NEA Announces $180,000 in Grants for Maine Organizations

Nine grants totaling $180,000 were awarded to Maine organizations by the National Endowment for the Arts in Fiscal Year 2013. They cover many disciplines and a large part of the state. Details of these grants are below:

Alice James Poetry Cooperative, Inc. (aka Alice James Books)
Farmington
$25,000
CATEGORY: Art Works FIELD/DISCIPLINE: Literature
To support the publication and promotion of new books of poetry by, among others, Matthew Olzmann, Angelo Nikolopoulos, Tamiko Beyer, and Suzanne Parker. Titles will be chosen via editorial solicitation and three annual competitions - the Beatrice Hawley Award, the Kinereth Gensler Awards, and the Kundiman Poetry Prize.

Bangor Folk Festival
Bangor
$30,000
CATEGORY: Art Works FIELD/DISCIPLINE: Folk and Traditional Arts
To support the American Folk Festival. Traditional artists will participate in performances, demonstrations, and workshops of regionally significant music, dance, crafts, and storytelling.

Bates College, President and Trustees of (on behalf of Bates Dance Festival)
Lewiston
$30,000
CATEGORY: Art Works FIELD/DISCIPLINE: Dance
To support Cultivating Innovation and Community, a program of dance artist residencies as part of the annual Bates Dance Festival. The project will bring together leading dance figures, companies, and emerging artists such as Bebe Miller Company, Bridgman/Packer Dance, Delfos Danza Contemporanea, Nejla Yatkin/NY2Dance, dance scholar Suzanne Carbonneau, and dance consultant Kim Konikow for one- to four-week residencies to connect, create, and perform in a collaborative, supportive environment.

Bowdoin International Music Festival
Brunswick
$10,000
CATEGORY: Access to Artistic Excellence FIELD/DISCIPLINE: Challenge America
To support the Bowdoin Festival Extra and Artists of Tomorrow Community Concerts and related outreach activities. An extension of the Bowdoin Festival, the proposed outreach programming includes lectures, demonstrations, and public master classes at Brunswick's Bowdoin College and off-site locations in nearby towns. It will bring together established musicians with international reputations and emerging artists to perform for diverse audiences throughout Maine's midcoast.

Cultural Resources, Inc.
Rockport
$25,000
CATEGORY: Art Works FIELD/DISCIPLINE: Folk and Traditional Arts
To support New Lives/New England, a traveling exhibition and series of artists workshops focusing on communities of recent immigrants in Maine, Vermont, and Connecticut. Through the project, the importance of traditional arts in immigrant communities for maintaining identity and adapting to new homes will be highlighted.

Portland Ovations
Portland
$40,000
CATEGORY: Art Works FIELD/DISCIPLINE: Presenting
To support the presentation of dance, music, and culturally specific works. Each presentation by artists such as the Joffrey Ballet, ETHEL, The Bad Plus, Imani Winds, Voices of Afghanistan, and Pablo Ziegler Trio will be accompanied by discussions, lectures, workshops, master classes, and open rehearsals.

Portland Stage Company, Inc.
Portland
$10,000
CATEGORY: Art Works FIELD/DISCIPLINE: Theater and Musical Theater
To support the world premiere production of Love/Sick, a new play by John Cariani. The play consists of 10 comedic vignettes depicting atypical love stories set in slightly alternative suburban realities.

Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, Inc. (aka Skowhegan)
Madison
$20,000
CATEGORY: Art Works FIELD/DISCIPLINE: Artist Communities
To support a residency program for emerging visual artists. Artists will be provided with a private studio and full room-and-board as well as weekly private and group critiques by a faculty of leading professional artists. Fellowships will be given to as many as five artists-in-residence and the program will benefit approximately 370 artists, students, and community members.

Waterfall Arts
Belfast
$10,000
CATEGORY: Access to Artistic Excellence FIELD/DISCIPLINE: Challenge America
To support a building assessment and design plans for the adaptive reuse of the Clarence Anderson Elementary School. Activities to prepare the space for use as an arts facility will include a full energy audit, lead paint analysis, and a plan to meet ADA regulations.