Richmond Arts & Culture Commission Announces 2016 Community Art Grants The Richmond Arts & Culture Commission (RACC) recently selected eighteen community art activists for the Fiscal Year 2016 Neighborhood Public Art (NPA) Mini-Grants. Twenty-eight applicants made grant proposal presentations to the commission this past fall, and eighteen finalists were selected. The 2016 grantees represented a wide range of innovative, creative new voices in Richmond with projects ranging from visual arts, media, literary arts, murals, and more. Funding in the amount of $84,000 was provided by the City of Richmond’s General Fund, and a Community Development Block Grant thus demonstrating Richmond’s commitment to investing in local arts. . The City of Richmond established its public art program in 1987, and its Neighborhood Public Art community grant program in 1997. This year’s grants were awarded to the following projects: 1. Visual Arts: “Freedom’s Expressions: What Was Before and What is Now” Project Manager: Rebecca Brown This will be a participatory project joining formerly incarcerated people, their family members, and a professional artist into a Core Artistic Team to create a focal piece of artwork that will be permanently installed at the new Reentry Success Center, 912 Macdonald Avenue at 9th Street in downtown Richmond. 2. Performing Arts: “Fairytale: A Richmond Cinderella Story” Project Manager: Molly Raynor This theater production will be an adaptation of the classic Cinderella story – Richmond style. It will combine mixed media with live performance, using film clips of visuals, spoken word, theater, music, dance, and visual art. Cast members will write their own poems and songs, choreograph their own dances, and create visual art based on themes laid out in the original screenplay. Participants will engage in workshops on the script theme, and interview community members to gather stories. 3. Literary Arts: “The Scribbler Artist” Project Manager: Tatiana Ortiz Ms. Ortiz will work with Richmond elementary schools where participating students will write and illustrate their own books for publication. She will go into classrooms to teach students how to conceptualize their own book, write it, and illustrate it. Each student’s book will be sent to a publishing company and the students will have them back in a month. A book dedication reception will be held to honor each child for his/her work. The project is meant to encourage reading and to develop interest in art and writing. 4. Media Arts: “QWOCMAP Film & Freedom Academy” Project Manager: Kebo Drew The QWOCMAP Film & Freedom Academy will be a free intensive filmmaking workshop providing professional training, equipment and coaching. It will teach emerging filmmakers concrete technical skills, tangible artistic knowledge, and applied leadership tools. Participants will create 3-5 new films in an environment welcoming LGBTQ people of color. The project is in partnership with Richmond Rainbow Pride. 5. Visual Arts: “The Peace Dove Project” Project Manager: Keiko Nelson Ms. Nelson will implement her 2nd NPA grant to install her Peace Dove Project in Richmond. Students, clients of NIAD, the mayor, community members at local events, and residents from Shimada, Japan (our Sister City) have all painted several hundred 5” x 8” “peace doves” designed by the artist. Each dove has a unique, decorative image and a message of 54 MARKETPLACEcontracosta.com march 2016
Contra Costa Marketplace - March 2016
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