DCA awards $225,000 in Iowa Community Cultural Grants
For Immediate Release March 24, 2006
(DES MOINES, Iowa) – The Iowa Department of Cultural Affairs announced today 17 Iowa Community Cultural Grants totaling $225,000 for arts, historical and cultural programs in 12 Iowa communities, including two projects related to pilot Great Places in Coon Rapids and Sioux City.
The ICCG program encourages strong cultural growth and development throughout the state and provides matching grants to support organizations and projects that provide lasting employment for Iowans while also enhancing Iowa’s artistic, cultural and historical resources. Projects include museum exhibits, historic restoration and archeology projects, folk life and other festivals public art projects, ethnic heritage projects and performing arts events and companies.
DCA received 69 ICCG requests totaling $1,166,057 this year. The 17 grants announced today will be awarded July 1, 2006, pending legislative budget approval.
The City of Coon Rapids will receive an $18,000 ICCG to staff the Coon Rapids-Whiterock Great Places Steering Team, which will offer planning, communications, coordination and fundraising support for transforming the community into a premier, authentic tourism destination.
Sioux City’s Sustainable Foods for Siouxland will receive a $22,000 ICCG grant to enrich the Floyd Boulevard Local Foods Market by adding unique educational and cultural components, including a monthly children’s educational art program, a series of organic cooking classes and the first season of an independent live theatre company – the Big O Theatre, to be housed at the market.
“With these projects, Coon Rapids, Sioux City and the state are working toward key objectives identified in their Great Places agreements,” DCA Director Anita Walker said.
Great Places is an initiative developed by Governor Tom Vilsack designed to bring together the resources of state government to build capacity in communities, regions, neighborhoods or districts to cultivate the unique and authentic qualities that make the places special. Coon Rapids, Sioux City and Clinton were selected as pilot Great Places last fall.
Communities and organizations across Iowa are encouraged to apply for FY08 Iowa Community Cultural Grants. Nonprofit or tax-exempt organizations that promote and develop the arts, history or historic preservation, culture, ethnicity, tourism, economic development, festivals or municipal libraries are eligible to apply. City and county governments and tribal councils are also eligible. Cash-match awards range from $1,000 to $25,000. Applications will be available after August 30 at www.culturalaffairs.org and will be accepted through February 1, 2007 at 4:30 p.m. at the State Historical Building, 600 E. Locust, Des Moines, Iowa, 50319. This is not a postmark deadline. Please visit www.culturalaffairs.org or contact Riki Saltzman at 515-242-6195 or Riki.Saltzman@iowa.gov for more information.
The Iowa Department of Cultural Affairs is responsible for developing the state’s interest in the areas of the arts, history and other cultural matters with the advice and assistance from its two divisions: the State Historical Society of Iowa and the Iowa Arts Council. The DCA preserves, researches, interprets and promotes an awareness and understanding of local, state and regional history and stimulates and encourages the study and presentation of the performing and fine arts and public interest and participation in them. It implements tourism-related art and history projects as directed by the general assembly and designs a comprehensive, statewide, long-range plan with the assistance of the Iowa Arts Council to develop the arts in Iowa. More information about DCA is available at www.culturalaffairs.org.
Following is the list of FY2007 ICCG recipients:
(Community)
(Organization)
(Project)
(Grant Amount)
(Details)
Amana
Amana Arts Guild
Prints and Printmaking: A Rich Colony Tradition
$4,000
This project will promote and perpetuate the tradition of the art of lithography
in the Amana Colonies through workshops, classes, exhibits, art demonstrations,
apprenticeships and commissioning works of art.
Amana
Amana Heritage Society
Homestead Blacksmith and Printing Shop Project
$3,200
This project will provide the opportunity for residents and tourists to experience
a working blacksmith, a printer/linotype operator and a bookbinder located in
the newly restored, original blacksmith shop building in the village of Homestead.
They will learn about the roles of these crafts in early 20th century Amana and
Iowa.
Burlington
Art Guild of Burlington, Inc.
Celebrating Hispanic Cultures in SE Iowa
$2,500
With a focus on the November 2 Mexican celebration “El Dia de los Muertos,”
the Art Guild will host an art exhibition related to Mexican culture and display
artifacts from local collections, offer related craft classes, build a community
altar and have an ethnic potluck supper followed by a dance.
Cedar Rapids
Brucemore, Inc.
Guest Artists for Classics at Brucemore and Cabaret
$20,000
Brucemore will use funding to underwrite support to hire 17 professional part-time
directors, musicians, performers, writers and photographers to lead the artistic
efforts for Classics at Brucemore and Cabaret in the Courtyard. All contracts
will be awarded to Iowa residents who make their living in creating cultural experiences
for Iowans.
Cedar Rapids
National Czech & Slovak Museum & Library
Creating a Permanent Full-Time Cataloging Position at the NCSML
$14,000
This funding will create a full time cataloging position devoted solely to cataloging
NCSML library materials. This new professional position will make library collections
accessible, help the organization achieve its 5-year strategic plan and elevate
the library’s status as a leading Czech and Slovak research center.
Coon Rapids
City of Coon Rapids
Becoming a Great Place-Building on our Rural Heritage
$18,000
The city of Coon Rapids will contract with a person to represent them on the Coon
Rapids-Whiterock Great Places Steering Team and help the team provide planning,
communications, coordination and fundraising support for the $20-25 million Great
Places package, oriented toward transforming Coon Rapids into a premier, authentic
rural tourism destination.
Coralville
City Circle Acting Company of Coralville
Creating Seussical the Musical
$6,000
This collaboration with the Iowa children’s Museum and the Englert Civic
Theatre will create and produce a theatrical work from the ground up, with integral
community involvement at every step of the creative process; provide interactive
theatrical arts education and training to youth in the community, showcasing the
broad range of existing talent and fostering intergenerational education; and
promote literacy and a lifelong love of reading.
Coralville
Old Brick Foundation
Old Brick Sesquicentennial Exhibit
$1,800
Exhibit designer Will Thomson will design and fabricate an exhibit highlighting
some of the stories from Old Brick’s colorful past. The exhibit will hang
in the foyer to acquaint visitors with the history not only of the structure itself,
but of the people who have shaped its stories.
Des Moines
Iowa Museum Association
2006: Year of the Museum - Iowa Style!
$21,000
IMA celebrates 2006: Year of the Museum - Iowa Style! with a three-point program
to highlight Iowa’s cultural assets in 2006: a state-wide promotion of museums
via bicycling; a designation as an Iowa Century Museum; and an enhanced/expanded
conference to provide professional museum educational opportunities.
Grimes
World of Difference
Cultural Ambassador Project
$21,000
This project will expand Iowa’s resource of cultural artists and experts.
The goal is to recruit and coordinate 75 presenters this year. Of those, 25 will
be trained, developed and motivated to create the quality of learning experiences
that make a world of difference.
Iowa City
Riverside Theatre
Riverside Theatre Shakespeare Festival - Rehearsal Phase
$21,000
This funding will support the rehearsal and pre-production phase for the annual
Shakespeare Festival. For six weeks, artists and production staff will rehearse
and prepare for the four-week festival, which will be presented in City Park.
Mason City
River City Society for Historic Preservation
Park Inn Hotel - Architectural Services
$20,500
Funding will assist with the architectural services associated with the historic
rehabilitation of the Park Inn Hotel. The rehabilitation project is being completed
in compliance with the Secretary of Interior’s standards under the guidance
and approval of the State Historical Society of Iowa and the National Park Service.
Rock Island
Quad City Arts
Arts in Iowa: Awakening the Creative Spirit with Public Art
$20,000
Emerging, established and professional Iowa artists will be engaged by Quad City
Arts for a thematic project that will use the literary, performing and visual
arts as a means of self-discovery, artistic development and community building.
Each project portion will have a public art component as the end product with
the cultural and historical theme of “Faces and Places.” The theme
will concentrate on people who have made a difference and important community
landmarks and buildings.
Sioux City
Sioux City Community Theatre
Access to the Arts Expansion
$9,000
We will partner with local social service agencies so that their clientele of
low income, transitionally housed, and seniors can attend free performances and
participate in educational opportunities at SCCT. The project will provide free
tickets to 1200 high need Iowans who would otherwise be unable to attend.
Sioux City
Siouxland Historical Railroad Association
Roundhouse Bay 1 Rehabilitation
$9,000
This project will rehabilitate Bay 1 of the Milwaukee Railroad Shops Historic
District’s Roundhouse Building for the purpose of housing a visitor orientation
center, research library and volunteer training and meeting room. This project
is matched by a Federal Transportation Enhancement grant and local contributions.
Sioux City
Sustainable Foods for Siouxland
Organic Arts for Siouxland
$22,000
This project will enrich the Floyd Boulevard Local Foods Market by adding unique
educational and cultural components: a monthly children’s educational art
program, a series of organic cooking classes and the first season of an independent
live theatre company, the Big O Theatre, housed at the Market.
Zearing
Threshold Learning Center
Field Schools for Youth
$12,000
TLC currently offers science programs that enhance a student’s skills for
critical thinking and problem-solving. With the addition of a new barn dormitory
and its pictures/displays depicting Iowa life around 1881, the center will develop
hands-on Iowa History programs that are of the same high quality.
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