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GO Art! announces 2012 Reach and Ripple grants for area artists and organizations

By Howard B. Owens

Press release:

The Genesee-Orleans Regional Arts Council is pleased to announce the Decentralization Regrant recipients for 2012 in Genesee and Orleans counties, funded by the New York State Council on the Arts. This year GO ART! received 24 applications to the Reach Grant Program requesting a total of $61,454. With $37,160 available, 20 of the applicants were awarded grants (listed below).

GO ART! is also pleased to regrant two Ripple Grants ($2,000 each listed below) to provide funding for the creation of new arts and cultural projects within a community context. These will done by local individual artists who wish to involve the community in their creative process.

History of the grant program:

The Decentralization Regrant Program (known locally as Reach and Ripple) was first developed in 1977 by the New York State Council on the Arts (NYSCA) in response to a mandate by the New York State Legislature to encourage greater participation in the state’s cultural funding at the local level. Local decision-making is the basic principle of the Decentralization Regrant Program. It supports a wide range of community-based professional and avocational arts programs in diverse communities throughout the state, and fosters the work of individual artists. GO ART! is proud to administer the NYSCA Decentralization Regrant Program in Genesee and Orleans counties.

The grant process begins in the summer with grant workshops held throughout Genesee and Orleans counties. Individuals, nonprofit organizations and local government agencies submit applications in the fall for community-minded artistic and cultural programs. These proposals are reviewed by a panel (there are separate panels for the Reach and Ripple grants), made up of artists, community leaders and educators from the two counties.

The panel then submits funding recommendations to the GO ART! Board of Directors for approval, and grants are awarded. Through the Decentralization Regrant Program, GO ART!, NYSCA, and the New York State Legislature hope to expand, upgrade and increase arts and cultural programming in Genesee and Orleans counties. In order to publically recognize and congratulate this year's recipients, a Grant Awards Ceremony is scheduled for March 9.

For more information on the Genesee-Orleans Regional Arts Council’s Regrant Program, please contact Heather at GO ART!, 585.343.9313 or hgrant@goart.org.   

2012 GO ART! REACH GRANT PROGRAM AWARDS

(to individual artists, nonprofit organizations and local government agencies for arts and cultural programs or projects in our two counties)

Organization

Project

Grant Award

Batavia Concert Band

Summer Concert Series

 $ 3,000

Genesee ARC

Sprout Film Festival & Art Show

 $  1,800

The ARC of Orleans County

Quilting our Community

 $  400

Lake Plains Players

Musical Theater Production

 $ 1,000

Le Roy Christian Community Project

After School Theater Program

 $  400

GCASA sponsoring Lisa Barrett

Everyday Hero Recording and Music Video

 $  2,075

Mental Health Association in Genesee County

Theatrical Performance

 $  925

Yates Community Library

Books, Music and More

 $  1,400

Lyndonville Lions Club

Fun in the Summertime

 $  800

Village of Corfu

Corfu/Pembroke Community Winterfest

 $  1,200

Batavia Players

Summer Youth Theater - “Camelot”

 $     3,200

Batavia Players

Shakespearian Theater - “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”

 $  1,000

Lee-Whedon Memorial Library

Finally Fridays! Music Series

 $   2,500

World Life Institute

Voices from the Earth

 $  4,000

Gillam-Grant Community Center

Uncover the World… Passport to Culture

 $  2,500

Genesee Chorale

Fireworks, Fanfare and Flair: Concert Series

 $  3,450

Genesee Symphony Orchestra

A Timeless Musical Journey - Concert Series

 $  3,450

A Tale for Three Counties Council

A Tale for Three Counties 2012

 $    1,760

Byron-Bergen Public Library

Get Culture @ Your Library!

 $     1,500

Woodward Memorial Library

Everyone’s an Artist

 $  800

 

2012 GO ART! RIPPLE GRANT PROGRAM AWARDS

(to individual artists residing in our two counties who wish to create new arts and cultural projects within a community context)

 

Artist

Project

Discipline

Amount

Kim Argenta

“Many Hands…one heART” Mural for YMCA in Batavia - Entryway

Painting

$2,000

Richard Mufford

Composition and performance of new song “Hometown Hero”

Music

$2,000

Kim Argenta is a self-taught artist from Genesee County. She is the owner of Art Ah La Carte, a teaching studio in the Artisan Center on Harvester Avenue in Batavia. Her project “many hands…one heART" is a mural painting to measure 38’ x 7.5’ located in one of the main entrances to the Genesee County YMCA in Batavia. Children and adults from the various YMCA programs will be invited to assist Kim in the painting process. All are welcome and there is no minimum artistic level required to participate. Students from Art Ah La Carte will also be invited to participate and this will offer them the opportunity to see a project in “real time” from inception to sketching to completion. Community members will also be invited to participate through press releases and announcements in local media. The finished project is expected to be complete in Spring 2012.      

Richard Mufford is a local musician residing in Waterport. He will be composing and producing a song entitled “Hometown Hero” in memory of the late Trevor Cook, a young marine from Orleans County, who was killed at the age of 25 during a training operation at Camp Pendleton in Southern California. The song will be a full-scale piece for concert band with a choral section. The music will be distributed to Medina area churches so that choirs, musicians may perform the piece. On May 31, the Lyndonville High School Band will publically debut the full concert band and choral performance of “Hometown Hero." Furthermore CDs and sheet music will be produced to distribute to others who wish to use this music.

Mark Potwora

World Life Institute
Voices from the Earth
$ 4,000...................They got the biggest amount of taxpayer money.Why so much...It is an Islamic group...whats does this group have to do with arts........

Mar 7, 2012, 12:05pm Permalink
Beth Kinsley

Neither World Life Institute or Voices from the Earth are Islamic organizations. World Life Institute's main goal seems to be helping Tsunami victims and Voices from the Earth seems to focus on English literacy.

hthttp://voicesfromtheearth-wliec.org/about.html

Why do we call it “Voices from the Earth”?

We were inspired to use this name because through this program we can make our VOICES heard. We are learning to speak English. Many of us are also finding a new way of speaking--through our work with clay. Our VOICES can be understood and appreciated in our community.

Most of us work close to the EARTH. We are farm laborers. Our medium of expression comes from the EARTH, too—marvelous clay and the minerals that make our beautiful, bright glazes.

Mar 7, 2012, 1:43pm Permalink
Mark Potwora

Bea...I went to that web page to see who is this group..I never heard of them....and read who they were ..at first i though it sounded like a all right group..I still don't see what they have to do with the arts...They sounded like a religious type group.........But i read that it was a private school that was run by Islamic group ...What does that have to do with the Arts........ .........

http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Why_are_Radical_Islamofacists_hiding_in_Water….....

Answer:

Improve
Answer

Most 'so-called' Islamic terrorists are either Wahabbis or Salafis. Many mainstream Muslims consider such folk infidels or non-believers. As the World Life Institute is a Sufi oriented organization and as Sufis are both hated and attacked by Wahabbis and Salafis it would be an error to call them Islamic terrorists or islamofascists!......

This is why i brought up the Islamic question..................

As the World Life Institute is a Sufi oriented organization

Mar 7, 2012, 2:19pm Permalink
Beth Kinsley

Mark,

That was one idiot's response to an idiotic question. Here is a question and answer from the exact same website:

What is the World Life Institute doing on the coast of Lake Ontario in Waterport New York?

Answer:

Teaching English to migrant workers
I am a Christian who was raised in Waterport New York, and attended The World Life Institute from 1996-1999, ultimately graduating. I never noticed anything that would lead me to believe that they exist to bring radicals over Lake Ontario, in fact, the people who run the Institute, who are Islamic, are also Americans.

They are good honest people who are trying to do their best to improve the lives of people, through English classes for migrant workers, their Project Life program, which brings children from war torn countries to the USA for a few weeks in the summer ( I don't agree with this program, but it's not anything radical) among other efforts. They are people who have lived in the Carlton area for many years, I believe offering no deliberate threat to this country.

http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_is_the_World_Life_Institute_doing_on_the…

Mar 7, 2012, 3:55pm Permalink
Phil Ricci

You know, I used to wish religion didn't exist, because I really thought that if it was gone there wouldn't be a need for all of this hate. Then I woke up from my day dream and realized that if it wasn't that, it would just be something else.

Congrats to all who received grants! Looking forward to some good shows this summer!

Mar 7, 2012, 2:27pm Permalink
Beth Kinsley

And in response to your question about arts, Voices from the Earth is a joint project of World Life Institute and the Orleans-Niagara Board of Cooperative Educational Services (BOCES), an arm of the New York State Education Department.

Voices from the Earth:
Answering the needs of Hispanic agricultural workers who have made Orleans County their home by:
•Combining language development with creative arts programming
•Opening up opportunities for intercultural exchange by bringing immigrants and native born residents closer together through the universal language of art

http://voicesfromtheearth-wliec.org/index.html

Mar 7, 2012, 2:33pm Permalink
Mark Potwora

Phil...i too am glad to see those that got grants..Arts are important...But when i saw this group i wanted to know more about them..Its not about hate..What little found out about this one group sounded to me it was more a religious Islamic group...I don't think that any tax money should be spent on any religion...Including my own Catholic...Beth thank you for the information.....I am sure no one else on here has ever heard of this group.......they also were given the biggest grant..Beth if this is a joint project with the school system then why not get the money for them from BOCES......Don't they still have art classes where these kids go to school...............Save the GO ART money for arts that we can all enjoy...

Mar 7, 2012, 5:31pm Permalink
Beth Kinsley

You can enjoy their art Mark. Voices From the Earth has exhibitions and performances just like many of the other organizations that received grant money. You may not have heard of them because they are in Orleans County but GO Art is The Genesee-Orleans Regional Arts Council.

Mar 7, 2012, 4:59pm Permalink

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