WASHINGTON, D.C.–U.S. Senators Olympia J. Snowe (R-ME) and Susan Collins (R-ME) today announced that the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) has awarded groups throughout Maine 11 grants totaling $794,000 for artistic endeavors.
“This funding from the National Endowment for the Arts will benefit and enrich the lives of Mainers from all walks of life. Grants awarded by the NEA provide invaluable opportunities for residents throughout our great state to view and appreciate artistic displays and endeavors,” said Snowe and Collins in a joint statement.
The funding is distributed as follows:
• $8,000 to the Maine Arts Commission in Augusta to support state participation in the Poetry Out Loud: National Recitation Contest as well as state-level finals
• $20,000 to the Maine Arts Commission to support the Community Folklorist-in-Residence, the Traditional Arts Apprenticeship, and the pilot Sustaining Community Traditions programs, which are designed to bring recognition to local artistic traditions and to support those practicing them
• $627,000 to the Maine Arts Commission to support Partnership Agreement activities
• $15,000 to the Maine Writers & Publishers Alliance in Bath to support a variety of services for professional writers throughout the state, including a community Web site, one-on-one mentoring, a regional writing conference, and Maine in Print, an anthology of Maine authors and publishers
• $10,000 to the Bowdoin Summer Music Festival, Inc. in Brunswick to support a celebration of the 250th anniversary of the birth of Mozart
• $10,000 to the Figures of Speech Theatre in Freeport to support the Rural Maine Initiative, allowing the company to perform for underserved young audiences and families throughout the state
• $10,000 to the Watershed Center for the Ceramic Arts in Newcastle to support a symposium series to expand the public’s knowledge of contemporary ceramics
• $45,000 to the Portland Museum of Art to support Artful Assessment: Looking to Learn and Student Achievement, which will increase access to the museum’s collection for students in the 3rd to 5th grades and help teachers design and implement new methods of assessment in the arts
• $10,000 to Cultural Resources, Inc. in Rockport to support a Creative Community Workbook, a training manual to focus on fieldwork, asset-based planning, community organizing, cultural tourism, and ethnographic marketing
• $14,000 to the Maine School Administrative District #37 in Harrington (in collaboration with SAD #77 in East Machias) to support the Coastal Summer Celebration of the Arts, a three-week, multidisciplinary summer program for 5th to 8th graders
• $25,000 to the Maine Indian Basketmakers Alliance in Old Town for a Traditional Arts Apprenticeship Program, which will support basketmakers and apprentices in the ancient traditions of ash and sweetgrass basketry among the Maliseet, Passamaquoddy, and Penobscot tribes of Maine
National Endowment for the Arts matching grants help support projects that involve the creation and presentation of artistically excellent work- both new and established. Projects include commissions, residencies, rehearsals, workshops, performances, exhibitions, publications, festivals and training programs. Grants from the National Endowment for the Arts generate, on average, seven dollars for each dollar awarded.
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