National Endowment for the Arts gives 12 metro groups $235K

As part of its 2015-16 season, the Center for Puppetry Arts will mount a world premiere adaption of the popular children's book Click, Clack, Moo: Cows That Type. The run is June 9-July 26. CONTRIBUTED BY CENTER FOR PUPPETRY ARTS

Credit: hpousner

Credit: hpousner

As part of its 2015-16 season, the Center for Puppetry Arts will mount a world premiere adaption of the popular children's book Click, Clack, Moo: Cows That Type. The run is June 9-July 26. CONTRIBUTED BY CENTER FOR PUPPETRY ARTS

The National Endowment for the Arts’ has made its second major grant announcement of fiscal year 2015.

In this round, metro Atlanta arts groups received 12 grants totaling $235,000 in project support. The NEA also distributed $2.36 million to the state and regional partner organization that also provide funding for Atlanta arts organization.

In the second round, the NEA is making 1,023 awards totaling more than $74 million to nonprofit arts organizations in all 50 states plus five U.S. jurisdictions. Funding in this round is awarded through the NEA’s Art Works and State and Regional Partnerships grant categories.

“The NEA is committed to advancing learning, fueling creativity, and celebrating the arts in cities and towns across the United States," NEA Chairman Jane Chu said in a statement. "Funding these new projects represents a significant investment in both local communities and our nation’s creative vitality.”

Here is the list of metro-based organizations receiving federal arts support, provided by the NEA:*

Alternate ROOTS, Inc. (aka ROOTS)

$35,000

Atlanta

Field/Discipline: Presenting & Multidisciplinary Works

To support an initiative examining community-based art and art-making. ROOTS will partner with member artists and grassroots artists or organizations to explore the roles of aesthetics, transformation, and organizing in the community

art-making process. Ideas for the art and implementation of the projects will spring from the artists and their communities.

C4 Atlanta Inc (aka C4)

$10,000

Atlanta

Field/Discipline: Presenting & Multidisciplinary Works

To support Artists in the Marketplace (AIM) and related activities.

AIM instructors will teach artists how to develop their customer base as well as understand price, product, place, marketing, and promotion tactics. The class will be designed with the assumption that artist participants may have limited marketing dollars to spend. Past participating artists have included musicians, performance artists, arts administrators, and muralists.

Center for Puppetry Arts (aka Center for Puppetry Arts)

$30,000

Atlanta

Field/Discipline:Theater & Musical Theater

To support the production of "Click, Clack, Moo: Cows that Type." Artistic Director Jon Ludwig will adapt and direct an original puppetry version of Doreen Cronin's children's book with illustrations by Betsy Lewin. The fully staged production, appropriate for ages 3 and up, will feature live music and will explore themes such as farm life, life cycles of

plants and animals, and healthy eating habits.

Savannah artist Marcus Kenney transforms a dumpster into a visual arts environment called "Timeline" using found objects on Forsyth Street in October 2014 as part of the annual "Elevate" program. The "Dumpsters" project, involving 20 artists that have been given 10 big metal trash receptacles to create a work of public art, will be part of this year's Elevate, the Office of Cultural Affairs' free week-long public art event from Oct. 17-23. CURTIS COMPTON / CCOMPTON@AJC.COM

Credit: hpousner

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Credit: hpousner

City of Atlanta, Georgia (aka Office of Cultural Affairs)

$25,000

Atlanta

Field/Discipline: Local Arts Agencies

To support Elevate, a public art exhibition program with related programming. Commissioned artists will present large-scale art works in public spaces. Presented annually in central downtown Atlanta, Elevate will expose audiences to visual, performance, digital, and installation art works in accessible public venues. Local, national, and international artists will be selected for participation through an RFP submission proces s to create public art installations, gallery

exhibits, concerts, and dance performances in various city venues.

Horizon Theatre Company, Inc. (aka Horizon Theatre Company)

$25,000

Atlanta

Field/Discipline: Theater & Musical Theater

To support the New South Young Playwrights Festival. Competitively selected writers will be invited to participate in an admission-free, week-long playwriting intensive that will culminate in a public reading of the students' works in a festival setting. The project will focus on developing the next generation of theater artists and patrons.

National Black Arts Festival, Inc. (aka NBAF)

$20,000

Atlanta

Field/Discipline: Dance

To support the presentation of the tap duo The Manzari Brothers.

This will be the Manzaris' first evening-length work and they will collaborate with choreographer Anthony Morigerato on creating the steps, drawing influence from the forefathers of the tap genre. Music director and composer Joe Morra will use both live and recorded music to score the work. In conjunction with the performances, the Manzaris will teach a master class to aspiring young dancers as part of

NBAF's The Generations Project.

UNIMA-USA

$10,000

Atlanta

Field/Discipline: Theater & Musical Theater

To support the publication of "Puppetry International" magazine, a resource website, and electronic communication services for the puppetry field. UNIMA-USA is the North American Center of Union Internationale de la Marionnette (UNIMA). "Puppetry International" magazine informs and educates the field through scholarly writings on puppetry in theater, film, and media. The organization's website and electronic communication services are home to the "Puppetry

Yellow Pages," a comprehensive resource guide to U.S.

Serenbe Institute for Art, Culture and the Environment (aka Serenbe Institute, Serenbe Playhouse) (On behalf of

Serenbe Playhouse)

$10,000

Chattahoochee Hills

Field/Discipline: Theater & Musical Theater

To support a production of "Evita" with music by Andrew Lloyd Webber and lyrics by Tim Rice at the Serenbe Playhouse. Performed outdoors in the playhouse's signature site-specific style, the musical will reimagine Evita Peron's journey from poverty to political power, using the natural backdrops of the hill country south of Atl

anta. The production will be directed by Founding Artistic Director Brian Clowdus.

Urban Youth Harp Ensemble, Inc. (aka UYHE)

$20,000

East Point

Field/Discipline: Arts Education

To support harp instruction, music theory, and music history classes to students at Drew Charter School in Atlanta. Students will study harp technique, music theory, and music history and will have the opportunity to perform solo, in duos, and in small ensembles in the community throughout the year. Qualified advanced students

will have the opportunity to audition for area orchestras such as the Atlanta Symphony Youth Orchestra and Emory University Youth

Orchestra as well as summer programs such as Interlochen and Tanglewood. Harp students also will have the opportunity to see p

rofessional music performances in the Atlanta region.

Phoenix Theatre Academy, Inc. (aka Academy Theatre)

$10,000

Hapeville

Field/Discipline: Theater & Musical Theater

To support the creation, production, and regional tour of "The Sunrise of AIDS" by the Academy Theatre. The play tells the story of a grandmother who discovers that she is HIV-positive, and follows the effects that her discovery has on her daughter and granddaughters. Exploring preconceived notions about who gets HIV and how, the work will raise awareness of the increase in AIDS infections in Americans 55 years and older.

Kennesaw State University Research & Service Foundation (On behalf of Zuckerman Museum of Art)

$20,000

Kennesaw

Field/Discipline: Museum

To support the exhibition, "Transitions." The Zuckerman Museum of Art will present early 20th-century Congolese ivories from its permanent collection alongside work by contemporary artists such as Amy Pleasant, Danielle Roney, Lewis deSoto, Richard Misrach, Louise Lawler, Yinka Shonibare, Mark Dion, and Alexis Rockman in an investigation about borders and boundaries, global economics, hunting, collecting, conservation, tourism, and the souvenir industry. A series of lectures, gallery guides, and a catalogue will complement the exhibition series.

Aurora Theatre, Inc. (aka Aurora Theatre)

$20,000

Lawrenceville

Field/Discipline: Theater & Musical Theater

To support the Teatro del Sol Program. A Spanish-language theater initiative will present classic and contemporary Latino plays in

Spanish with English supertitles. The project will reach across linguistic and cultural barriers to entertain an underserved Latino community, and will strive to bridge the gap between English-

speaking and Spanish-speaking families. Community engagement activities may include concerts by Latino artists, literary nights featuring Latino authors, and a play by a Spanish playwright. A significant effort will be made to highlight and employ more Latino artists by auditioning both locally and nationally.

SUPPORT FOR NEA PARTNER ORGANIZATIONS:

Georgia Department of Economic Development, Georgia Council for the Arts

$737,300

Atlanta

Field/Discipline: State & Regional

To support Partnership Agreement activities.

South Arts Inc. (aka formerly, Southern Arts Federation, Inc.)

$1,397,500

Atlanta

Field/Discipline: State & Regional

To support Partnership Agreement activities

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

is current as of April 17, 2015.