February 3, 2015

 News…

CHARLESTON, W.Va. — The West Virginia Commission on the Arts and the West Virginia Division of Culture and History awarded more than $32,000 in competitive grants to nine artists and five organizations through the Professional Development for Individual Artists and EZ Arts Access grant programs.

The Professional Development for Individual Artists program provides professional and emerging artists with grants to expand or improve their work. Arts organizations that meet the needs of underserved artists by offering programs that help them expand or improve their work also received grants.

The EZ Arts Access program provides support for small communities and organizations with small budgets.

Funds for both grant programs are provided by the West Virginia Legislature and the National Endowment for the Arts.

The Professional Development grantees are:

·     Pam Dianne Curry, Kanawha County, $2,500 to apprentice with Dr. Michael “Mick” Moloney in a musical and cultural heritage study tour of Ireland in May.
·     Virginia L. Danz, Fayette County, $2,496 to attend the Intensive Studies Seminar in Taos, New Mexico, for a nine-day painting workshop led by four nationally known artists.
·     Mary J. Hurst, Greenbrier County, $1,849 to purchase an easel, panels, brushes, backpack and other equipment for an outdoor painting studio.
·     Laura Linda Mays, Wayne County, $1,151 to attend the 2015 Handcrafted Soap & Cosmetic Guild conference in Indianapolis in April.
·     Connie Mae Moeller, Nicholas County, $2,187 to attend a Hudson River Valley art workshop in May.
·     Daniele Piasecki-Burnette, Berkeley County, $2,500 to attend a photography workshop in the Great Smoky Mountains and purchase a tripod.
·     Stephen Talkington, Harrison County, $2,390 to purchase a 15-inch planer, a 17-inch band saw and air cleaner.
·     H.G. Young III, Wood County, $2,000 to attend two American Choral Directors Association conferences between February and June.
·     Merideth Young, Monroe County, $2,449 to purchase originally designed dies to make jewelry.
·     Allegheny Echoes, Pocahontas County, $5,000 to pay instructors’ salaries and room and board for a week-long workshop.

The EZ Arts Access grant recipients are:

·     Greenbrier Valley Chorale, Greenbrier County, $2,835 to present a spring choral concert featuring county-wide singers at Carnegie Hall in Lewisburg and a second community outreach concert at Greenbrier Manor, a local skilled nursing facility.
·     Taylor County Arts Council, Taylor County, $560 to help fund its Memorial Day Art Exhibit.
·     Theatre de Jeunesse, Wirt County, $2,147 to help fund its youth theater production of “Noises Off.”
·     Tug Valley Arts Council, Mingo County, $2,500 to help fund its spring performance by North Shore Acapella.

For more information about the grant process, contact Arts Director Renée Margocee at (304) 558-0240, Renee.Margocee@wv.gov or visit the division’s website at www.wvculture.org.

The West Virginia Division of Culture and History is an agency within the West Virginia Department of Education and the Arts with Kay Goodwin, Cabinet Secretary. The division, led by Commissioner Randall Reid-Smith, brings together the past, present and future through programs and services focusing on archives and history, arts, historic preservation and museums. For more information about the division’s programs, events and sites, visit www.wvculture.org. The Division of Culture and History is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer.

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