Online resources exploring the work of Alfred Stieglitz, production costs for the Oxford American magazine and a visual arts residency with a nationally known paper sculptor are among the projects in Arkansas to be funded with National Endowment for the Arts grants.
In all, 10 recipients in Arkansas will receive a total of $230,000 in the first round of awards for fiscal year 2023, the National Endowment for the Arts announced. Nationally, more than $34 million in funding to support the arts is being distributed in the first of the National Endowment for the Arts' two major grant announcements.
In Arkansas, Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville is getting the largest amount -- $50,000. The grant will support a catalogue and online resources exploring the Alfred Stieglitz Collection, a group of 101 objects co-owned by Fisk University, a historically Black university in Nashville, Tenn., and Crystal Bridges.
"Working in partnership, the museum and university will tell the story of Stieglitz, Georgia O'Keeffe and other key modernists exploring themes of race, education and geography," Amanda Horn of Crystal Bridges said in an email. "The project will present an inclusive approach to reconsidering the legacies of major American artists. The publication and website will foreground new archival discoveries and foster future research on the collection's history, individual objects and art at Fisk."
The Oxford American Literary Project, which is based in Conway, will receive $25,000 to support the production and distribution of four print issues of the Oxford American magazine and support efforts to distribute 500-plus copies of each issue free to Southern writing programs and library programs for incarcerated people. The NEA grant will also support digital-first efforts, including the publication of web-exclusive editions, book excerpts and short films.
The University of Central Arkansas in Conway is receiving $30,000 to support a three-month visual art residency with nationally known Haitian-born paper sculptor Fabiola Jean-Louis. During the residency, Jean-Louis will collaborate with UCA and Morrilton High School students to create the Brooklyn, N.Y.-based artist's next major body of work -- an immersive mausoleum sculpture made of paper clay.
The interior walls of the structure will contain artifacts made by student collaborators. The work will also feature one of Jean-Louis' signature couture sculptures made of sheet paper. Tawny Chatmon, a photography-based artist from Maryland, will also contribute to the project. Chatmon will work with families of students at Dunbar Magnet Middle School in Little Rock to help them create photography-based art combined with other media such as paint and gold leaf. Jean-Louis' project will include paper and paper pulp donated from the Arkansas Kraft Division of Green Bay Packaging in Morrilton.
A $25,000 grant went to the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville. The University of Arkansas Libraries will use the funds for the Arkansas Folk and Traditional Arts' Community Scholars Program, a statewide outreach program that provides free training across the state centered on equipping and empowering Arkansas communities to document, present and sustain their traditional culture and arts.
The Arkansas Folk and Traditional Arts' Community Scholars Program is in its second year. Previous training locations included Fayetteville in Northwest Arkansas, Pocahontas in Northeast Arkansas and Fox, an unincorporated area in Stone County, 21 miles west-southwest of Mountain View. Mountain View has a tradition of preserving folk music and culture.
Meadowcreek Inc., a nonprofit organization in Fox, received $10,000. The organization explores ways people can make a living in a remote area while sustaining the area's natural resources. Meadowcreek also offers lodging and activities for visitors. Plans for the funds are to support the artists in residence program, Concert In the Barn series and the Old-Time For All festival.
The Southwest Arkansas Arts Council, Inc., in Hope received $10,000 for its Theater Outreach Project, which is designed to target area public schools without a drama program to provide training for and production of theater projects by school-age students. A project coordinator will recruit students to learn character parts, design and construct stages for drama productions.
The Theater Outreach Project will use the following activities to enhance the development of language arts of students in fourth through 12th grade and teach them dramatic skills and script writing, said Jennifer Block, the executive director of the Southwest Arkansas Arts Council.
Fourth grade students will begin with script writing classes under the instruction of Chris Espinoza, the Arkansas Arts Council's teaching artist. For one week, Espinoza will teach script writing fundamentals and lead classes to develop a 45-minute screenplay.
Following the initial week, students will learn and rehearse blocking/stage movements, costuming/props, set design/prop arrangement for non-actors and tech set-up/lighting and sound.
After instruction and practice, two performances will be scheduled, one for students and the other for parents and the community.
Other recipients were:
• Alex Foundation, $10,000, Dermott. The mission of the Alex Foundation is to engage students to consider careers and entrepreneurial opportunities in architecture and design through mentoring, strengthening their capacity and supporting their educational attainment and continued advancement to meet domestic and global challenges.
• TheatreSquared, Inc., $30,000, Fayetteville. TheatreSquared is a theater company that hires professional actors from across the country, presents new plays and partners with schools in different regions of Arkansas. It also has a number of diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives.
• Sonny Boy Blues Society, $30,000, Helena-West Helena. The Society, a nonprofit established in 1987, promotes and preserves the cultural heritage of the Delta Blues and organizes the King Biscuit Blues Festival in October.
• Chamber Music Society of Little Rock, $10,000, Little Rock. The organization schedules concerts and conducts educational outreach programs such as the Society's One Voice program, a collaboration between Central Arkansas high schools, colleges and after-school programs to bring international classical musicians to Little Rock for public concerts and student outreach activities. Activities have included master classes, workshops and mini-concerts. The Society has been around for 70 years.