2004 Grant Awards: Challenge America: Access to the Arts Fast Track Grants

Some details of the projects listed below are subject to change, contingent upon prior Endowment approval.

ALABAMA

Metropolitan Arts Council
Birmingham
$10,000
To support presentation of a new arts festival in a recently restored historic playhouse and adjacent park in order to stimulate redevelopment in Birmingham's southside. Approximately 35 arts organizations of all artistic disciplines will participate in the festival, launching what is expected to become an annual event that will encourage additional economic activity in the neighborhood boosted by the restoration of the Virginia Samford Theatre. The City of Birmingham will partner with the Highland Park Neighborhood Association to implement the project.

ARIZONA

Tucson-Pima Arts Council Inc.
Tucson
$10,000
To support promotion of the Tucson Cultural Arts Festival as a major tourist attraction. Project partners will plan and implement marketing efforts to expand the three-year-old Family Arts Festival into a larger and more tourist-focused event by reaching out to potential visitors from Mexico, timing promotions to lure tourists arriving at the beginning of the winter season, and creating weekend tour packages with hotels and resorts. The Metropolitan Convention and Visitor's Bureau and the US/Mexico Trade Commission will assist in the completion of this project.

ARKANSAS

Lane House, Inc.
Eureka Springsv $10,000
To support planning and completion of design documents for the renovation of the historic Harps building in downtown Eureka Springs, Arkansas. An architect and building-use consultants will design workshop spaces for multidisciplinary classes in the arts in order to provide a largely rural population with a centralized community center. The project will expand Lane House's capacity to serve members of the community, including its traditional audience of youth ages eight to 18.

CALIFORNIA

18th Street Arts Complex
Santa Monica
$10,000
To support development of a facilities master plan for the 18th Street Arts Complex. The project will produce business, as well as renovation and expansion plans for increasing the capacity of the 18th Street Arts Complex, hampered now by inefficiencies in parking, green spaces, and member tenant spaces. Architects Predock and Frane and business consultants from Brody Weiser and Burns will facilitate the process and conceptualize plans.

City of Encinitas Commission for the Arts
Encinitas
$10,000
To support planning and dissemination of promotional materials to increase awareness of Encinitas' artistic, historic, and natural resources. Facilitators and artists will help guide constituents through a process to identify goals to advertise Encinitas' cultural assets in a brochure and parallel Web site. The city's Cultural Tourism Committee and Mainstreet Association will coordinate the overall process.

Cultural Council of Santa Cruz County
Santa Cruz
$10,000
To support marketing efforts to increase the visibility of Santa Cruz County as a cultural destination. This project will promote a newly launched online cultural events calendar to regional and national audiences and finance ads, press kits, and Web advertising for the 19th annual Open Studios Art Tour. Major partners includes the Santa Cruz County Conference and Visitors Council and the Cultural Council Associates, a 65-member multidisciplinary advocacy group composed of large and small cultural organizations in the region.

El Dorado Arts Council
Placerville
$10,000
To support production of Web and print directories of cultural and artistic resources in El Dorado County. As an expansion of an existing map and brochure, the new ArtsAccess directories will include information on performance and class schedules, facility accessibility, tourist discounts, travel directions, contact details, and, on the Internet, links to organizations' Web sites. Project partners will design and implement distribution of the print directory and promotion of the Web site.

Friends of Peralta Hacienda Historical Park
Oakland
$10,000
To support planning and creation of the Urban Book, an outdoor visual art installation that will be the centerpiece of the historic park. This project will implement the development of the design framework, the process for the selection of artists, and the creation of 72 pivoting, ceramic panels that will construct four rotating rooms that reflect the evolving identity of the diverse Fruitvale neighborhood. Gordon Chun Design will coordinate the project.

Malashock Dance & Company
San Diego
$10,000
To support a feasibility study for the development of a centralized facility that will serve various needs of the San Diego dance community. This project will explore demands for use, financial implications, and design schemes for a 25,000 square foot, multipurpose dance facility to be located within the renewal site of the former Naval Training Center. The opportunity to convert affordable space into offices, rehearsal and performance rooms, a costume shop, and other facilities will provide a cultural resource within the overall redevelopment of the area.

Museum of Latin American Art
Long Beach
$10,000
To support the Artists' Tour, which exhibits the work of local artists in venues in downtown Long Beach and the city's East Village Arts District. Partnering with the East Village Association, the museum will provide publicity and conduct an evaluation of the event, which will expand the number of participating artists and include additional downtown sites. Music performances, children's activities, and post-exhibit receptions will complement tours at some locations.

Orange County Museum of Art
Newport Beach
$10,000
To support a marketing and public relations campaign for the exhibition, Picasso to Pollock: Modern Masterpieces from the Wadsworth Athenaeum Museum of Art. The museum will work with the hospitality and tourism industry to develop strategies, including tour packages, distribution of promotional rack cards at tourist locations, and banners at key city sites. The Orange County Museum of Art will be the only West Coast venue for this unique tour of the Athenaeum's collection. Partners include Newport Beach and Anaheim/Orange County's Conference and Visitors Bureaus and the Orange County Tourism Council.

Richmond Art Center
Richmond
$10,000
To support the development of plans to adapt and renovate the Richmond Arts Center's courtyard space to accommodate outdoor exhibitions and performances. The designs will convert a 10,000-squarefoot courtyard into a community pavilion, providing venues for arts, community, and educational events, and serving as a gateway to the center. This project is one of the center's current efforts to explore methods to engage different, more diverse audiences for its programming.

Sierra Repertory Theatre, Inc.
Sonora
$10,000
To support second phase components of a feasibility study for the development of a new theater complex on land owned by the City of Sonora. The project will complement prior work by adding market research, site evaluation, preliminary design and cost estimates, and funding strategies to a recently completed facility needs assessment. The consulting firm of AMS Planning & Research Corp will continue working with the theatre and its local partner, the Economic Development Company of Tuolumne County, to affect an area where tourism is the region's largest employer.

Upstate Community Enhancement Foundation, Inc.
Chico
$10,000
To support a county-wide cultural planning process. By reviewing surveys of cultural and educational resources and profiles of the local population and business community, project partners hope to finalize this planning effort. The project seeks to better coordinate the development of cultural resources to be a more integral part of the local economy. The Chico Chamber of Commerce, the city's Arts Commission, Butte County Cultural Tourism Project, and Butte County Economic Development Corporation are partners in this project.

Willows Theatre Company
Concord
$10,000
To support marketing the production of John Muir's Mountain Days as a focus point of area cultural tourism and cultural district efforts. Consultants will analyze the artistic, educational, and economic impact of the production since its initial presentation in 2000 as a baseline to develop travel packages and other marketing campaigns that will highlight the outdoor drama as a regional tourist attraction. In addition, the project will include school and family outreach programs in an improved effort to solidify local support for both the John Muir Festival Center and proposed new facilities for the Willows Theatre within the City of Martinez cultural district.

COLORADO

City of Delta, Colorado
Delta
$10,000
To support the events and increased promotion of the Council Tree Pow Wow, and American Indian cultural festival. The festival will feature American Indian tipi construction, cooking classes, and an artisan marketplace, as well as traditional dancing, singing, and drumming performances. Increased marketing efforts will help develop new audiences for this event. Participants are expected to include individuals from approximately 30 tribes in 20 states.

CONNECTICUT

Connecticut Classical Guitar Society, Inc.
Hartford
$10,000
To support marketing and production of the Guitar Under The Stars Festival, which will attract visitors to the Greater Hartford area and downtown's riverfront parks. The project seeks to stimulate revitalization of Hartford's downtown by publicizing performances, such as an orchestra event in the Riverfront Plaza amphitheater. The Greater Hartford Arts Council, Riverfront Recapture (a network of parks and recreation facilities), and Hartford Image Project Initiative (a consortium of economic development agencies), will support promotional efforts and facilitate the production of the festival.

Institute for Community Research, Inc.
Hartford
$10,000
To support the Connecticut Heritage Arts Program. This project will support bus tours to various artists' studios and businesses, cultural festivals, ethnic markets, and other repositories for traditional art, where visitors can examine art associated with the diverse heritage of Connecticut's communities. Tours will visit artists as various as Polish iconographers, Peruvian woodcarvers, traditional Puerto Rican music ensembles, Tibetan weavers and painters, as well as Lithuanian, Albanian, and Lebanese carvers and musicians.

DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA

African Continuum Theatre Coalition, Inc.
Washington
$10,000
To support the second phase of design work for the Atlas Performing Arts Center, a new facility in the H Street corridor. With the physical design for the center's two theaters, rehearsals rooms, offices, and shops completed, this project will focus on creating plans for enhancing performance and facility capabilities by generating designs for lighting, sound delivery, and special audio-visual devices. The facility will provide a professional cultural venue for the largely African-American community in this section of northeast Washington.

Dance Institute of Washington
Washington
$10,000
To support the design of exterior features on a building in the Columbia Heights section of Washington, DC. The project's goal is to attract the attention of pedestrians and drivers to the arts resources offered by the Dance Institute. An architect will be hired to create an entry for the performing arts boutique and a visual screen that will allow a passerby to see projections of dance classes in the second-story studios.

FLORIDA

Orlando Opera Company, Inc.
Orlando
$10,000
To support the presentation and promotion of the zarzuela (an interdisciplinary art form) Luisa Fernanda, in conjunction with the annual Viva Osceola! Festival. This project will add opera performances to an existing Hispanic Theatre Festival and Hispanic Art Exhibit during the Osceola festival days, introducing audiences to the Orlando Opera Company as well as drawing additional participants to all festival events. Outreach performances at schools and civic venues in Osceola County are included as events that will be promoted by the Opera's partners, the Osceola Center for the Arts, and the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce of Central Florida.

IDAHO

City of Nampa, Idaho
Nampa
$10,000
To support the presentation and promotion of performing arts events and education outreach programs. These events and programs are designed to provide increased visibility for the arts and stimulate positive economic development through cultural tourism. Artists include David Roche, solo performer; Imago, a theatre mask ensemble; the Juan L. Sanchez Ensemble, a Latin music band; and the Count Basie Orchestra. The Nampa Chamber of Commerce and motels in the city will assist with marketing initiatives, including creating special regional tourist packages.

Idaho Falls Arts Council
Idaho Falls
$10,000
To support implementation of a marketing plan for the newly developed Idaho Falls Cultural District. Through this project, the council will disseminate newly designed brochures, particularly to tourists visiting Yellowstone; construct street signs to guide visitors to the cultural district; create identifying banners; and post billboards advertising events on major highways. Partners include two museums, the symphony, a theatre, and the public library, all located within a small downtown area filled with tourist amenities.

ILLINOIS

American Indian Center, Inc.
Chicago
$10,000
To support the presentation of the Powwow Series. This project focuses on the celebration of Native- American heritage by providing examples of traditional dance and drum performance, as well as a marketplace for traditional and contemporary crafts, including beadwork, silversmithing, ceramics, and leather work. Partners, including 32 Illinois-based Native-American organizations and the Field Museum of Natural History's Cultural Connections program, will participate in four major Chicago-area powwows, monthly events at the American Indian Center, and a traveling exhibit of photographs commemorating a 50-year history of powwow as an important cultural event.

League of Chicago Theatres Foundation
Chicago
$10,000
To support advertising and Internet communications to create tourist packages that highlight Chicago theater attractions. The League will coordinate hotel, restaurant, and ticket sales to other cultural venues through the Internet, creating sales to tourists through its Ticketmaster outlet, which is capable of instantly notifying vendors of reservations and purchases. The Internet will allow visitors to select from many combinations of event choices and better facilitate the League's response.

IOWA

Red Cedar Chamber Music
Marion
$10,000
To support the production and marketing of chamber music concerts and related educational programs designed to promote tourism in the riverfront development area. Two riverfront ethnic museums will serve as hubs for concerts, including Czech Connection, which will honor the Czech heritage of the River Run district and commemorate the centennial of the death of composer Anton Dvorak; and Classically Blue, which will highlight the influence that blues music, rooted in the Mississippi Delta, has had on classical chamber music. A new work, based on themes in Dvorak's music, will be commissioned by Red Cedar Chamber Music as part of the project.

KANSAS

Hutchinson - Reno County Cultural Commission
Hutchinson
$10,000
To support the development of Kansas Murals: A Traveler's Guide, a book that will feature photographs of and narratives about significant murals within the state. Project activities include research, photo selection, writing text for various sections of the book, creating an index and other reference guides, and publication design. In conjunction with an existing Web site, the book will document several important Kansas murals, provide an educational and reference tool, and serve as a guide for visitors touring the state.

KENTUCKY

Appalshop, Inc.
Whitesburg
$10,000
To support workshops to design a community arts space at a newly purchased local building. The project includes assessment of Appalshop's programs, facilitated meetings with community representatives, and a professional process to design space in the Boone Motor Company building, purchased in 1999. The facility will serve as a cultural resource for this largely rural, economically distressed region.

Kentucky Guild of Artists and Craftsmen
Berea
$10,000
To support launching a new Web site, the Arts and Craft Insight Network, which will provide a compilation of arts and crafts learning opportunities in Kentucky. The guild will work with the Janice Mason Art Museum and the Kentucky Appalachian Artisan Center to collect information and develop a centralized database. The Kentucky Department of Tourism will assist in identifying the best method to begin publicizing the Web site to tourists and other local resources.

LOUISIANA

Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra
New Orleans
$10,000
To support planning and development of an international composer's competition. Affirming the orchestra's commitment to New Orleans' diverse population, this project will require contestants to reference the locale in their compositions, by reflecting the jazz heritage of New Orleans or the heritage of the Mississippi River. The orchestra will work with the New Orleans Office of Economic Development, Tourism Marketing Corporation, and Metropolitan Convention and Visitors Bureau to implement and publicize the competition.

Pirate's Alley Faulkner Society, Inc.
New Orleans
$10,000
To support presentation and promotion of a multidisciplinary arts festival, Words & Music: A Literary Feast in New Orleans. The society will schedule writer workshops, poetry readings, concerts, a theatre production, and forums conducted by leading literary figures during its seventh annual, five-day festival. Festival events will also strive to bring emerging writers to the attention of agents and publishers. Out-of-state promotion will be handled by the state-created New Orleans Tourism Marketing Corporation.

MAINE

VSA arts of Maine
Portland
$10,000
To support the development of an accessibility survey for cultural institutions, provide consultation on 504 guideline compliance, and post information on the VSA Web site about accessible venues. This project will refine and test survey materials on how cultural organizations can better serve the more than 200,000 people in Maine identified with a disability by the US Census. Students from the occupational therapy program at Husson College and Alpha One experts in universal design will assist in the project.

MARYLAND

City of Baltimore Development Corporation
Baltimore
$10,000
To support the creation of marketing materials to identify and promote cultural resources in the Station North Arts & Entertainment District. This project will generate brochures to be distributed to tourists, an arts and entertainment guide, and signage at the gateways of a newly designated downtown Arts & Entertainment District. The Baltimore Office of Promotion & the Arts will work with the Station North advisory board to attract visitors to this culturally diverse area where artists have been given incentives to locate their homes, studios, and businesses.

MASSACHUSETTS

Downtown New Bedford, Inc.
New Bedford
$10,000
To support programming and outreach activities to community and regional arts groups to attract additional visitors to AHA! Nights. Reaching out to ethnically diverse groups that have not participated in the program, this project will develop arts programs with downtown partners such as the New Bedford Whaling Museum, the Pinske Gallery, New Bedford Art Museum, and Culture Park Theatre and add regional cultural venues to the roster of hosting organizations. Eight evenings of related events for underserved community groups in regional arts venues will be coordinated as part of this project.

Fuller Museum of Art
Brockton
$10,000
To support BAHA Days (Brockton Art, History and Architecture), free cultural daytime activities held in conjunction with existing evening festivals. This project includes performances by ensembles from the Brockton Symphony Orchestra, artist demonstrations, and family activities provided by the Fuller and other Brockton cultural resources. Among the museum's many partners, the Mayor's Office of Cultural Affairs will contribute radio, television, billboard, and print promotions for BAHA Days. Related tours will be conducted by the Office of the City Planner.

MICHIGAN

Blissfest Music Organization
Harbor Springs
$10,000
To support the Harbor Celtic Festival, a collaborative cultural tourism/cultural district event focused on the heritage of Celtic and Irish immigration in northern Michigan. The festival will feature crafts, educational workshops, storytelling, costumed historians, and performances of Celtic music, dance, and theatre. Partners include the City of Harbor Springs, the Chamber of Commerce, the Blackbird History Museum, Little Traverse Historical Society, and the Robert Emmet Society.

Dowagiac Dogwood Fine Arts Festival, Inc.
Dowagiac
$10,000
To support the Dogwood Fine Arts Festival, which will feature multidisciplinary presentations and educational activities for residents and visitors. This project will present local and guest artists in literature, dance, music, visual arts, and storytelling, requiring each to spend time providing master classes or educational activities for adults and school children. Many of the events are linked to associated curricula in the schools.

Greater Flint Arts Council
Flint
$10,000
To support completion of the Greater Flint Arts Council's cultural planning process, which will define specific goals for local arts and cultural activities. Using a completed assessment of resources and needs, this project will solicit input to finalize details of a cultural plan for Flint and Genesee County, including disseminating the proposals in the community. Consultant Morrie Warshawski will continue to facilitate the cultural planning process.

Thornapple Arts Council of Barry County
Hastings
$10,000
To support community cultural planning in Barry County. Seven towns and villages will participate in assessment meetings, followed by county-wide sessions that will review strategies and lead to the formulation of a cultural plan for the county. This project is an attempt to bring residents together addressing the transition of the local economy from a manufacturing base to one more dependent on tourism.

MINNESOTA

Fergus Falls Center for the Arts, Inc.
Fergus Falls
$10,000
To support a production of Songs from the Tall Grass, which will introduce tourists and others to frontier traditions of the prairie region around Fergus Falls. This production is based on first-person documentation of homesteaders' life on the frontier and features lyrics from the nineteenth century in contemporary musical interpretations. Other community activities will coincide with the production: a fiddlers' camp, Native- American dancing and drumming, a rural issues forum, and family reenactments of life on the prairie at the Prairie Wetlands Learning Center.

MISSISSIPPI

Communities in Schools of Greenwood Leflore, Inc.
Greenwood
$10,000
To support the development of a cultural plan for the City of Greenwood. Utilizing the services of consultant Grady Hillman, this project will videotape interviews with local cultural leaders and providers, develop a tentative plan to be presented to community constituents, and result in the presentation of the plan to the public. Greenwood schools, city agencies, the Chamber of Commerce, and arts organizations have agreed to participate in developing and disseminating the cultural plan.

MISSOURI

Hannibal Arts Council, Inc.
Hannibal
$10,000
To support The Provenance Project that will develop arts and cultural destinations along a fifty-mile section of Scenic Byway 79. This project will continue redevelopment plans based on cultural tourism. Also, a project coordinator will be appointed to direct activities in three Missouri riverfront communities, including supervising artist recruitment and the preservation of historical assets, and ensuring communication with the project's partners. Partnering organizations include the Northeast Missouri Development Authority, Pike County Development Authority, Raintree Arts Council, the Hannibal Convention and Visitors Bureau, Main Street Clarksville, and the Great River Road Guild of Professional Artisans.

MONTANA

Whitefish Theatre Co.
Whitefish
$10,000
To support musical theater productions and associated advertising that will provide visitors to Glacier National Park and the Flathead Valley with quality cultural activities. Partners will collaborate to publicize and present productions which will feature professional actors. The intent is to offer nighttime activities that will draw tourists and local residents to these community events and stimulate cultural activity. The community college will contribute facilities and interns, and the Whitefish Chamber of Commerce and Convention and Visitors' Bureau and Glacier County will develop marketing plans and promotional materials for the Web, radio and TV, and distribution in print.

NEVADA

City of Las Vegas
Las Vegas
$10,000
To support the development, promotion, and marketing of the downtown arts district in Las Vegas. Components of this project will lead to promoting the arts district and demonstrating how public art can be incorporated into public transit projects. Teams will design signage and a graphic identity for the district, promotional brochures will be developed for First Friday open house events, and models will be created to illustrate strategies for the addition of public art in the Monorail system. This project will help the mixed-use arts district prepare for an anticipated increase in economic activity in 2006 when the Monorail links the downtown arts district with the "Strip" commercial area.

NEW HAMPSHIRE

Arts Rochester, Inc.
Rochester
$10,000
To support the development of a cultural plan for Rochester. The planning project will engage city officials, artists, and members of the Chamber of Commerce and other business leaders to educate citizens about the range of arts resources in the community and their potential positive impact on life in the region. Experienced consultants that have developed similar plans will be invited to discuss what might be applicable to developing a viable cultural plan for the Rochester area.

Perkins Center for the Arts
Moorestown
$10,000
To support the Perkins Center's efforts as a regional arts incubator by leading the development of a cultural plan and implementing artist-led activities at the Collingswood Farmer's Market. Through these two projects, the Perkins Center expects to stimulate interest in the arts and generate greater public interest in the growth of arts resources.

NEW MEXICO

City of Santa Fe
Santa Fe
$10,000
To support the establishment and promotion of cultural districts in Santa Fe. This project will support a range of preliminary efforts to establish six arts & cultural districts in Santa Fe, including mapping existing cultural resources, compiling a master events calendar, e-mailing event announcements, branding each district with specific signage and logos, and placing advertisements in regional and national markets. Partners include major cultural institutions and associations in all artistic disciplines. Principal responsibility for coordinating the promotion campaign will be by the Santa Fe Conventions & Visitors Bureau.

NEW YORK

Arts & Business Council, Inc.
New York
$10,000
To support cultural tourism workshops. These workshops, provided to approximately 150 arts groups in rural upstate New York and the boroughs of New York City, are part of the council's Cultural Tourism Initiative Grant Program that links the cultural community with state and regional tourism efforts in the state of New York. Partnering organizations include New York State Council on the Arts and Tourism Development Associates.

Bronx Council on the Arts, Inc.
Bronx
$10,000
To support marketing and audience development efforts for the South Bronx Trolley/First Wednesdays program. The Bronx Council will undertake the development of a comprehensive marketing plan and initiate strategies that will build local audiences as well as tourist interest in taking the trolley to attend performances, gallery events, craft festivals, and other cultural events on the first Wednesdays of the month. Partners include the Bronx Tourism Council and the Bronx Overall Economic Development Corporation, each offering assistance in promoting the trolley tours and linking participating sites to economic redevelopment resources.

Brooklyn Academy Local Development Corp.
Brooklyn
$10,000
To support a marketing plan associated with the release of the master plan for development of the Brooklyn Academy of Music cultural district. The project will create print materials, electronic slide presentations, and press kits to coincide with media events scheduled to publicize the release of the master plan that will guide development in the Cultural District. In addition, the corporation will launch a Web site that features the master plan and allows viewers to comment. Materials will be used to inform the public, including the general cultural community, about the issues and recommendations contained in the plan.

Chemung Valley Arts Council
Corning
$10,000
To support launching the Mark Twain Festival of American Humor, a regional festival focused on the hometown literary icon. Productions of contemporary, cross-generational humor will be rehearsed and performed in Elmira, Corning, and Watkins Glen, to celebrate the tradition of fine American humor as exemplified by the work of Mark Twain.

Chenango County Council of the Arts, Inc.
Norwich
$10,000
To support a comprehensive planning process for Chenango County that highlights the potential of the arts to positively impact regional quality of life and economic development. Consultants hired for this project will conduct stakeholder interviews, survey the needs and resources in the area, and convene public meetings in order to formulate an action plan. River Street Planning & Development will facilitate the process and coordinate all activities with project partners, the Chenango County Department of PLanning and Development and the City of Norwich Planning Department.

Columbia County Council on the Arts, Inc.
Hudson
$10,000
To support marketing for the Modern Art Tour: Art and Landscapes of the Hudson Valley, which includes bus tours during off-seasons in late spring, fall, and early winter. After great success with off-season tour packages for individual travelers, the planned bus packages will allow the council to increase the number of visitors to sculpture parks, contemporary art collections, and ancillary events at historic sites, nature preserves, performing arts facilities, and other area attractions. The tour is a collaborative effort of the tourism and cultural agencies in Columbia, Orange, and Dutchess Counties, and Berkshire County in Massachusetts.

Dance Theater Workshop, Inc.
New York
$10,000
To support production and marketing of Chelsea's Second Saturday, a collaborative initiative that will help identify this popular neighborhood as a highlighted tourist destination. Dance Theater Workshop and the Joyce Theater will develop a schedule of events, discount packages for food and shopping, street banners, and a wide variety of promotional initiatives, including a Web site, to attract tourists to the Chelsea neighborhood in the spring and fall. NYC & Company, the city's official tourism marketing organization, will provide assistance with media exposure, Web site production, publicized listings, and consulting services.

Friends of the Arts, Inc.
Locust Valley
$10,000
To support marketing of Passport to Historic Oyster Bay events, designed to increase awareness about the arts and cultural attractions in the village of Oyster Bay. This project will include brochure printing and distribution, Web promotions, and media announcements in conjunction with three major festivals in Oyster Bay: the Bayou Bash Concert, the Long Island Jazz Festival, and the Folk Fest Concert. In addition to the music performances, publicity will highlight local museums, sailing demonstrations, and ecology tours of the waterfront, historic houses, and visual arts exhibitions.

Goodwill Theatre, Inc.
Binghamton
$10,000
To support the development of the design concept and restoration plans for the Goodwill Theatre, a neo-classical vaudeville house, and surrounding structures within the proposed arts district. This project will provide guidelines for restoring the Goodwill Theatre as a historic performing arts facility and linking it with other performance and arts support spaces. The project architect, Killis Almond, will supervise planning and design workshops.

Heart of Brooklyn Cultural Institutions, Inc.
Brooklyn
$10,000
To support the creation of a brochure as part of a marketing strategy to increase visitation to the Heart of Brooklyn member institutions. This project will produce an Experience the Heart of Brooklyn brochure, which will describe the services, history, and directional links related to each of 10 nature, cultural, and historical institutions clustered in the heart of Brooklyn. As a companion piece to a monthly events calendar, Experience the Heart of Brooklyn will inform tourists of the available cultural resources and provide discount coupons to encourage attendance.

New York Folklore Society, Inc.
Schenectady
$10,000
To support the development of marketing and interpretative materials for the Seaway Trail National Byway along the St. Lawrence/Great Lakes shoreline. The project will identify the arts and cultural heritage points of interest along the trail and create a marketing plan for tours based on CD audio portraits and companion printed brochures. Also, the project will finalize the script and master for one CD for Phase I of the Seaway Trail (from Akwasasne, New York to Fair Haven, New York) to highlight a weekend trip along the byway.

Transart & Cultural Services, Inc.
West Park
$10,000
To support promotion of the annual Jazz in the Valley concert and additional indoor jazz concerts and master classes. This project will focus on attracting the local African-American community in the Hudson highlands as well as tourists from New York City and western New England. Carolyn McClair Public Relations will implement a marketing plan to position Jazz in the Valley as the premiere event of African- American cultural heritage in the region.

Westchester Arts Council
White Plains
$10,000
To support the development of a design for the adaptive re-use of the first floor of a historic building as a professional exhibition space. The primary focus of this project is to develop wall, lighting, window, and furniture systems that will transform a former Grand Banking Room into a flexible gallery space for art exhibits, as well as for public performances and other arts-related events. Shauna Mosseri has been hired as the principal designer for the building located in the center of downtown White Plains.

NORTH CAROLINA

Lakeland Cultural Arts Center, Inc.
Littleton
$10,000
To support completion of a regional cultural plan, utilizing a recent cultural assessment of the region in North Carolina and Virginia surrounding Lake Gaston. This project will support facilitated meetings to formulate goals for integrating arts resources in local planning, cultural tourism, and community development efforts. The region served contains a predominantly rural, low-income population of 150,000.

Penland School of Crafts, Inc.
Penland
$10,000
To support marketing for a series of events celebrating Penland's 75th Anniversary during the state's celebration of the Year of Craft in North Carolina. This project will support the design and distribution of print materials and catalogs, street banners, and advertising that highlight activities at Penland and a Mitchell County gallery and artists' studio tour for visitors to the area. The materials will document the role that craft plays in the economic, social, cultural, and historic life of the community.

Sandhills Family Heritage Association
Spring Lake
$10,000
To support community design workshops related to the renovation of the Spring Lake Civic Center. Design charettes conducted by faculty from the North Carolina State University Department of Architecture will lead to a final plan for creating a community center that promotes cultural preservation and revitalization and economic development in the area. Professor Henry Sanoff and research associates from the university will assist in the project.

Stecoah Valley Arts, Crafts & Educational Center, Inc.
Robbinsville
$10,000
To support and promote An Appalachian Evening, a series of performances of traditional bluegrass, dancing, storytelling, and Cherokee heritage events. The evening performances will be preceded by an artist-conducted lecture demonstration or workshop in an effort to add depth to the audiences' experience and understanding of authentic Southern Appalachian mountain culture. The project provides a significant opportunity for cultural tourism within a rural, isolated region of the state.

United Arts Council of Raleigh and Wake County, Inc.
Raleigh
$10,000
To support RaleighNow!, a marketing initiative to promote a telephone hotline and Internet site that provide access to cultural events and tourist packages in Raleigh and Wake Counties. This project will distribute brochures and support other public relations efforts to market the hotline and Web site that provide listings and a reservation system for the activities and services of participating cultural groups, hotels, and other local attractions. The Greater Raleigh Convention and Visitors Bureau is managing the marketing strategy for RaleighNow!

NORTH DAKOTA

Future Builders in Support of The Trollwood Performing Arts School
Fargo
$10,000
To support architectural planning and design of new performing arts facilities at the Imagine Arts Village, in M. B. Johnson Park in Moorhead, Minnesota. The Trollwood Performing Arts School anticipates moving from Fargo to Moorhead, and will hire a professional architect to study potential usage, costs, and design solutions for facilities that might include indoor and outdoor multi-use spaces, as well as studio and performance rooms. Both cities support the move and are partnering with the school to sustain its programming during the transition.

OHIO

Arts Commission of Greater Toledo, Inc.
Toledo
$10,000
To support the development of a conceptual design for The Gateways initiative, a public art program that will lead to installations at eight designated entry points to central Toledo. The project will allow the Gateways Committee to hire an artist and landscape architect to evaluate the locations and their surrounding environments and establish site-specific guidelines for the artists competition that will solicit designs for the installations. The creative vision for each of the gateways will emerge from meetings among the professionals hired and review committees representing each community location.

Institute of Industrial Technology
Newark
$10,000
To support a marketing effort and related programming intended to increase public art awareness for activities of The Works complex, a community learning center. The project will focus on disseminating brochures, media advertising, and posters, and conducting special events that promote the variety of programs at The Works, including a kids art camp, classes in digital design and glassblowing, family events, photo exhibits, a book arts symposium, and participation in the downtown art fair. Various Licking County arts organizations, the Chamber of Commerce, and the Licking County Foundation will assist in completing the project.

OREGON

Estacada Together
Estacada
$10,000
To support the promotion and presentation of an ongoing multidisciplinary summer festival in downtown Estacada. This annual festival offers a variety of music and dance performances, an exhibit and silent auction of local art, family activities, and a celebration of the completion of the town's 10th large mural. Estacada is a small, rural town on the edge of Mt. Hood National Forest, which attracts numerous tourists en route to this area. Partners include the Estacada Arts Commission and the Artback Artists Cooperative.

PENNSYLVANIA

Jeanne Ruddy and Dancers, Inc.
Philadelphia
$10,000
To support completion of a master plan and feasibility study for the renovation of historic structures to serve as sites for modern dance companies in Philadelphia. This project will develop plans to provide Jeanne Ruddy and Dancers and Rennie Harris Puremovement with performance, office, and rehearsal/educational facilities, as well as provide a small performance space and studios that might be used periodically by other dance companies. Architects at Kieran Timberlake Associates and consultant Christopher Buckley will collaborate to design site plans, cost estimates, and a phasing strategy for renovations of these structures.

Village of Arts and Humanities, Inc.
Philadelphia
$10,000
To support a process to develop a comprehensive visual design for renewing several blocks of a commercial district on Germantown Avenue in North Central Philadelphia. Partnering with the Urban Design Workshop at Temple University and the Germantown/Lehigh Avenue Merchants' Association, the Village of Arts and Humanities will conduct neighborhood design charettes to create plans for signage, storefront renovations, and green spaces. The project will provide cohesive images, standards, and a methodology for using arts and culture to revitalize the community and thereby increase the area's readiness for inclusion in city-wide development strategies.

SOUTH CAROLINA

Arts Council of Greenwood County, Inc.
Greenwood
$10,000
To support the development of a design for the renovation of the Federal Building in downtown Greenwood for use as an arts and visitors' center. This project will result in the completion of construction documents for the renovation of a 26,000-square-foot historic federal property that will create a downtown cultural campus in conjunction with the neighboring Greenwood Community Theatre and The Museum. DSP Architects of Greenwood has been selected to design workshops, storage, dressing rooms, visitor facilities, offices, and other areas in the building.

Greenville Symphony Association
Greenville
$10,000
To support a planning process to explore methods for delivering multidisciplinary arts education programs to families in newly created affordable housing. This project will conduct focus groups and surveys to determine the arts activities of interest to the predominantly African-American community resettled in the Viola Street neighborhood. With consultation the Urban League, the symphony will partner with Carolina Ballet Theatre and the Warehouse Theatre in an effort to design programs that will encourage the participants' personal growth and increase their involvement in the community.

TENNESSEE

Arts Center of Cannon County
Woodbury
$10,000
To support development and promotion of a 50-mile driving tour that will highlight the work of more than 70 contemporary and traditional craft artists. The primary focus of this project is to produce color brochures that outline a driving trail to area craft galleries, artists' studios, and craft events. Also, the project will distribute the materials through principle tourist locations in the state. The Arts Center of Cannon County and the Appalachian Center for Craft are the major partners for this project.

Jubilee Community Arts, Inc.
Knoxville
$10,000
To support research and production of a guide to dance and music events in the eastern Tennessee valley. Project staff will document community performances of traditional music and dance and prepare a color brochure that will feature a map, historical information, event calendar, and a section that addresses issues host artists might anticipate in dealing with new visitors. The Tennessee Overhill Heritage Association will partner to identify events and assist in the design and distribution of the brochures.

TEXAS

City of Austin
Austin
$10,000
To support the implementation phase of a plan to market Austin as a cultural tourist destination through the media, a Web site, and event packaging. Project activities include fine-tuning the overall public relations message, creating and launching television and newspaper campaigns, launching a Web site, developing tour packages with the assistance of the Austin Convention & Visitors Bureau, and creating and distributing print materials.

City of San Antonio, Office of Cultural Affairs
San Antonio
$10,000
To support a cultural planning process that will result in strategies to enhance cultural resources and services in San Antonio. The Office of Cultural Affairs will hire consultants to research resources, needs, and economic data; conduct public forums and advisory meetings in various communities; and distribute the plan to collect feedback concerning audience and resource development, collaborations, and economic development. This project builds on a preliminary study that assessed pervasive needs within the diverse, largely Hispanic-American community.

South Texas Institute for the Arts
Corpus Christi
$10,000
To support preparation of architectural drawings for a family-themed arts park at the Antonio E. Garcia Arts Education Center. This project will ensure the use of the space around the neighborhood center as a venue for music, dance, educational programs, and social activities that complement the Center's community programming. Landscape architect Robert Gignac will produce the plans for the arts park.

UTAH

Orchestra of Southern Utah
Cedar City
$10,000
To support a festival of music training and performance by regional choirs that includes outreach to youth and ethnic groups in southern Utah. A choral clinician will critique singers and musicians from school and adult choirs. As well, the clinician will conduct workshops in choral practices and offer clinics on music of diverse cultures. A final concert will combine talents to present a program reflecting the theme of international music diversity. The festival will help establish tourist events in the new Heritage Center, in an effort to increase cultural activity in southern Utah.

VERMONT

Bennington Museum, Inc.
Bennington
$10,000
To support developing a master plan for the campus of the Bennington Museum in an effort to improve community access to facilities and programming. The goal of the project is to increase visibility for the museum as a central resource to regional community life. In conjunction with the architecture firm, Breadloaf Corporation, the museum will evaluate current structures and their use, traffic flow and parking, and overall programming to produce a comprehensive plan that estimates costs and schedules changes to the museum's facilities.

VIRGINIA

City of Suffolk
Suffolk
$10,000
To support the development of a landscape design for the Suffolk Center for Cultural Arts. The project will provide designs for landscaping around a historically significant landmark, the Suffolk High School, currently being renovated as a multidisciplinary arts and community center. The new center will house a theater, restaurant, a school museum, galleries, technology labs, and various visual arts studios and rehearsal and workshop spaces. The center represents a public/private partnership consisting of City of Suffolk government, the Fine Arts Commission, and the Suffolk Center for the Cultural Arts Foundation.

Longwood College Foundation, Inc.
Farmville
$10,000
To support a design study for renovations to the 1960s department store now used by the Longwood Center for the Visual Arts. The architectural firm of Glave & Holmes Associates will conduct interviews and discussion sessions in order to produce designs for a master plan for the facility. The design renovations will provide space for educational and other arts activities for an underserved, rural community of Virginia.

Signature Theatre, Inc.
Arlington
$10,000
To support the completion of designs for a new theatre facility on the top two floors of a public library being built in Arlington. This project covers the final phase of designing and supplying construction documents for office, rehearsal, workshop, and performance spaces, as well as room for costume and technical shops. VOA Associates will finalize the design project in a building shell provided by Arlington County, in conjunction with the new library facility that occupies the first floor.

Virginia Arts Festival, Inc.
Norfolk
$10,000
To support promotion and professional performances at the annual Virginia Arts Festival. In addition to paying artist fees, this project will publicize the Festival Getaway travel packages that connect visitors with lodging and shopping services as well as arts events and other attractions in the Norfolk area. Partners include the Norfolk Convention & Visitors Bureau, the City of Portsmouth, MacArthur Center, and American Express.

WASHINGTON

Historic Seattle Preservation and Development Authority
Seattle
$10,000
To support feasibility studies for possible adaptive reuse to preserve a historic church in downtown Seattle, now slated for demolition. This project will convene workshops with architects, engineers, developers, and real estate experts to explore the feasibility of financially viable reuse and provide the results to the congregation of the First United Methodist Church, potential developers, and the general public. Organizations interested in partnering in the effort to save the building include the National Trust for Historic Preservation, the League of Women's Voters, and a Seattle committee of the American Institute of Architects.

WISCONSIN

Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra, Inc.
Madison
$10,000
To support presentation and promotion of Concerts on the Square, a series of free outdoor, after-work concerts on the Wisconsin capitol grounds. The concerts take place on the steps of the state Capitol building over six weeks in the summer and provide a downtown destination for approximately 120,000 attendees. The State of Wisconsin and City of Madison both supply grounds maintenance, security, parking, and other services, and the local hospitality industry provides lodging for guest artists, transportation, and promotion of the events.

TOTAL GRANTS: 86
TOTAL DOLLARS: $860,000

National Endowment for the Arts
webmgr@arts.endow.gov