PRESS RELEASE
FOR RELEASE WED., JULY 9, 2014

Contact:
Denise C. Bealin
Director of Communications
407-628-0333 x222
Denise@UnitedArt.cc

United Arts of Central Florida Awards Artists in Communities Grants

ORLANDO – July 9, 2014 – United Arts of Central Florida announced the recipients of its Artists in Communities Grants. The Artists in Communities Grants panel had $30,000 to award and received $37,285 in requests from 19 applicants. 13 grants and more than $24,000 were awarded.

“We are honored to support these artists who are showing initiative and using their talents to enhance and give back to their communities,” said Linda Landman Gonzalez, chairwoman of United Arts of Central Florida.

Artists in Communities Grants fund projects by artists in literature, film and performing or visual art. This is the first year United Arts is awarding these grants, which are given to artists performing a service for or collaborating with the community. The 13 grant recipients are:

Bonnie Barton – Downtown Credo: Awarded $2,500 for Credo Sews. Artist will teach 9-year-olds design using textiles. Students will gather weekly to brainstorm, plan and create an original piece. The program culminates with a showcase of a 12-week design project.

Mauricio Cespedes: Awarded $1,250 for Bringing Music to Children’s Hospitals. This project will bring Duo Amore educational concerts to area children’s hospitals. The project will provide children, parents and hospital staff with a distraction in hopes of improving their well-being and physical health.

Anne-Marie Colwell: Awarded $699.25 for Beyond Words by Poets and Painters. This is an interactive show, presented by four Central Florida artists, that combines visual art with poetry and will collaborate with PACE Center for Girls, which serves disadvantaged young women. The project has three parts: visual interpretations of poems, creation of a “poetree” and creation of Spirit Dolls based on “I Am” poems.

Keith Lay: Awarded $2,500 for Distance Music. Preprogrammed sounds will be broadcast around Lake Eola and participants of The American Cancer Society’s Breast Cancer Walk will experience how sound changes based on their location.

Byron Marshall – Building US: Awarded $1,000 for A Book for Young Leaders – Using the Arts. The program will help future leaders ages 12 – 15 to create a book about working together, dissolving differences and community leadership.

Cole NeSmith – Creative City Project: Awarded $2,500 for Musical Forest. The project is an interactive installation using vertical metal pipes that trigger audio cues as people make contact as they move through the “forest.” The Musical Forest will be installed temporarily in a high-traffic area downtown to encourage collaborative music making.

Fatima Lotfi Rice: Awarded $1,864.57 for Twelve Stories. Six boys and six girls will receive instruction in the foundation of art through a series of workshops where they will create 12 short movies. A documentary and art installation will be created from the process.

Maria Fernanda Saavedra: Awarded $1,040 for Dance in the Community. Audiences will learn about the different types of Latin American folkloric dance in a lecture demonstration style from Latin American performers.

Renee Schneider – ArtWorks at St. Luke’s Methodist Church: Awarded $2,500 for Paint Orlando Blue for Child Abuse Prevention. Approximately sixty at-risk children will create original works of art, along with artist narratives to personalize the plight of these children for this month-long initiative.

Rachel Simmons: Awarded $1,462.50 for Future Bear: Engaging and Empowering Youth Through Graphic Art. Rollins College students will teach kids ages seven to 12 about climate change and sustainability through a time-traveling polar bear and interactive card game.

Jeff Sonksen – Historic Sanford Welcome Center: Awarded $2,500 for Journeys Academy Art Wall. The project has students research and select inspiring historical figures. Artist Jeff Sonksen sketches the figures onto the wall of the school and students will paint the mural over time.

Andrew Spear – Ivanhoe Village, Inc.: Awarded $2,500 for The Spearbox Project. The project will transform nine traffic control boxes into works of art. The art will pay homage to the history of the Ivanhoe Village neighborhood, which extends back to the late 1800s.

Angilyn Watson – Orlando Health: Awarded $2,500 for Canvas for Cancer. The project brings an authentic painting experience to cancer patients, their families and caregivers to give them a positive experience together. Trained artists will facilitate the painting experience and the art will be collected and framed to display in the patients’ rooms and in a public exhibit.

A second round of smaller Artists in Communities Grants will be awarded this summer. Five $1,000 grants are available for high-quality projects (requires a $1,000 match from the artist or a partnering organization). The deadline for submission is Thursday, July 29 at 5:00 p.m. and grant applications can be found at www.UnitedArts.cc/grants. The next full deadline will be in March 2015.

United Arts serves residents and visitors in Lake, Orange, Osceola and Seminole counties through more than 50 local arts, sciences and history organizations. Now in its 25^th year of service to the Central Florida community, United Arts has invested more than $126 million in local organizations and education since its founding in 1989. More information is available at www.UnitedArts.cc or by calling 407-628.0333.

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