynski (Music Composition ’09), plus Waban composer Chaya Czernowin, Cambridge writer Ann Jones, Cambridge dramatist Jay Scheib, Northampton writer Seth Shulman, and filmmaker Michelle Handelman, who divides her time between New York City and Boston and teaches at the Massachusetts College of Art and Design.

Here are all of the artists and scholars currently living in Massachusetts, honored with 2011 Guggenheim awards:
Mr. Sven Beckert, Laird Bell Professor of History, Harvard University: Capitalism: a global history.
Ms. Chaya Czernowin, Composer, Waban, Massachusetts, and Walter Bigelow Rosen Professor of Composition, Harvard University: Music composition.
Ms. Janet S. Echelman, Artist, Brookline, Massachusetts, and Faculty Member, Department of Visual and Performing Arts, New School University: Fine arts.
Ms. Ann Jones, Writer, Cambridge, Massachusetts: War comes home.
Mr. Todd Lewis, Professor of Religious Studies, College of the Holy Cross: The enculturation of Buddhist teachings: traditional and modern vernacular literature for children.
Mr. Eric Matthew Nelson, Professor of Government, Harvard University: Thinking the Revolution: American political thought, 1763-1789.
Mr. Fallou Ngom, Associate Professor of Anthropology and Director of the African Language Program, Boston University: Wolof Ajami literature and the Africanization of Islam in Senegambia.
Mr. Fiorenzo Omenetto, Professor of Biomedical Engineering and Physics, Tufts University: Optics and electronics at the biotic-abiotic interface.
Mr. John M. G. Plotz, Professor of English, Brandeis University: Semi-detached: the aesthetics of partial absorption.
Mr. Bjorn Poonen, Professor of Mathematics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology: Random maximal isotropic subspaces and Selmer groups.
Mr. Jay Scheib, Dramatist, Cambridge, Massachusetts, and Associate Professor of Music and Theater Arts, Massachusetts Institute of Technology: Drama and performance art.
Mr. Seth Shulman, Writer, Northampton, Massachusetts: Thomas Edison and the electric car.
Mr. Vahid Tarokh, Perkins Professor of Applied Mathematics and Vinton Hayes Senior Research Fellow of Electrical Engineering, Harvard University: Random matrices from deterministic structures: theory and applications.

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