Arts Fund invests $128,300 to make art happen in Waterloo Region

Waterloo Region – The Region of Waterloo Arts Fund announced that it has awarded grants totaling $128,300 to artists and arts organizations in response to proposals submitted from throughout Waterloo Region.

A total of 25 grants are being made in the Arts Fund’s Fall 2012 grants cycle. The Arts Fund has invested more than $1,768,000 since its inception in 2002. The funds are generously made available through Regional Council’s allocation of 40 cents per capita.

Grants approved in this round were:

• $10,000 to the Grand River Jazz Society towards artist fees for Jazz Room performances;

• $1,500 to the Waterloo Chamber Players for Black Dog Variations, a March 23 concert including variations on Led Zeppelin’s Black Dog composed and orchestrated by Canadian composer Kevin Muir;

• $7,500 to Neruda Productions for Arts, Culture and Community for KW LatinFest 2013;

• $3,600 for the 2013 Procession of the Species Celebration;

• $4,000 to Carina Gaspar and Theatre Stoogette for Denmarked, a physical theatre, clown-based adaptation of Hamlet;

• $7,000 to Duncan Finnigan and Sam Varteniuk for Theatre People, a half-hour situation comedy to be filmed live at Kitchener’s Registry Theatre;

• $4,000 to Richard Garvey for The Neighbour Song, a music video;

• $4,500 to Habitat for Humanity Waterloo Region for Salvaged Art, Salvaging Families, an exhibition of artists’ work made out of materials from the ReStore;

• $5,500 to Dan Drysdale and Drywal Media for post-production work on the documentary Looking for Billy Jean: The Sarah Felker Story;

• $7,500 to Nada Humsi and the Generation to Generation collective for Generation to Generation, a film and theatre project that will lead inter-generational family groups in a personal story creation process;

• $7,500 to Isabella Stefanescu for The Lineage Machine, an interactive device and installation designed to allow a participant to experience a drawing in real time through recorded hand motion recreated with a robotic arm;

• $2,500 to Miroki Tong for The Classical Voice - From Traditional to Alternative, an “operatic metal” original music production;

• $4,600 to singer-songwriter Nicole Aube for Nicole’s Sophomore Album, a recording of 8 original songs;

• $3,500 to the Open Ears Festival of Music & Sound for two community outreach projects, Junk Percussion Parade and Inuksuit for Kids;

• $4000 to musician/selector Wayne “Jahbu” Stennett Campbell, Zion Gate Sound Crew and InSpiritUs for Foundation Roots Reggae: An Historical Exploration of Conscious Music;

• $6,000 to Shadow Puppet Theatre for Puppet Away, a show designed for local presentation and touring;

• $1,900 to Nota Bene Baroque Players for a Community Concert Series in Elmira, New Hamburg and a third location yet to be determined;

• $10,000 to Rosco Films for post-production for the feature film The Volunteer;

• $3,200 to the Kitchener-Waterloo Art Gallery for Jane Buyers: Gather… Arrange…. Maintain, a solo 25 year retrospective exhibition;

• $4,000 to The Good For Naughts for the album No Great War;

• $5,000 to the Waterloo Community Arts Centre for Around the Block, a community art project;

• $7,000 to Chestnut Hall Music for the KxKW/KOI/CON Music and New Media Conference;

• $1,000 to Ever-Lovin' Jug Band for their debut album;

• $5,500 to Heather Majaury for This is My Drum, a one-women theatrical work about an aboriginal woman living in post-modern Ontario;

• $7500 to Bruzen vi Gada Productions for John Orpheus is Dead, a live action short film.

Created in 2002, the Region of Waterloo Arts Fund is a not-for-profit corporation which provides arms-length funding for the performing, visual and literary arts in Waterloo Region. The Arts Fund invites applications in the spring and fall of each year. Applicants are first asked to submit a Stage 1 application outlining their project. On the basis of a review of those applications, a short list of applicants is then asked to submit more detailed proposals.

The objective of the Arts Fund is to “make art happen” – stimulate arts activity – immediately through projects that will happen within the next 12 months, and over the longer term through projects that will enhance the ability of an artist or arts organization to make more art happen in the future.

Applications in all arts disciplines are welcomed from individual artists and arts organizations in Waterloo Region (comprising the cities of Cambridge, Kitchener and Waterloo and the townships of North Dumfries, Wellesley, Wilmot and Woolwich). Adjudication of applications is done by the Arts Fund’s broadly based 14-member Board of Directors.

The next deadline for applications to the Arts Fund is 4 p.m. on Friday, March 1, 2013; information is available on the website: www.artsfund.ca.

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For more information, contact:

Stevie Natolochny at 519-575-4450.