Poughkeepsie Journal: 30 Arts Projects Awarded $48,000 in Grants

Written by

Nina Schutzman

Poughkeepsie Journal

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• Dutchess County Arts Council
• Andrew Cuomo
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Meredith Heuer of Beacon, a photographer, walks up to receive her grant as the Dutchess County Arts Council presents grants Monday at the Cunneen-Hackett Arts Center in the City of Poughkeepsie. / Karl Rabe/Poughkeepsie Journal

2013 Grants

Community-based projects: Beacon Independent Film Festival, Beacon Open Studios, La Guelaguetza, Half Moon Theatre’s New Play Festival, Millbrook Free Library’s “Around the World in Three Nights,” New Year’s Eve Millbrook, Art the Market (Millerton farmers market), R.E.A.L. Skills Hip-Hop Theater, Somos la Llave’s “La Kermes de la Cosecha” (Harvest Festival), La Voz Magazine, The Wassaic Project Summer Arts Education Workshops, Amenia Free Dance Program, Tivoli Street Painting Festival, Catskill Ballet Theatre, Ellenville Public Library’s “Building Community Through the Arts,” Kingston Teen Art Lab at Kingston Library, Olive Free Library, Rosendale Theatre Collective’s “Sunday Silents,” Saugerties Artist Studio Tour, Stone Ridge Library, Ulster Ballet Company, the 10th annual Wall Street Jazz Festival and the Tangent Theatre's

Arts Education Grants support in-school residencies by artists and/or cultural organizations, and focus on sequential, skill based knowledge. Four projects were approved for funding for the fall of 2013. Artists/Organizations funded are: Jelena Vadanjel Doukas at Alden Place Elementary School, Millbrook; Esopus Chamber Orchestra at Marbletown Elementary School; Brian Schorn, at Netherwood Elementary School; and The Wassaic Project at Webutuck Elementary School.

Individual Artist Tier grant: Meredith Heuer's "Beacon Portrait Project"

Funds for these grants come from the Decentralization Program a regrant program of the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature and administered by the Dutchess County Arts Council. The Arts Council has administered Dutchess County Project Grants since 1979 and the Ulster County Decentralization program since 1988. The grant guidelines and applications for FY2014 will be posted mid-July, and will available for projects occurring in Dutchess, Ulster and Orange Counties during 2014.

About Dutchess County Arts Council

The Dutchess County Arts Council, founded in 1964, is a non-profit arts service organization dedicated to providing vision and leadership to support thriving and diverse arts in the Mid-Hudson Valley. During 2013 our name will change to Arts Mid-Hudson, to reflect our regional service area.

Programs and activities include: grants to established organizations, community based projects and Arts in Education programs; folk arts research and presentation; technical assistance, professional development, and cultural community networking opportunities; awareness and advocacy; and regional fundraising efforts for the arts. Programs are funded by the County of Dutchess, County of Ulster, the New York State Council on the Arts, and private donors.
Website: http://www.artsmidhudson.org
Dutchess County Arts Council

Linda Marston-Reid
President
email: lmr@artsmidhudson.org
phone: 845-454-3222

Eve Madalengoitia
Director of Programs and Arts Services
email: evem@artsmidhudson.org
phone: 845-454-3222
Arts education grants: Jelena Vadanjel Doukas at Alden Place Elementary School, Millbrook; Esopus Chamber Orchestra at Marbletown Elementary School; Brian Schorn at Netherwood Elementary School; and The Wassaic Project at Webutuck Elementary School
Individual Artist Tier grant: Meredith Heuer

Video

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Video: 30 Arts Projects Awarded $48,000 in Grants

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Grants awarded by the nonprofit Dutchess County Arts Council will help recognize “values and treasures” in different Hudson Valley neighborhoods by bringing funding to local art projects, council President Linda Marston-Reid said.

Thirty projects in Dutchess and Ulster counties were given $48,000 during a ceremony Monday afternoon at Cunneen-Hackett Arts Center in the City of Poughkeepsie.

Of the 30 projects, 25 are community programs, which represent a wide variety of mediums such as dance, theater and visual art. They should reach an estimated 22,000 people, Marston-Reid said.

Grants are through the Decentralization Program, a “regrant” program of the New York State Council on the Arts, administered by the Dutchess County Arts Council.

“They believe our region should decide how to use them,” Marston-Reid said.

Projects are awarded with grants after being chosen by a community panel, which then recommends them to the arts council board, said Eve Madalengoitia, director of programs and arts services.

Meredith Heuer of Beacon was awarded the individual artist tier grant for $2,500 to continue working on the “Beacon Portrait Project.”

She’s taken 99 portraits of Beacon residents in their homes since she started working on the project four years ago.

“One person I take a portrait of will recommend another person,” Heuer said. “I think the method is good ... when we’re working we’ll be talking about what we like about Beacon.”

She said she hopes a gallery exhibit of her work in October will bring her subjects together.

Marston-Reid said that’s an example of how the projects bring the community together.

“Meredith’s project makes us recognize that there are all different people in our community and there’s a rich tapestry,” Marston-Reid said. “We are very pleased that the governor (Andrew Cuomo) sees value in the arts because it brings people to the region and it keeps them here.”

This year, the council’s name will officially change to Arts Mid-Hudson, the organization announced.

It will expand from covering Dutchess and Ulster counties to begin working in Orange County in 2014.

Nina Schutzman: nschutzman@poughkeepsiejournal.com, 845-451-4518 Twitter: @pojonschutzman

Via the Poughkeepsie Journal (link)