Sixth straight year that nonprofit has increased total amount granted to support arts and culture
January 3, 2022 (Cape Cod, MA) – The Arts Foundation of Cape Cod (AFCC) has selected 42 cultural nonprofits and artists as part of its latest round of grant funding. In total, the AFCC awarded $77,800, representing the sixth straight year it has increased the amount granted in support of arts and culture in the region.
Last year, the nonprofit awarded $51,500 in grants to 16 cultural organizations across the region.
“This funding provides critical assistance to arts organizations, programs, events, and projects that not only offer cultural enrichment, but healing, connection, and access to individuals of all backgrounds and abilities,” said AFCC Executive Director Julie Wake. “It’s funding that is needed by an industry that is vital to our economy and which is still facing the negative impacts of the pandemic. We look forward to standing with our fellow arts organizations and artists as we take meaningful steps to addressing these impacts and moving towards a long-term, sustainable recovery for our sector.”
A nine-person committee consisting of AFCC staff, board members, and community leaders reviewed a total of 56 grant applications which sought over $102,000 in funding.
As part of the review process, the committee qualified and prioritized funding criteria by confirming the application aligned with the AFCC’s vision to support the arts on Cape Cod to fuel culture and innovation, economic growth, and involvement in the arts community. Priority was placed on programs and projects that introduce new ideas, building on what is known to benefit the community; creates greater opportunities for artists and serves as an economic driver for the region; and expands opportunities for arts access throughout the community while supporting cultural appreciation and inclusivity.
Projects funded include new ones created in response to the pandemic like the Provincetown Film Society’s move this past summer to add free outdoor screenings to its programming, allowing the public to safely enjoy the power and impact of the cinema. The AFCC awarded the society $2,500 to continue these screenings at MacMillan Pier in 2022.
“It is meaningful to have the support of the Arts Foundation to help us continue this new program which was successful this year and which we want to continue moving forward with in the summers,” said Provincetown Film Society Interim Executive Director Anne Hubbell. “It is helpful to us to not only receive this money, but to have this recognition locally. To be recognized by the Arts Foundation of Cape Cod as an important cultural institution and have this resource available to us is extra special.”
At the other end of the Cape at the College Light Opera Company (CLOC) in Falmouth, a $2,500 grant will be used to help fund the theatre’s five second stage performances, including one to celebrate Juneteenth on June 19, in which its full orchestra will perform free outdoor shows for the public. Next summer will mark a return to this concert series which has been postponed the past two years due to the pandemic.
CLOC Executive and Artistic Director Mark Pearson expressed gratitude for the financial assistance provided by the AFCC, especially after the events of the past two years impacted his nonprofit which brings college-aged students from throughout the country to Falmouth to produce nine theatrical shows each summer at Highfield Theatre. “It is important in any year, but especially this year,” he said. “We didn’t have any source of ticket revenue two years ago and this summer, we were just under 50 percent capacity so it limited our ability to earn money though we feel really good and are in a healthy financial situation now, all things considered.”
He credited the AFCC for serving as an umbrella organization that supports “a complicated ecosystem of arts organizations on Cape Cod. What is great about the Arts Foundation is it is a perfect scale for Cape Cod which is a very unique geographic area that has unique challenges. You want an organization like the Arts Foundation that not only understands these challenges, but understands the relationships that exist between artists and arts organizations in our area.”
All recipients for this round of funding are:
- Alzheimer’s Family Support Center of Cape Cod ($2,000) – Musical Souvenirs for Memory Loss, a monthly program in which the Cape Cod Chamber Orchestra partners with the Dennis Council on Aging to provide a musical outlet for adults living with Alzheimer’s and dementia-related diseases.
- The Awareness Project ($1,500) – An event that educates and entertains attendees about the benefits of mindfulness through live artistic performances and art-based workshops.
- Beyond the Bounds ($1,500) – A 2022 concert series, combining original compositions and choreography, to be held at several outdoor spaces on Cape Cod. Concerts will include relevant modern-day themes, including climate change, coastal erosion, and environmental sustainability.
- Cahoon Museum of American Art ($1,250) – A mobile art cart which will serve as an educational tool and provide an immersive hands-on experience for patrons to better understand museum exhibits.
- Cape Cod Art Association ($2,400) – An art program for Hispanic and Portuguese youth in Barnstable County.
- Cape Cod Chamber Music Festival ($2,500) – A series of nine public concerts that will take place in Wellfleet, Eastham, Cotuit, Dennis, and Chatham during the summer of 2022.
- Cape Cod Chamber Orchestra ($2,000) – In collaboration with Wild Care Cape Cod, the orchestra will present a concert featuring music inspired by avian life as well as a live-bird experience prior to the performance.
- Cape Cod Collaborative Arts Network ($3,000) – Color the World Beautiful… with Teens, an adult visual and literary arts initiative centered on creating beauty, hope, unity, and promoting diversity for students between the ages of 13 and 19.
- Cape Cod Museum of Art ($2,500) – The Cape Cod Open Sculpture Invitational which will consist of juror-chosen sculptures displayed outdoors on the campus of the Cape Cod Center for the Arts in Dennis, from May to late October 2022.
- Cape Cod Surftones ($250) – A Youth-In-Harmony Program in which the Surftones work with a quartet of high school singers to learn and perform a capella songs.
- Cape Symphony ($3,000) – Link Up, a unique, interactive and engaging year-long educational program that offers students in third through fifth grade the chance to learn and perform an orchestral repertoire and to take part in composing their own melodies inspired by their studies.
- Capoeira Besouro Cape Cod ($1,200) – Year-round capoeira (Afro-Brazilian martial art that involves music, movement, and singing) classes offered at Nauset Fit Co. in Orleans.
- College Light Opera Company ($2,500) Five second stage performances, including one to celebrate Juneteenth on June 19, in which its full orchestra will perform free outdoor shows for the public.
- Cultural Center of Cape Cod ($1,200) – The Launchpad Project will engage 18 Cape and Islands performing artists who will open for established performers that are hosted by the Cultural Center in 2022. The project will also work with students at the Riverview School on an exhibition featuring original work that will be open to the public from June 7-June 18, 2022.
- Dennis-Yarmouth Regional High School Music Department ($2,800) – Extra instruction in the form of private and semi-private ensemble group lessons for high school students.
- Falmouth Art Center ($1,500) – Free clay classes for individuals living with Alzheimer’s disease.
- Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown ($2,500) – A relaunch of the center’s Winter Events Series of public readings, artist talks, and gallery openings along the Outer Cape.
- Heritage Museums & Gardens ($3,500) – Treasured Trash, an outdoor exhibit which will open in 2022 and feature sculptures made from trash and recycled materials.
- Highfield Hall & Gardens ($1,250) – Collectors Collecting Collections, an exhibit highlighting the varied aspects of collecting, focusing on everything from the natural world (plants) to souvenirs to clothing to sports memorabilia to books and textiles.
- Hyannis Public Library ($1,000) – A free multicultural story series, held in May and June 2022, that will include bilingual StoryWalks along Hyannis’ Walkway to the Sea to Hyannis Harbor.
- John F. Kennedy Hyannis Museum ($1,250) – A framework that will identify augmented online experiences to be implemented by the museum.
- Judith Partelow ($5,000) – An original play on the impact of racism in our community and society.
- Ken Field ($2,500) – A 75-minute music and spoken word performance based on the poetry of African American award-winning writer and musician Charles Coe.
- Kim Rumberger ($1,400) – The continuation of a project to install plant markers, created by Kim Rumberger’s metal clay students, on the grounds of the Cape Cod Museum of Art.
- Lower Cape Television ($1,000) – A short documentary on artist Edward Hopper and his influence on arts and culture on Cape Cod.
- Mashpee Public Schools ($2,500) – An arts-in-education residency featuring Bronx-born bassist Alex Torres and his Latin orchestra that will include instrumental workshops and cultural lessons.
- MassHire Cape & Islands Workforce Board ($2,500) – ArtWorks Program which provides mentorship and internship opportunities for Cape Cod high school sophomores, juniors, and seniors.
- Movimento Project ($500) – An all-ages contemporary dance show to be performed in Barnstable that will feature choreographic explorations of all sorts, sizes, and variations.
- MusArt Interconnections ($300) – Multimedia concerts at the Cape Cod Museum of Art created and curated by pianist Ana Glig.
- Musical Discoveries ($500) – Music curriculum that will be offered to staff, children, and families served by the U.S. Coast Guard Child Development Center on Joint Base Cape Cod.
- Out Late with Diana Di Gioia ($1,200) – A series of concerts created in collaboration with local community groups on the Lower, Upper, and Mid-Cape.
- Provincetown Art Association and Museum ($2,500) – Converting the museum’s Life Drawing studio into a hybrid classroom to offer both in-person and virtual classes.
- Provincetown Film Society ($2,500) – Free outdoor screenings on MacMillan Pier allowing the public to safely enjoy the power and impact of the cinema.
- Shelby Allen ($800) – An original play “Not Done Yet,” about aging, to be performed at Falmouth Public Library and to air on Falmouth Community Television.
- Sturgis Library ($1,000) – A four-week digital poetry class run by award-winning and notable instructors.
- Sturgis Public Charter School ($1,000) – A Music Production Lab to allow students to develop their music portfolios; assist in the production needs of the school’s drama department; and create opportunities for extracurricular projects and student-run clubs.
- Truro Center for the Arts at Castle Hill ($3,000) – The 15th Annual International Encaustics Conference, to be held June 3-5, 2022, with pre-conference workshops from May 31-June 2 and post-conference workshops from June 6-10.
- Twenty Summers ($2,500) – A special summer outdoor concert series at Truro Vineyards that will showcase local, BIPOC, and LGBTQ musicians and performers from across the country.
- Veterans For Peace ($500) – The 27th Annual Voices of Peace Poetry Contest which starts in January and concludes in April during National Poetry Month.
- Wellfleet Harbor Actors Theater ($2,500) – A Youth Playwrights Workshop which amplifies the voices of young playwrights through the development and workshopping of short plays.
- Wellfleet Preservation Hall ($1,000) – Community Consenses, a project in which students create a visual interpretation of a word or concept which is then passed onto a local artist to interpret into their medium which is then passed onto other artists to interpret in other mediums. Several of these chains will be completed representing different modalities and senses, including visual, auditory, olfactory, sensation/touch, taste, and movement.
- Woods Hole Film Festival ($2,500) – The 31st Annual Woods Hole Film Festival which runs from July 30 through August 6, 2022, and will help fund its Filmmaker in Residence Program; the Woods Hole Film and Science Initiative between the festival and Woods Hole scientific institutions; and the continuation and expansion of its Virtual Festival component.
At the start of the new year, the AFCC will be announcing details of two additional rounds of grant funding, including one for individual artists and special projects that support the Cape community and creative economy.
The other round will be specifically geared towards cultural organizations through a $150,000 National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) grant the AFCC received this year. This federal funding will be used specifically to help the region’s arts and culture sector recover from the pandemic with grants used to assist organizations in saving jobs as well as providing financial assistance for operations and facilities, health and safety supplies, and marketing and promotional efforts to encourage attendance and participation.
About the AFCC
The AFCC’s mission is to support, promote, and celebrate the arts and culture of Cape Cod. It fulfills its mission by funding grants, fellowships, and scholarships; by advocating for more awareness on the impact the Cape’s creative economy has on our region and beyond; and by building a strong arts community network through membership.
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