Region of Waterloo Arts Fund awards 26 grants
Waterloo Region - The Region of Waterloo Arts Fund announces 26 grants for a total of $177,153 in response to proposals submitted by artists and arts organizations throughout Waterloo Region.
The Arts Fund initially received 68 requests. After the first round of evaluations, 32 applicants were invited to submit more detailed Stage 2 applications from which the 26 grants were ultimately selected. Since it was established in 2002, the Arts Fund has supported more than 565 projects for a total community investment of $3,036,606.
Proposals selected for full or partial funding in the spring round are:
Association des francophones de Kitchener-Waterloo $4,000 for “Canada en histoires/Canadian Stories” – three events to celebrate the local francophone community including storytelling, visual arts and music/dance/theatre. www.afkw.org
Backyard Theatre $9,000 for “The Other Side of the River” – a staged reading of a new original work, workshopped in collaboration with newcomers and Six Nations historians. http://www.backyardtheatre.ca
Bass Lions/Nathan Stretch $6,100 for “Dynamite Quartz” – a cross genre music video in collaboration with artist Phil Irish and members of the KW Symphony. https://basslions.bandcamp.com
CAFKA (Contemporary Art Forum Kitchener & Area) $6,000 for “Public Project Space for Photography & Graphic Art” - a year-long rotating program of installations by Regional graphic and photographic artists, to be installed on the glass at the Open Sesame gallery at Kitchener City Hall. www.cafka.org
Central Frederick Neighbourhood Association $2,250 for “Central Frederick Neighbourhood Pop-Up Art” – a year-long series of art making workshops and participatory art experiences within the Central Frederick area and in downtown Kitchener. www.centralfrederick.org
Susan Coolen $3,000 for “A Book of …Collections” – the artistic development and production of three new books based on the artist’s nature collection categories. An expansion on an earlier series of books called “(an incomplete) MUSEUM (of categories) for the FUTURE” www.susancoolen.com
FRESH Stories $2,000 for “Growing FRESH” – additional events to expand the activities and profile of storytelling in Cambridge, in collaboration with Idea Exchange and Six Nations. www.facebook.com/FRESHStorieslivestorytellinginCambridge
Priscilla Galvez $15,000 for “Sailor” – a fictional period film set during the 18th century in a frontier village in northern Ontario where a vagabond is captured and put to trial by the local Seigneur for the murder of a well-respected landowner.
Green Light Arts $6,000 for “Touch” – a production of an original play on the topic of mental illness, customized to be staged in the rehearsal studio at 44 Gaukel Street. www.greenlight-arts.com
Grand Philharmonic Choir $6,000 for “Illuminating Messiah” – a performance of Handel’s “Messiah” with projected images from the St. John’s bible, a seven volume, hand-crafted bible on loan to St. Jerome’s University in 2017. www.grandphilchoir.com
Johnny Hollow $9,000 for “Oktoberfaust” – an EP and accompanying artworks to explore the dark folkloric traditions of the region’s various and diverse ethno-cultural communities. www.johnnyhollow.com
Bashar Jabbour $5,000 for “Muhajer” – a book of poetry about the author’s first two years in Canada, and reflections on those times a decade later, in connection with and contrast to the experiences of Syrians coming to the Region today.
Kathryn Ladano $5,000 for “Learning to See” – a new structured improvisation. A collaborative workshop performance with auditory and visual forms of expression. www.kathrynladano.com
Tim Louis $9,000 for “Bittersweet” – a jazz/pop symphonic music CD of original compositions recorded with members of the KW Symphony and other local ensembles. www.timlouis.com
Earl McCluskie $10,000 for “Grand River Live” – five video webcasts featuring five well-known local artists performing at the Registry Theatre, The Jazz Room and Cambridge Arts Theatre. www.chestnuthallmusic.com
Tim Moher $15,000 for “Belmont Village Bestival” – a new festival in Belmont Village planned for September 16, 2017 - includes music, visual arts and culinary arts.
Cecile Monique $8,000 for “Genesis” - a full length album of twelve original songs in the Gothic/Symphonic genre. www.cecilemonique.com
Tom Nagy $8,500 for “Recorded and Live Score for KW Little Theatre’s Merchant of Venice” – an original composition and recording to complement KWLT’s performances of the Merchant of Venice, and as a stand-alone CD recording.
Ian Ring $5,000 for “Opus Arcana” – publication of a series of original piano compositions as sheet music, and the work of a visual artist to design a cover and interior design elements. The work will be published as an e-book PDF for sale online. www.ianring.com
Pamela Rojas $3,500 for “Mosaic Outdoor Sculpture” – a new sculpture made of ferrocement and mosaic, to be installed at “Reception House”, as a celebration of 30 years of refugee settlement. www.pamelarojas.com
Dan Root and Meg Harder $2,000 for “The Bloody Theatre” – a musical storytelling performance based on traditional stories from “Martyrs Mirror” with Mennonite Fraktur inspired illustrations, recorded on video and also available in print format.
Shadow Puppet Theatre $10,000 for “The Flood Project” – a theatre production for ages 9+ using physical theatre and puppetry, featuring stories of flood myths from many cultures and religions. www.shadowpuppettheatre.com
Susan Scott $5,000 for “Greeting Fields” – the capstone chapter of “Sainted Dirt”. Balancing archival with field research inclusive of Indigenous storykeepers, about the nature of the land and settler history.
Andrzei Tereszkowski $14,803 for “Waterloo Region Contemporary Music Sessions” – a festival/workshop to promote and connect new generation Canadian composers, performers and improvisers of contemporary music. www.wrcms.org
Miroki Tong $5,000 for “Not All Fedoras” – a new original play for two persons, it is intended to be a comedic deconstruction of the toxic masculinity that pervades many aspects of geek culture. www.mirokitong.com
UpTown Waterloo Jazz Festival $3,000 for “25th Anniversary Jazz Week” – a new program of free public events in the week prior to the festival, featuring young and emerging musicians, a jazz film and literary readings. www.uptownwaterloojazz.ca
The objective of the Region of Waterloo Arts Fund is to make art happen in the community through active promotion of arts and culture, and by providing meaningful grants and other support to artists and to arts and culture organizations.
In 2017, Region of Waterloo Council increased the annual allocation to the Arts Fund by $150,000. Waterloo Region now generously allocates the equivalent of 67 cents per capita to the Arts Fund so that the people of Waterloo Region may benefit from the vibrancy of the arts and culture sectors.
Created in 2002, the Arts Fund is a not-for-profit corporation which provides arms-length funding for the performing, visual, media and literary arts. It welcomes grant applications in all arts disciplines from individual artists and arts organizations based in the Region of Waterloo (comprising the cities of Cambridge, Kitchener and Waterloo and the townships of North Dumfries, Wellesley, Wilmot and Woolwich).
The Arts Fund invites applications in the spring and fall of each year for projects that will occur within the following 12 months. The goal in the longer term is to enhance the ability of an artist or arts organization to make more art happen through future projects.
The Arts Fund is one of the few granting bodies in Canada that awards grants directly to artist-led projects. Often these supported projects are able to attract additional funds through earned revenue, grants from provincial, federal or private sources, sponsorships, private and in-kind donations.
In 2017, the Arts Fund celebrates its 15th anniversary concurrent with Canada’s Sesquicentennial. To mark these two occasions, in 2016 the Arts Fund awarded one-time 15/150 Grants for six unique community projects occurring throughout the year.
For more information about initiatives such as peer-to-peer application support, Board-hosted open houses before application deadlines, Artist-at-Large Advisers, and the 15 / 150 Grant recipients, please visit the website: www.artsfund.ca.
The next Arts Fund Open House for grant applicants before the fall 2017 round is on Tuesday, August 15, 2017, 5:00-7:00 p.m.at the Region of Waterloo Headquarters, Room 110, 150 Frederick Street, Kitchener. This is an informal drop-in, where board members will be available to share general information about the fund and its mandate.
The next deadline for applications to the Arts Fund is 4:00 pm on Friday, September 8, 2017; full details are available on the website: www.artsfund.ca
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For more information, contact Stevie Natolochny at 519-575-4450 or snatolochny@regionofwaterloo.ca