Grants in Film and Music.

Deadline: September 7, 2012
MacArthur Foundation Announces Open Call for Documentary Film Proposals

The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation's Media, Culture, and Special Initiatives program supports the production and distribution of social-issue documentary films that address important contemporary topics and are intended for a broad audience, particularly in the United States. The program seeks to fund documentary projects that address the significant social challenges of our time or explore important but under-reported topics.

Applicants may request any funding amount, but the typical grant range is between $50,000 and $200,000. In each round of funding, the foundation is able to support eight to twelve projects.
 Link to Complete RFP

Deadline: October 1, 2012 
Grammy Foundation Accepting Letters of Inquiry for 2012-13 Grants in Music Research and Preservation Projects 

Funded by the Recording Academy, the Grammy Foundation's grant program annually provides support for music archiving and preservation efforts and for scientific research projects related to the impact of music on the human condition. The scientific research projects grant program awards funding of up to $20,000 to organizations and individuals working to research the impact of music on the human condition. Examples include the study of the effects of music on mood, cognition, and healing; the medical and occupational well-being of music professionals; and the creative process underlying music. Priority will be given to projects with strong methodological design as well those designed to address an important research question.
 Full RFP here.

Deadline: November 5, 2012
Tribeca Film Institute Announces Guidelines for Documentary Fund

The Tribeca Film Institute Documentary Fund provides grants and guidance to exceptional filmmakers with character-driven nonfiction works-in-progress that sit outside of the social issue landscape. By supporting work that engages in unexplored perspectives, the fund aims to help take audiences into someone else's environment and spotlight the journey of the individual.

Grants of at least $10,000 will be awarded. The program will accept submissions beginning September 5, 2012, and close November 5, 2012.
Visit the TFI Web site for complete program guidelines and submission requirements.


  

Center Stage Artists Come To Maine.

Center Stage is a groundbreaking program designed to bring diplomacy to Main Street by bringing ten striking foreign performing ensembles to the U.S. for month-long tours from June-December 2012. Sufi-rock bands from Lahore…master Haitian troubadours…puppetry and Hip Hop collectives from Yogyakarta…power-house contemporary dance companies from Port-au-Prince and Padang…Acclaimed at home but little-known to many Americans, performing artists from Pakistan, Haiti, and Indonesia will tour the U.S. through the Center Stage program. 

Tonight and tomorrow Arieb Azhar (Islamabad, Pakistan) will be performing at One Longfellow Square, as part of the Portland Performing Arts Festival. The show begins at 7:30, be sure to attend if you can. One Longfellow Square is offering 2 for 1 tickets at the door.

Arieb Azhar (Islamabad, Pakistan) playing at Acoustic Artisans 11am Thursday, touring Portland before performing at One Longfellow Square as part of the Portland Performing Arts Festival.

 

Opera House Arts Receives Jazz Masters Award

The Stonington Opera House got some good news at the start of its 100th anniversary. At the January 10 celebration of the NEA Jazz Masters program, Rocco Landesman, chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts, announced that Opera House Arts at the Stonington Opera House is one of 12 organizations to receive grants totaling $135,000 to bring outstanding jazz musicians, writers, producers, and scholars to communities across the nation.

"There is no substitute for being in the presence of a great artist, and through the NEA Jazz Masters Live grants, the NEA is pleased to provide opportunities for Americans all across this country to have exactly that experience," said NEA Chairman Rocco Landesman. "Twelve exceptional organizations will be our partners this year."

Opera House Arts (OHA) applied to present 2012 Jazz Master Charlie Haden at the center of its 12th Annual Deer Isle Jazz Festival August 2-­‐4, 2012, co-­‐produced with jazz journalist Larry Blumenfeld. Bass player Haden was born in Iowa and his musical roots are in country, American folk, and gospel music, making him an excellent fit for the musical heritage of OHA’s own community as well as a wonderful extension of the Deer Isle Jazz Festival, which has in the past presented jazz masters ranging from Randy Weston to Charles Lloyd. While perhaps best known for his recordings with Ornette Coleman, Keith Jarrett, and Dewey Redman (who inaugurated the Deer Isle Jazz Festival in 2001), Haden has been the leader of his own Liberation Music Orchestra, featuring vocalist and arranger Carla Bley, since the 1970s. His newest recording, “Come Sunday,” with pianist Hank Jones is a collection of 14 pieces of church music and was released in January 2012. The Deer Isle Jazz Festival proposed to feature and honor Haden not only in concert but also in a documentary film, Ramblin’ Boy, which documents his start in country music; in a panel discussion on his musical evolution; and in a tribute set, “For Charlie: Music By and For Charlie Haden,” by Maine’s own Duncan Hardy Sextet.

For more information on the festival, please go to www.operahousearts.org.